Some DIY power cords

pjdami · April 2004

In the past couple of weeks, I have built several DIY power cords. ATCVENOM told me about the Red Cobra Cable website (which is unfortunately shut down now) for a Bob Crump DIY pc design which is known as the "Audio Asylum" power cable. It is a shielded design based on Belden 19364 three conductor wire. It utilizes a Schurter 4300.0603 IEC and a Pass & Seymour 5266-X wall outlet. Total cost to build is about $30.

The second power cord I built is based on Carol 3 conductor 10 gauge power cable that can be purchased bulk from Parts Express. It uses Marinco 8215 wall outlet and Marinco 320 IEC.

I was going to purchase a PS Audio Statement power cord a while back based on a recommendation of a respected member here but missed out on a $100 dollar drop in price. The Statements run about $299. For that kind of money, I wanted to explore the DIY thing first to see if there is any difference. I also entertained a Kimber PK10 power cord upgrade but again, wanted to see if DIY would help at a much lower cost first.

I also want to build a Venhaus Flavor 2 power cord and perhaps a JPS Labs based power cord with Marinco plugs. The JPS Labs in-wall power cable wire costs like $18 / foot though!! Whew..... It does get a lot of praise though from people in other forums that I have been researching.

Once I burn these in I will give a review.

RuSsMaN · April 2004

Nice looking work.

If you unass one or the other, let me know.

Cheers,
Russ

dorokusai · April 2004

75% of DIY power cables are based on Bob Crumps' design, it's simple and effective. I am not sold on the boutique power cable thing, so DIY is as far as it will ever go for me.

Nice cable work, they are keepers for sure

mantis · April 2004

pjdami,
yes nice work and man do they make a difference.I'm truely shocked as I bought a Kimber pk14.Amazing is what I say.

pjdami · April 2004

Thanks for the comments guys. Really is pretty easy to do actually.

ATC,

The "regular stock power cable" above is actually the cable made from the Parts Express catalog. All of the stock power cables that come with gear usually just have the plain black connectors and wire.

Mantis,

I do plan on buying a "boutique" power cable be it either the PS Audio or Kimber and compare to these. I'm taking some small steps first to see if I can justify the cost.

I was counting today... how many stock power cords I need to upgrade. I counted 8 of them. So before I take the plunge I wanted to see what DIY has to offer, buy one of the better cables, do some blind test listening and go from there.

dcarlson · April 2004

While auditioning powercords, for the best results plug them directly into the wall. Anything between the wall and the powercord can and most likely will affect the performance of the powercord.

mantis · April 2004

pjdami

Ps audio really got my attention.I'm looking forward to the demo.I would gladly conduct it for yeah if you wanna send one of those nice cables this way.I will pay for it,you time and all.

Dan

polkatese · April 2004

Great looking cable, Paul! do let me know if you are ready to move up to Kimber, I would be interested to read your review on the Carol vs. Kimber

ezc · April 2004

Nice cables! Have you tried them, & did it change the sound? I have tried a few diy friends made & they sounded good. My preference in sound & pic is still the Kimber PK10 gold. Does any of the power cables use black insulatuion? Kimber had done research on how the black insulation ( it has carbon in the black) changes the sound. Kimbers Power cables use no black insulation that touches the wire, & if im not mistaken no black insulation on any of kimbers cables. Getting ready to run a sub panel to my gear & from the panel to the outlets Ill use white, green, & red 10 guage wire. Four wires for hot, four wires for neutral & one for ground. One outlet/circuit for each peice of equipment. I have heard & seen the improvment & am just blown away! The WAF is what is slowing down the upgrade! The better half donst want a comercial panel box in our lv rm, she feels the system is great the way it is! But I know I can make it better! The AC upgrade is used here by the high end 2 chanel folks & is now starting to catch on with the HT folks! Always in search of better pictuer & better sound! Paul your right kimber is costly Retail $250 termination + $10 per foot = 8 ft cable $250+80=$330 retail! Or purchase one long legnth like 50' & buy extra wattgate iec & plug ends & cut & terminate as needed, thats how we purchase.

gidrah · April 2004

Good looking stuff man.

pjdami · April 2004

Yeah Russ, you got first dibs if I decide to ditch one of the cables.

Dan, I would be happy to send you a cable to demo. I would only ask for the price of shipping / parts. My time I would not charge for. I wouldn't feel right about that. My time building the cable is just as equal as your time or anybody else's time on this forum who has spent the time replying to posts and giving advice. That's just the way I feel about that. That's what the forum is here for to get advice, direction, and opinions to try out for oneself.

ezc, I'm still burning in the cables. I'm going to give them a 75 hr burn in and then keep them in the system for a couple of weeks above that. Then I will switch back to the stock power cables. Usually, this is when I hear a difference because "something is lost"; at least that has been my experience with ICs.

The black insulation with the Kimber.. man I don't know about that. The Kimber 8TC speaker wire has a black color on it for the negative lead.

One thing I am finding with the "boutique" cables like the Kimber PK10 gold series is that they use the "audio grade" IEC and wallplugs. Wattgate is the source of these plugs. Just the plugs run about $160 for the parts so that certainly increases the cost of the cable. These plugs use a layered plating with gold for the contact area and have a higher spring compression rate on the wire connection. A company called Furutech also makes a competitive plug with similar technology and costs $20 less than the Wattgates. So for one power cord that is $40 less in parts.

Interestingly, I found a website that claims that Cardas uses a $5 IEC connection for that end of the cable. dcarlson, if its not too much trouble for you can you compare your Cardas IEC with the one on the link below and let me know if its the same? Cardas makes some good wire and if they feel that this connector is good enough then that can save some dollars here as well.

I have ordered the Furutech plugs and that is going to be something I use with the Carol cable to compare to the "hospital grade" Marinco plugs to see if there is a difference here as well. I also ordered the Caig ProGold to treat the bare ends of the wire (to prevent oxidation / corrosion).

This entire process is going to take me a couple of months I'm sure. I'm going to take my time and get to know the wires.

http://www.takefiveaudio.com/schurter_4781_0100_iec.htm

dcarlson · April 2004

Will do.

mantis · April 2004

I send you an Email,
What the total cost of the wires you built?
4 to 6 feet will work for me.

Sounds like alot of fun anyhow.

Dan

dcarlson · April 2004

Interesting.... The Cross does use the same end.

dcarlson · April 2004

How about going for the Cryo Treated stuff???

http://www.takefiveaudio.com/weekly_specials_page.htm

dcarlson · April 2004

I'm fine with it and not surprised. IMO, the value of a cable is in the performance.

pjdami · April 2004

Thank you dcarlson for taking the time to look at that for me. You are correct in that the value of the cable is in the performance. The terminations are just a part of the whole equation. A lot of research, development, and testing goes into the actual wire construction / design itself by companies like Cardas, Kimber, etc. It's good to know that this is a termination which Cardas is using and I will definitely try this termination out in some of the future cables I will be building here shortly. Yeah, the cryo'ed stuff isn't all that much more expensive either.

steveinaz · April 2004

Man , have I got a great name to sell those under:

The "Pjdami Power Python"

awesome huh?

pjdami · April 2004

Not going to sell them for any profit Steve. These are really just designs that I researched and found on the net; not my original designs.

I have also built a Venhaus Flavor 2 power cord and this is the latest one I made using JPS in wall power cord and Furitech gold plated IEC and wall outlet. this is a serious cable and cost me $140 to build DIY. I'm still burning this one in as well.

steveinaz · April 2004

You do good work!

ezc · April 2004

PJ
PC liks good! Have you found one cable to be better that another? If so which & what type is it? Also Where did you purchase the F Tech Plug & Iec ends from? Im looking for an alt. for wattgate. Ive seen the FT products in ads & seems to be great ends.

polkatese · April 2004

Paul,
that's an awesome craftmanship! Can't wait to read the review when it's ready...when are you going to start taking order?

mantis · April 2004

He does good work,
he built one for me and it's top notch(I didn't crack it open,lol)

The perfromance even with the entry level powercord did yield better performance over the stock 2 I tried.

The B&K avr307 comes with a 16x3 poercord.It's run of the mill molded cord.Vs the pjdami cord the pjdami cord yielded more dymanic range.This was slight over the stock cord.Nonetheless pronounced with watching EP 1 pot race.This is a good demo of dymanic range.The scene as many of you know is explosive.Sabulba's pod really shines with the cord.Switching back to the stock cable choked the dymanic range down.it was a slight drop off.Sounds crazy to the people who never tried it as how I felt before I tried upgraded powercords.

I also demo'd it against my PK10 Kimber powercord.This yielded different results.the pjdami cable performed more like the stocker or closed in comparsion.The Kimber unlocked hidden detail and dymanic range I didn't know the B&K could show.Funny how I felt all wierd about it as it's just a powercord.The stock cord compared to the Kimber was night and day.I couldn't believe the difference.

So I did some research on the topic and found out some intresting facts.Manufactors cut cost at the powercord level along with others.They need to keep there products at a certain price point and find taking the nessary cuts exceptable.I'm not sure if I'm totally cool with that as then you need to Improve the product in order to allow it to perform it's best.Hince the powercord.

If you one of those people like I was,try it for the hell of it and see if you can hear or notice a difference in your system.I know it feel eff'd up spending alot of cash of a powercord.Better speaker cables or Interconects are more juicy,but the damn thing makes a difference and is worth the asking price.

I don't know what level cord should go with the given gear.I know theres got to be a ratio written by someone on which cord to use.I mean at what level powercord does it do it's job 100%?I know different gear has different current demands so using a high current or correct current cable should be a match right?Prebuilt cords get up there in price.PS audio and Kimber have the best reputation in the market for the cords.I bought a used one off audiogon and pjdami built my other one.Going DIY is still much better then the stock.30 bucks isn't alot to pay for any wire in your system.It's extremely worth it.

So I also did one last demo with the pjdami powercord.I demo'd it against the nice thick Pioneer Elites Dv47a's dvd 14 x 2 cord.This stock cable is still a molded cable but thicker then the B&K's stocker...funny how the DVD player doesn't use as much current as the B&K but has a thicker stock powercord.It doesn't use the 3rd conductor but uses the same style end.I noticed a difference in the audio not really in the video.The picture on my Sony XBR 36 inch didn't notice anything diffenent.I assume the stock cable is capable of enough current to power the video section correctly.I didn'[t try the Kimber as I was getting beat moving my rack around and swapping.I demo so much wire I was just tired after this one.Not to mention I worked all day long and was already tired.Audio was a different story.When listening to Norah Jones on SACD 2 channel I noticed a more pronounced mic breath hiss.This is a natural sound when breathing into a mic.You can hear her taking a breath.Cool stuff as I heard it before the upgrades but not as pronounced.I also noticed that the bass was louder.It didn't sound better but there was more of it.Maybe that is better on the level of more is more.

pjdami's 30 buck find is golden.I would if not having found the Kimber out fit my entire system with that cord.It unlocks suttle performance out of your gear,why wouldn't you do it?

Dan

pjdami · April 2004

PC liks good! Have you found one cable to be better that another? If so which & what type is it? Also Where did you purchase the F Tech Plug & Iec ends from? Im looking for an alt. for wattgate. Ive seen the FT products in ads & seems to be great ends.

ezc,
No I haven't compared any of the cords yet. Letting them all burn in for at least a week each. Takes a while to burn in four cords and I want to give them all a fair shot.

The Furitech gold plated plugs were purchased from the Chris Venhaus website.

http://venhaus1.com/VH_Audio_Test.html

With the Furitech plugs you can save about $40 per cord because they are a little more economical than the Wattgate. They use a set screw with a little allen wrench to tighten down to the wires.

Mantis,

Thanks for your impressions on the wire. That one is the Bob Crump Asylum Cable. Sounds like you feel it is better than the stock cord but not up to par with the Kimber. That is understandable.

Anyone interested in building the Crump cord, the parts can be found here:

http://www.diycable.com/main/product_info.php?cPath=89_21&products_id=100

The kit above is a little more expensive than if you find the individual parts on your own and strip your own wire, etc. If you buy the parts bulk and plan on making more than just one, the price comes down to about $30 / cord.

mantis · April 2004

pjdami,
I have about 50 hours on the cord now and I think it's fully broke in.It's a nice cable for the maoney.hell it's an awesome performing cable for the money.
Send me your address and I'll cut you a check.Thanks for building it for me.I enjoyed the shootout.I'll use it untill I buy another Kimber.Or start building my own.

Dan

pjdami · May 2004

here is the last powercord that I just finished building last night. DH Labs bulk power cable @ $6 / foot and I used the Marinco hospital grade IEC and wall outlet plugs. I got the wire from Welbourne Labs.

This is a nice and easy cable to build and will fit into the Marinco, Hubbel, or Wattgate plugs with no problem.

I hooked this wire up to my B&K AVR 307 last night with the LSi 15 and Jolida J100 cdp. Turned the SVS sub off and put the LSi 15s on full range (large). This cable sounded very good to me even with no burn in. One can build this cable for $65 and or you can buy it built for $200.

Another week or so for burnin and then I start the real listening sessions.

mantis · May 2004

Dudely,
your killing it.Man lets here it.I wanna read about your Impressions on all these different cords you built.

I gave you mine over a very short burn in.

Come on man..........:cool:

Dan

pjdami · May 2004

Dan, I'm really really grinning over here. Dude, I don't think I've ever heard the LSi 15 sound this good. I mean they always sounded good or they would have been outta here after a month.

I haven't really done any critical listening of any the cables lately. Just letting them burn in the HT rig at about -30 db volume or while watching tv. Been playing golf in the afternoon and other things been taking up my time.

ok. here is a minireview.

I will say this about this DH Labs DIY cable. I'm running the Crump cable on the Jolida and the DH Labs on the B&K. Was just listening in two channel, volume at -15 db on the receiver about 85 - 90 db at the listening seat. Bass was tight and deep. I actually had to get up and make sure the SVS sub wasn't on. The 15s have never ever given me this impression with bass before. Highs are very open. Soundstage seems to extend about 5 feet or more to the outside of each speaker almost to the side walls. I don't remember the stock cables ever making me go wow like this either. Something is definitely up and I'm liking it a lot.

More later. I'll let ya know when to get the popcorn ready:)

I like suspense;)

mantis · May 2004

Cool deal,
I'm ready are you????

pjdami · May 2004

Ok. I finished the first shootout this morning. The DH Labs DIY power cord vs. the JPS Labs DIY power cord with the gold Furutech plugs. I felt like Chevy Chase in "Vacation" repeating to myself "this is crazy, this is crazy, etc." as I could not believe what I was hearing in the difference between the two cables. I am so excited that I feel like I have captured a bigfoot or have a UFO parked in my garage for all to see. I mean that's what power cords seem to be to a lot of folks (including me till recently) a myth, hoax, or just plain BS.

So I was expecting the JPS Labs cord with the gold plugs to sound better right? I mean nice expensive gold plugs, $18 / ft wire, lots of hard work putting the cable together compared to the relatively inexpensive and easy to build DH Labs cord. The DH Labs cord sounds way better to me. The JPS cord sounds much brighter with noticeable glare in the midrange and sibilance. The bass is thinner and looser sounding (LSi 15 set on large; SVS sub off). I much prefer the tonal quality of the DH Labs cord. "this is crazy, this is crazy". I know I know. I swapped back and forth a few times and as much as I tried to like the JPS labs cord I still preferred the more balanced attack of the DH Labs cord. The DH Labs cord is by no means "dark" sounding at all. The highs are open, bass is incredible on the LSi 15, and vocals are nice and smooth. I'm really in awe here over this and I'm trying to be as honest as I can be since I built both of these wires and pride in ownership is not a factor here. There may be some folks that like the "in your face" forward presentation that the JPS cord has but that's not me.

The DH Labs cord is a snap to build. You don't need to use any shrink wrap for strain protection at the plug ends because you can use the stock screw down clamp which comes with the plugs.
I chose not to use any techflex either because it comes with a clear plastic coating surrounding the main cable construction and looks very attractive.

Next up will be the DH Labs vs. the much anticipated Carol cable wire showdown. Everything the same here (Marinco plugs) just a difference in the wire.

mantis · May 2004

Excellent......Waiting for more input

Dan

Some DIY power cords

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