are ther non-contentious benefits to aftermarket power cords?

Leaving aside sales men's claims of what they may do and assuming what's in the box is fit for purpose, are there straightforward, easily verifiable benefits to be had from some/any after market power cables?

 

Kemp Electronics - no spin, no hulking margins, no advertising, just word of mouth. I like mine. If you'd like to try my power lead, just PM me.

 

Cables AND non-contentious in the same sentence on ZG? is this a first?

 

that's a great question Coda.

I'm going to completely leave behind any sonic differences.. and just pose a question.

Are ANY after-market cables scrutinised for fire and electrical safety and passed for approval for said purposes... to the same extent that a bog standard molded kettle lead is?

A genuine open question - one to which I dont know the answer.


By the way, other than whether they may / may not meet equivalent electrical safety standards (other than a perceived/possible difference in sound) I can think of no other benefit in changing them.

Anyone?

 

Order a couple from Russ Andrews - I'd suggest perhaps a standard or reference powercord and maybe a non-woven, big, fat, heavy copper sort of cable like PK-10 and try them in your system for a month or so - you've 60 days to try them (and get over the "Ooooh, that looks good - and is expensive - so must sound good" factor). If it makes no difference send them back a wiser man, if they make a difference buy ' em (or send them back and buy second hand!).

 

On a practical level, you can have aftermarket cables any length you want, which can be handy and avoids the need for trailing extensions.

I can see shielding being a straightforward and easily verifiable benefit - I'm thinking here of a well shielded mains lead keeping the fields away from your signal cable, rather than shielding the mains supply itself from outside influence.

 

No.

 

Well do the trouser press, baby!

 

I don't think it's just ZG. Other forums also go thorugh it from time to time (if they actually allow such debates).

 

Seconded.

 

Thirded.

 

I don't know what 'straightforward' means- obvious? To those who reckon to have heard differences, those differences can be very obvious. How does one verify differences in audio? Measurement goes only so far.

The best thing imv is to try the cheapest alleged upgrade, and see what you think. The most likely improvement imv is with turntables, then power amps, then pre-amps, then CD players, though it's likely to vary from model to model. Those who feel safe doing so can try making up their own cables, and can save a lot that way. You may end up thinking the same way that I do, that hi-fi is the mains, modified. Or, you may conclude that I am quite mad. But if you don't try, you won't know.

But before you start, if you haven't done so already, obtain a contact cleaner such as Kontak and go through your system with it. Then you will be able to hear what is going on. No Kontak, no hi-fi.

 

Hold on. There is a non-contentious benefit if you are selling them: you'll make money out of what are valueless items.

 

i'm all for big thick cables, as opposed to small skinny cables, but wire is wire is wire. Once you get past 2mm cores it's all just cock waving..

 

Fourthed

 

I'm not particularly interested in spending large sums on replacing things that are already perfectly adequate, but I am interested in whether there are actually any issues at all.

Not long ago I wanted to get a power amp out of the way which then required a much longer lead. Bought some basic plugs and cable and made one up. Having not set out to get any improvement to the sound, over the following weeks I did get the impression that things sounded generally (slightly) better.

This could be down to any number of, generally quite simple, things: clean contacts, my imagination, thicker wire, my imagination etc. the one that I'm most drawn to though is that the power amp was now well away from the rest of the system and it's power cable was largely routed away from all other cables, and that this was, in some way, a good thing.

I suspect when I got rid of a switch mode power supply things got better - I couldn't hear it humming for a start, and I also suspect that getting the satellite cable away from everything else was a good thing.

Having also recently tried a preamp which tuned itself to 5live I am in no doubt that interference does exist; and also that less interference must equal more signal, and more signal has got to be a good thing. By 'straightforward' I would mean things like this: with power cable A I can hear the radio even when the tuner is off, with power cable B that interference is gone.

But does this all mean that depending how your cables are routed and what the particular conditions are around your system, shielding and devices that reduce RFI may, or may not, be of benefit; and that just because they are useful in one situation doesn't mean they'll be useful in another?

 

Here's something that anyone can try at little or no cost. Give the contact area on the pins of any hi-fi mains plug, including the earth, a good clean with fine emery paper. Then plug in, play, come back here and tell us what you hear.

 

good point and if you stick some walkers silver contact enhancer on them its even better.

 

Quite so, but one thing at a time. We have mucho skeptics here.

 

Even if they heard a difference, I fear it wouldn't count unless someone else had measured it first...