That is some serious power cables sir :)

[Archsam]

Shall we get back to audio.......

Let's see how many aftermarket mains cable have you ever bought? Me first.

- An IsoTek mains cable. Don't know the model, cable is silver colour.
- An Qed Qonduit mains cable (I don't think Qed even make mains cable anymore)
- An DIY cable I bought from Ebay. It is a dual wired cable wrapped in a black netting.

None of them costed me more than £40 each if I remember correctly. The last time I bought one was from 10 years ago.

 

[mansr]

Let's see how many aftermarket mains cable have you ever bought?

I have a roll of generic 3-core 1.25 mm² cable from Farnell. Does that count?

 

[MattHooper]

Shall we get back to audio.......

Let's see how many aftermarket mains cable have you ever bought? Me first.

- An IsoTek mains cable. Don't know the model, cable is silver colour.
- An Qed Qonduit mains cable (I don't think Qed even make mains cable anymore)
- An DIY cable I bought from Ebay. It is a dual wired cable wrapped in a black netting.

None of them costed me more than £40 each if I remember correctly. The last time I bought one was from 10 years ago.

For me: none.

Many moons ago, blind testing a bunch of hugely lauded Shunyata AC cables against my stock power cables cured me of the belief I need to spend money "upgrading" AC cable.

 

[Archsam]

I have a roll of generic 3-core 1.25 mm² cable from Farnell. Does that count?

If you use them to power your components, then yes, that counts.

So you terminate the cables yourself? I'll like to try that. I've made my own interconnects many years ago, but when it comes to power cables that may cause electrical shock / fire hazard, I'm slightly nervous about that.

 

[Archsam]

For me: none.

Many moons ago, blind testing a bunch of hugely lauded Shunyata AC cables against my stock power cables cured me of the belief I need to spend money "upgrading" AC cable.

I'm of the view now that I will never buy another one ever again.

 

[DSJR]

In the UK, a chap called Mark Grant makes a splendid looking mains cable with decent size conductors and good quality standard connectors on each end. Works a treat and costs fifty quid or so. I'm sure he makes a fair profit on each one. I skimmed through the vid and realised the seriously wealthy peeps who buy this stuff aren't in the real world either. Not sure I want my stereo to 'hypnotise me' either, but that could be 'language' differences perhaps.

 

[mansr]

If you use them to power your components, then yes, that counts.

So you terminate the cables yourself? I'll like to try that. I've made my own interconnects many years ago, but when it comes to power cables that may cause electrical shock / fire hazard, I'm slightly nervous about that.

If I need to, I'll wire up a mains lead. It's only 250 V.

 

[Archsam]

In the UK, a chap called Mark Grant makes a splendid looking mains cable with decent size conductors and good quality standard connectors on each end. Works a treat and costs fifty quid or so. I'm sure he makes a fair profit on each one. I skimmed through the vid and realised the seriously wealthy peeps who buy this stuff aren't in the real world either. Not sure I want my stereo to 'hypnotise me' either, but that could be 'language' differences perhaps.

That price is mostly labour cost if you get someone to build a cable for you in the UK / EU / US / CAN.

Not long ago I was asking a pro audio cable company to quote me on a custom balanced headphone cable. It is for a pair of Audeze LED-X which is on their way. I got a quote of £60 for a 2.5m cable using Mogami cable, 4 pin Neutrik XLR for the amp, and 2 mini XLRs for the headphone drivers. All the parts are of decent quality, but if you buy the parts separately it will only cost you around £10 for the cable, and £3-4 for each of the three connectors.

I left my soldering iron back at my parent's house when I moved to UK. Maybe it's time to buy a new one.

Edit: I did not order that cable

 

[kevinh]

You could buy a good isolation transformer for that kind of money.

 

[Wes]

As CEO of Snake Oil Cable Corp. the market research from this thread tells me that our next Audiophool Cable must contain a large number of high precision moving parts, and a time display.

Thank you all for your help.

 

[Tim Link]

Years ago I had a pair of Audioquest 99.99% pure silver interconnects that I used with a STAX headphone amplifier. I recall spending $200 on them. They were really nice! In time I discovered they didn't actually sound any different than standard cheap interconnects, although it sure seemed to me that they sounded better at first. I sold them after I became convinced of their lack of sonic superiority. Still, in terms of look and feel they were the nicest cables I've ever had. Kinda miss them. If I were a richer man I might have kept them. Around that time I also bought a fairly expensive audiophile power cord. I didn't notice any difference there from the start, but was annoyed because the amp wasn't heavy enough to keep itself from being lifted off the table by the stiffness of the cord. I still have that thing in a box somewhere.

 

[kevinh]

So in 1972 I bought a used pair of Jenser speakers and a Kenwood integrated amp (in the military pay for an E2 pretty low). I was in an audio store looking to upgrade, the salesman was pitching Cobra Cable among other things, and offered to loan me a pair. I took them home the cables were high capacitance cables, when plug in they audibly were different, since they causes the amps to oscillate luckly I turned the amps off and took the cables out before the amps blew up. I replace the audiophile cables with zip cord and returned the cables.

 

[FrantzM]

Back in my audiophile days, a friend of mine had a similar experience with a fla ribbon audiophile cable, that came a bit before Nordost. He kept the cables and replaced the amp. ... In those days I might have done the same. I can't recall what came out of the amp replacement...

 

[Hugo9000]

As CEO of Snake Oil Cable Corp. the market research from this thread tells me that our next Audiophool Cable must contain a large number of high precision moving parts, and a time display.

Thank you all for your help.

But not current time! You need at least two* displays per cable, one counting toward the optimal 'break-in' moment for the cable, and the other counting down to let the customer know when he must replace the cable (it may be best to replace it with a new one before the next product cycle begins from the company, after all, so they can't simply go by whichever is the current state of the art/most expensive option).

*Perhaps have a few extra displays and/or inactive colored light marbles (like that Chord product with extras not in use) for future updates/constant visual reminders that new features/night-and-day advances are in the pipeline!

Edited to add: in case it wasn't clear, one of the purposes of the countdown displays is to induce a near-constant state of anxiety/nervousness/focused attention which yields a high likelihood that the customer might actually hear (notice) details he might not otherwise, 'proving' the quality of the product. The more exact the countdown (i.e. the more decimal places or what-have-you) the higher the customer's confidence that your product is indeed the result of flawless research, how else could you calculate these optimal moments to such precision? "Fortune favors the bold," so do not use restraint in your claims!

 

[Shorty]

It is perfectly adequate for telling the time. It wouldn't be much good for timing the Olympic 100m admittedly.
I only wear it with black tie, which means very rarely nowadays!

Traditionally, wearing a watch with black tie is a no-no, I’m afraid.

 

[pozz]

Please don't tell me none of you like this:

View attachment 66927

What a ballet of whirring gears. Who cares about time?

 

[Xulonn]

Let's see how many aftermarket mains cable have you ever bought?

I just paid $16.50 for one of these at Amazon - for my A/V preamplifier and two ICEpower amplifiers - the most "exotic"power cord I've ever owned.

Should help with my "cable clutter reduction" project!

 

[Wes]

What a ballet of whirring gears. Who cares about time?

you need an old Porsche transmission...

 

[CDMC]

I just paid $16.50 for one of these at Amazon - for my A/V preamplifier and two ICEpower amplifiers - the most "exotic"power cord I've ever owned.

Should help with my "cable clutter reduction" project!

View attachment 66992

Just practically speaking, you could see some voltage sag with an 18 gauge cable feeding two amps plus a preamp.

 

[Xulonn]

Just practically speaking, you could see some voltage sag with an 18 gauge cable feeding two amps plus a preamp.

I thought about that - but all three components are high efficiency designs with switching power supplies. I am not using that high-gauge triple cord with my big Classé vintage class AB amp and its large toroidal transformer Rather, I will wait to try it with my two ICEpower 200ASC Class-D amps when the modules arrive and I assemble them.

With Class D amplification, a small room, bookshelf speakers and matching center, I don't expect a problem - but I will measure the current draw when I get the Ghent/ICEpower amplifiers assembled and working. With frequent power outages here in a developing nation, I want to increase efficiency so I can run longer on my AV system's UPS. I will probably get a Kill-A-Watt device to measure power usage over time, and then I can calculate maximum UPS backup times.