The Power Cable matter ..

Thanks Smeagol for this link .. very interesting cables manufacturing ..

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I hijacked a quote of SMEagol to open a new thread about an interesting matter ... about the Power Cables and let me show you my thought about:

Many europeans buy US power cables thinking they work with the 230AC Voltage .. absolutely wrong!

It's totally different a power cable well thought and born to carry 115AC Volts and not less than 30amperes from an European cable that must carries 230AC Volts and max 16amperes

So I think we have to buy power cables well thought for our volts and current and not for the USA standard

Please add here your point of view and experiences

 

hi

I've swapped all my audiophile power cables for molded standard cables.

I've given the old ones away, and sold a couple.

They have a CE mark for safety, are not an infringement of my house insurance policy, and sound the same to my ears.

NB - Not spoiling for an arguement, but any thread should have all viewpoints.

All the best
Cheers
Chris

 

have you noticed any worsening in sound quality ?

 

You stand to be incorrect as in certain states in America, they also use 230-240V mains.

 

Really? Well I never knew that. Do you know which ones? (not for any other reason than a genuine interest!!)

 

Ive read it somewhere that new houses built in North America can have the option of wiring with 240V in mind. Some American brands and models like the Mark Levinson 33 mono blocks can only be used with 220-240V even over there and same goes with some mains conditioners like Richard Gray who's incoming voltage is 220-240V for American use.

All that said..... They are still using their standard American 3 pin style plugs so I cannot see them being dangerious for European usage but thats my own opinion. I personally use their power cables and found them to be better sounding in my system.

If using the Euro 2 pin plugs in the UK with an adaptor, make sure you check the polarity. Get it wrong can course your equipment to sound very thin and lifeless.

Cheers

 

• What exactly are the differences between well designed cables optimised for 115V 30A vs 230-240V 16A?
• How do these differences, if they exist, affect the final sound quality / enjoyment
• If, as you seem to suggest, a cable designed to handle 30A will not perform as well in Europe as a cable designed to handle only 16A, then surely the fact that all cables in the UK (for example) must be able to handle 13A of current whereas in practice they will rarely handle a tenth of that must mean that all mains cables are fundamentally flawed, from a performance perspective if not a safety one?
• What cables have you tried in both 115V 30A and 230V 16A variations?

 

As far as I know US 3 pin plugs are safe to use on 240 volts, and some countries that use 230 volts have the standard US 3 pin plug as their national standard e.g. Thailand and China although I believe China use a different version of the US 2 pin plugs along with Australian type 3 pin plugs although their 2 pin plugs do not have holes in the blades, and yes whilst 240 volts is also used in some parts of the US I believe the plugs are different to the 120 volt plugs. One thing to check out if you plan to use US power cords is to make sure the cable is rated for 240 volts as some are designed to be used with 120 volts only and cannot carry 240 volts. Another issue with using US plugs in the UK is the fact they are not CE certified as far as I know and most insurance companies insist on CE markings for power cords, although I believe some insurance firms may accept the UL approval although I am not 100% sure about this.

 

Just noticed this, and I think it's incorrect. To the best of my knowledge, 120V is universal for US household use. To have any other arrangement would be chaotic, not to mention downright dangerous (you'd move to a different part of the country, plug in your US 120V appliance and wonder why it disappeared in a puff of smoke). There are countries that supply two different electrical currents to households (e.g., Switzerland, 230V for normal household use, 400V three-phase for heavy-duty washing machines down in the basement), but the USA is not one of them.

 

Hi Hifinut.

My system does suffer from a lot of background noise.
It is not suprising, with an active crossover, active pre-amp, and 3 power amplifiers.

Unfortunately, due to a 'socket shortage' I also have a tv, dvd, xbox, and a laptop working from the same 3 sockets that the hifi runs from.

All of this creates more background noise than is entirely desirable.

The use of shielded interconnects has helped. They aren't audiophile ones, just cheap shielded ones.

With power cables, the previous audiophile ones had no shielding, and the plugs weren't moulded. If anything, I get less movement noise and background noise from the molded variety. The shielded interconnects do more to help the issue however.

Several other appliances in the house make the noise levels increase.

It's just a tiddly small issue that I mostly just live with.

 

The USA does in fact use 240v/60hz. I have this supply in my house in CA and it supplies the air conditioning system, BUT it's not a supply you would find on your ring system. Heavy appliances are sometimes fed 240vac in most States. These are 60Hz though, I am not too sure if 240vac/60Hz are in new builds.

 

I confirm this , the USA plug is also much better than the euro one .. only the relatively new Schuko could be compared to the USA standard quality
I never been in England but the British plug I saw on pics around the net looks even better the USA one

the Schuko

 

• 
  
  Dunno Ibr! .. I'm a dentist .. not an electrician
  
  By the way try to think to a large river where flows lotsa water but slow... and now think to another river but narrow where flows obviously less wather than the other river.. but much faster
  
  I don't think the rivers are the same.... and probably their banks too..
  
  Did you get the point?

 

Thanks, didn't realise that (having travelled extensively in the USA but never having lived there).

 

How relative is "relative"? Schukos have been the standard plug in France and Germany for at least as long as we've been here (18 years). That one in particular is the French model (earth pin protrudes from the socket and goes into the hole you can see). The German version has two recessed earth strips in the sides which contact two contact ridges in the socket. Most fittings can take both types.

 

Well....its better to read up or find out 1st before blowing your own trumpet....

 

I'm 52 years old .. and when I was a child I never seen a Schuko plug in Italy .. I started to see the first 25 years ago
Here we continue to use our crappy (sorry!) plug but fortunately many household appliances are coming out with a schuko here too..


ps. where do you live in Suisse?

The standard Italian plug

 

The British plug probably is the best plug available

 

except that it has a fuse which can degrade sound

 

To continue your analogy then what we are actually talking about is two rivers, one with banks 16m apart with a river likely no more than 1m wide and another with banks 30m apart with a river likely no more than 2m wide.

Not a lot of difference.