Mains cable upgrade on budget kit

I am thinking of upgrading the mains cables of my CDP and amp over christmas. However I don't want to spend much on the main cables no more than £10 each.

I won't solder the new cable directly onto the transformer as I will probably wreck it. So I will leave a few inches of the old cable and just join a new cable to it using them special male and female pliugs.

I know a lot of people do it this way if the old cable is not removable.

Now my real question is has anybody noticed any improvements upgrading the cable of budget kit or will it just be a simple waste of money?

 

Put the money to a new cd. I have done power upgrades but cost a bit more than a tenner!

 

I stand to be corrected, but surely this sort of an upgrade would not be of any benefit?

Leaving some of the original cable, will surely constrain it at that point. Any chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.

I also don't understand what the point of using high priced electrical cables where there is no mains conditioning. The best cable you could get any benefit from would be one made of the same cable as the stuff in the walls delivering it in the first place?

This isn't meant to be antagonistic. I would like to know, as I can't see the point of using anything of better quality than the weakest link.

Cheers.

Ian.

 

Well if you only leave about 5cm there its hardly enough to act as an athena and pick of radio waves. The most important thing is that bulk of the cable has to reject the signals.

 

Farnell sell CY (RFI screened) control cable by the meter..probably your best bet in serious budget land..

 

I would keep the money, maybe save some more and put it then in something else then cables.

 

Have you tried demo'ing any cables to see if you think there is a noticeable appreciable gain?.. like a eupen or a Russ Andrews.

Even at just £10 per item, spending anything is a waste unless you can appreciate a benefit.


Yesirreeebob, a home demos whatcha need.

 

The cables act as a passive filter for RFI so by the time it enters the equipment it's a cleaner signal.

In my experience, power leads do affect the sound and positively.

 

Agreed.

Whether it is possible to get a worthwhile improvement for just £10 I'm less sure of though. The sort of screened cables you can buy from Maplin etc. surely won't do any of the filtering Maddog mentions, rather just prevent any further RFI ingress over the short length of cable used? That does seem of rather limited benefit to me.

 

Ahhh, I see. It's not just about improved delivery of the electricity as I thought, but also about preventing interference.

Well that makes sense. Might try some now I understand.

Ian.

 

Agreed... :MILD:

 

The reason I said the £10 limit is that I don't want to spend a fortune on RA cables and pay for all that glossy marketing. I am sure there must be some cable out there not is not marketed for HIFI but does exactly the same job but cheaper.

I would need 2m at the very most. The cable I have on my seperates at the monent is weedy two core lamp cable.

 

nope, unless you want to buy a few hundred meters

 

TNT Merlino.

Using the CY Cable as mentioned.

Get an IEC plug from Farnell and an MK Duraplug (I don't like the terminals or strain relief on the Toughplug).

Incidently, Sid & Coke made some nice mains cable. I believe he post's here..

 

I really would demo some first mate. Ive tried everything from £40 russ andrews jobs to £1,000 cables - on both solid state and valve systems (several) and Ive never found a result that I thought was worth even a tenner. Oh, Ive heard differences in sound (sometimes but not always), but I wouldnt call them an improvement. I even had one demo where the dealer was asked to make the contrast as complete and undeniable as possible, price no limit, choice of any equipment in the shop....it sounded just the same to me.

I know people rave about mains cables, but In my honest opinion they are a waste of time and money.

You might agree with me, or alternatively find that they bring a real and genuine difference to your system - but you wont know till you try a few on demo!

Id start with a Russ Andrews yello, because it can go back if ot wasnt up to spec.

NB If you decide to ignore me and go ahead anyway, I'd make a shielded armoured cable personally, or a twisted one like the TNT recipe.. they at least may tackle RFI, if thats audible in your system.

Good luck.
Chris

 

When I built some Merlino I made a 4 gang first, the a lead for my power amp and then my pre amp.

All of these seemed to make no difference. Then I made one for my CDP and did notice a difference.

To be honest I made them for piece of mind, really!

 

With amps current carrying capacity is important. With CDP and other low wattage sources, main objective is protection and filtration of RFI and EMI.

So go for a cable with good screening and use large ferrites at both ends with the cable cores (ie. less outer jacket) looped through at least once to filter out RFI/EMI.

Aluminium Tape (Maplin KW30) wrapped around the cable and connected to the mains plug end only using a short length of wire as drain should provide excellent screening.

 

"Ferrite clamp or ferrite surrounded power cords truncate higher frequencies and detail by artificially increasing impedance"...

I always read that ferrite has some drawbacks...

 

Yeah, it makes the sound like its been sat on!

dont know if Eupen do a money back guarantee?

 

Now that you mentioned Eupen, compared with my VDH Mainsstream it did the same to bass, but highs wherent there, Michael thought mine where letting garbage in, I though Eupen where truncating, somehow, still is hard to understand the effect of PCs on the sound...