Power Cords & effect sound?

**Mike Gibson** · June 3rd, 2009, 01:33 AM

Originally Posted by gortnipper

When I was looking at speaker cables, and comparing some well known brands, I was sent along some very expensive power cords as well to tease me. All they did is make my amps hum - with or without cheaters. No hum with the stock cord with better quality (ie tight more solid connections).

Funny that.

That's why they have a "burn in period" so they can learn the words and don't have to hum anymore.

Mike

**Audio_by_Goodwill** · June 3rd, 2009, 01:59 AM

Originally Posted by Mike Gibson

That's why they have a "burn in period" so they can learn the words and don't have to hum anymore.

Now THAT is funny :-)

**bowtie427ss** · June 3rd, 2009, 07:42 AM

I don't understand that..... how does that make any difference to the amp?

Capacitance + usually higher resistance.................. in a nutshell.

**Audio_by_Goodwill** · June 3rd, 2009, 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by bowtie427ss

Capacitance + usually higher resistance.................. in a nutshell.

It seems to me that many times the shielding is only connected at one end..... it's not actually carrying the signal being sent to the drivers. I suppose it depends on exactly how it's connected.......probably as many ways as there are people making it.

**Panomaniac** · June 3rd, 2009, 09:21 AM

Originally Posted by Audio_by_Goodwill

Now THAT is funny :-)

Yes it was!

Fancy power cords? Hmmmmm...

But better power - yes! Having worked for years in live sound and theater I sure know what a difference a good power drop can make. Recently I did the same at home.

Just moved into a house that was built in 1955. No grounds anyhwere but the service entrance. No grounded power outlets - so no grounds for the audio. Power was also dirty. Just one 220V (+ neutral) line pulled out to the shop/listening room. Everything running from that. Turn on a light, hear a pop.

So I added a made ground. 8' copper clad grounding rod right outside. Not more than 6' from my audio supply outlets. And an isolation transformer for the audio circuits.

The difference was NOT subtle. All of a sudden much more bass, a more powerfull sound - no pops, odd noises, smoother mids and highs. I think a lot of my gear was freaking out not having ground. I run music from the computer and it was glitching like crazy. No more. Not sure yet how much of the improvement is from the good ground and how much from the isolation, but it is a major improvement. A good, low impedance ground is a must.

FWIW, I bought 2 isolation transfos. 1 for the amps, another for the sources. So far, I've only used one and run everything from it. Very happy.

GM · June 3rd, 2009, 10:24 AM

FWIW, adding power factor correction capacitors to vectorially align the incoming power phases to unity can be audible also.

GM

**Panomaniac** · June 3rd, 2009, 10:53 AM

Really? Good to know! I was planning to add a motor run cap to correct my power factor. Right now it's awful - about 0.55 Nice to know that fixing that will help the sound, too.

**Steve Mac** · June 3rd, 2009, 11:40 AM

I'd spend my money on an amplifier with a really good power supply design
before doing anything like this.

**onextwo** · June 3rd, 2009, 12:19 PM

here's an interesting article about wires and audio.

Speaker Wire

**Audio_by_Goodwill** · June 3rd, 2009, 12:19 PM

Originally Posted by Panomaniac

Just moved into a house that was built in 1955. No grounds anyhwere but the service entrance. No grounded power outlets - so no grounds for the audio. Power was also dirty. Just one 220V (+ neutral) line pulled out to the shop/listening room. Everything running from that. Turn on a light, hear a pop.

So I added a made ground. 8' copper clad grounding rod right outside. Not more than 6' from my audio supply outlets. And an isolation transformer for the audio circuits.

That's vastly different than what the super expensive boutique power cables give you.