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Expensive power filters, power cables
- Thread starter Gergo444
- Start date
Take a look at the name of this site, and then do a guess at the answer to your question 
DSJR
Major Contributor
In the UK, we have a chap named Mark Grant, who makes and sells some nice and not always expensive cables of various types. His mains cable is high current rated, screened so it looks posh and it's very well put together with good quality sensible parts. It cost me around fifty quid here for a 1m iec to 13A plugtop cable -
https://www.markgrantcables.co.uk/department/mains-power/mains-power-cables-mains-power/
Buying everything in one-offs as a domestic bod, I honestly doubt I'd be able to get the parts for much less than half the price. His interconnects with sensible connectors at fifty quid or so are also very good if you can afford the extra over the perfectly good Van Damme types (brand snobbishness often makes Van Damme look tacky but again, use them 'blind' forgetting they're there and they're absolutely fine!!! - maybe a different colour than black might help ) Look at his prices for the WBT ones though - same wire but foo plugs which can rip basic RCA socket banks apart if you're not careful (most audiophiles aren't very careful in my experience! - took one to know one... )
https://www.markgrantcables.co.uk/department/audio-cables/stereo-cables/
Seriously, you really don't need to spend shedloads of dosh on wires and connectors. I do accept that people who've spent tens of thousands on their stereo may want expensive wanky wires to connect the parts up with, but it seriously isn't necessary imo.
A pal who worked for years in a high end London 'audio salon' once raved to me about the new 'cheap' Transparent Audio mains cable. Cost a mere £760 at the time I remember. Transparent also make mains filters in expensive nicely shaped boxes - thousands each I believe in different caste-tiers without checking - and apparently, you can only use two sockets out of four for best 'sound.' That store had awful mains though and when I worked there for a few months back in 1998, we used the Russ Andrews mains blocks at then £200 (Kimber wired?) to great effect.
So, my pauper mentality suggests not to bother with expensive foo wires and boxes, but if you have a very expensive flash stereo, that's not going to put you off
https://www.markgrantcables.co.uk/department/mains-power/mains-power-cables-mains-power/
Buying everything in one-offs as a domestic bod, I honestly doubt I'd be able to get the parts for much less than half the price. His interconnects with sensible connectors at fifty quid or so are also very good if you can afford the extra over the perfectly good Van Damme types (brand snobbishness often makes Van Damme look tacky but again, use them 'blind' forgetting they're there and they're absolutely fine!!! - maybe a different colour than black might help
) Look at his prices for the WBT ones though - same wire but foo plugs which can rip basic RCA socket banks apart if you're not careful (most audiophiles aren't very careful in my experience! - took one to know one... )https://www.markgrantcables.co.uk/department/audio-cables/stereo-cables/
Seriously, you really don't need to spend shedloads of dosh on wires and connectors. I do accept that people who've spent tens of thousands on their stereo may want expensive wanky wires to connect the parts up with, but it seriously isn't necessary imo.
A pal who worked for years in a high end London 'audio salon' once raved to me about the new 'cheap' Transparent Audio mains cable. Cost a mere £760 at the time I remember. Transparent also make mains filters in expensive nicely shaped boxes - thousands each I believe in different caste-tiers without checking - and apparently, you can only use two sockets out of four for best 'sound.' That store had awful mains though and when I worked there for a few months back in 1998, we used the Russ Andrews mains blocks at then £200 (Kimber wired?) to great effect.
So, my pauper mentality suggests not to bother with expensive foo wires and boxes, but if you have a very expensive flash stereo, that's not going to put you off
All nice and good, that doesn’t answer the question, does it.
Why would you use any other cable than the one suppied, even at €£$ 100,-? What science can you bring in to justify the buy?
Why would you use any other cable than the one suppied, even at €£$ 100,-? What science can you bring in to justify the buy?
No.
No. Listen to one of your sources, set maximum SPL, then pause the player. Do you hear noise or hum? If no there is nothing to improve, if yes we need to check first which component is responsible. It' usually not the mains power.
Wrong question for this forum. Many people here are brisk and full of pseudo science babble. Cables subject is heresy here and beneath a civil reply.
Orthodoxy here is power cables carry current not a signal, so has no impact on sound: power amplifier cleans current and noise.
Just use standard 10-14 awg copper power chord. Nothing special or expensive required for good power amplifier performance.
Orthodoxy here is power cables carry current not a signal, so has no impact on sound: power amplifier cleans current and noise.
Just use standard 10-14 awg copper power chord. Nothing special or expensive required for good power amplifier performance.
solderdude
Grand Contributor
The answer is NO.
some reading material as your question has been asked before:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...a-high-quality-and-expensive-power-cord.9849/
Nope. Any competent cord of adequate ampacity that meets UL safety approvals will work just fine. Most equipment has internal filtering that makes an expensive external line filter largely redundant. A surge protector can be a useful addition, however, if your power is prone to surges.
What everyone mostly said. The science says...no, more money doesnt really equal better.
However, if you just want to dress up your kit, help yourself.
I am replacing my mains cable because the one to the pre doesn't seat well and occasionally breaks contact.
Aaand, (I) wanted eye candy so I bought 3 to replace all of them and have them be the same. Just because it thrilled me.
About 120 for 3 of these.
https://i.postimg.cc/G27jcyPD/0416211911.jpg
However, if you just want to dress up your kit, help yourself.
I am replacing my mains cable because the one to the pre doesn't seat well and occasionally breaks contact.
Aaand, (I) wanted eye candy so I bought 3 to replace all of them and have them be the same. Just because it thrilled me.
About 120 for 3 of these.
https://i.postimg.cc/G27jcyPD/0416211911.jpg
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No. But for some fun you can build your own - I think the search term is Bottleneck or bottle something
Want better sound? Start a new thread about your speakers. Or your room treatments.
There are Mains noise reducing tweaks like:
- X cap across Hot/Neutral leads of about 0.47uF. I installed one in a plug and plugged it into the power strip in use.
- Large value lowpass coil to reduce the noisy harmonic structure of the incoming power. This is extremely effective and there are commercial products out there.
- DC blocker as recently posted here on ASR.
- Mains Isolation transformer.
As to the cable? You can make it pretty if you want, overbuild it if you want, make the contact tighter, or whatever, but really no difference will result except piece of mind. FWIW, Hubbel receptacles fit loose compared to Leviton. That kind of thing...
- X cap across Hot/Neutral leads of about 0.47uF. I installed one in a plug and plugged it into the power strip in use.
- Large value lowpass coil to reduce the noisy harmonic structure of the incoming power. This is extremely effective and there are commercial products out there.
- DC blocker as recently posted here on ASR.
- Mains Isolation transformer.
As to the cable? You can make it pretty if you want, overbuild it if you want, make the contact tighter, or whatever, but really no difference will result except piece of mind. FWIW, Hubbel receptacles fit loose compared to Leviton. That kind of thing...
