DIY power cord...?

[spiffnme]

I'd like to build a powercord(s) to replace the cords that came with my Rotel gear. I've never built a power cable before, and don't want to spend much. Any help you all can give will be greatly appreciated.

What parts do I need to buy...what get connected to what, etc. Total newbie here...

[aarsoe]

Havent tried any of theese designs, so no garantee on result - but you can find pretty detailed descriptions on how to create one here:

http://www.venhaus1.com/diymains.html

[spiffnme]

Will this work?

If I were to buy a length of Belden 83803, is it as simple as connecting the red wire to the positive terminal, the white to neutral, and the black to ground?

I was considering these plugs...

Male
Female

And if I do this, is this going to be any better than the cables that came with my Rotel amp and processor, or am I just wasting my time and money?

[ThomasW]

National Elec code; Black is +, white is neutral, and green is ground. Not really sure what you do with red unless you're wiring 220V........

or am I just wasting my time and money?

You'll find out when you A/B it with the stock one.

I've tried a couple pricey custom power cords and couldn't hear any difference between them and stock. Maybe my sound system wasn't good enough :B

[aarsoe]

As I said I havent tried the designs, but there was a thread on change of power cables on the 1066 here on the Rotel forum. Most of the users used a cable from that website and was happy with it.

[David Meek]

Maybe my sound system wasn't good enough :B

Uh, yeah. Right. . . his system wasn't good enough. Heh. Then, heaven help the rest of us Thomas. :

[ThomasW]

Tweaking is interesting. Some things have merit, others are doubtful.

It's quite easy to hear the difference that ICs or speaker cables make. This is also logical since the varying inductance, resistance, and capacitance functions like mini-tone controls.

Those that claim that changing power cords effect the 'timing' and 'pace' of the music are just too weird.........

If the stock power cord is sufficient to meet the current demands of the device, then what's a designer cord going to do other than empty your wallet?

THESE are some of my favorite tweaks. Be sure to checkout their recommendations for colored Magnadiscs ....... :wink:

[aarsoe]

Thomas

I can only tell you that I was extremely sceptic about the whole power chord upgrade my self.
However having read at least a dusin test on the subject I decided to try it out my self - And I must admit, I dont understand why - but it sure works.

The worst part is that the first chord I tried was located after a normal extension chord. You should think that would kill the effect - but I does'nt. For comparision I also created my own chord using installation wire (solid cobber 2.5 mm) that is exactly the same as the cable in my walls - but again, the "hifi" chord could clearly improve things.
The only negative thing I can say about it is that some companies are charging outragious prices for them (but the same ones also do with interconnects and speaker cable) and that they take up extra space as they tend to be very big/fat cables. In fact the ones I am using are almost 2 inches wide!

I am an engineer and I dont understand this since this goes against anything I have learned..

[Dennis H]

Thomas, with your extensive filtered, balanced power setup, it's unlikely you'd hear any difference.

I look at DIY twisted and/or shielded power cords as kinda like a poor-man's power conditioner. It can act as an EMI/RFI filter to keep bad stuff out of low level components. It can also help keep bad stuff in components that are blatant RFI generators, such as digital amps - i.e. it doesn't let the cord act as a transmitting antenna.

I've never tried it but one el-cheapo that I'd heard works pretty well is go to Home Depot and buy some THHN wire (the stuff that's meant to run through conduits.) Cut 2 lengths of green and one each of black and white. Twist a green and black together. Then twist a green and white together. Slip both pairs into a techflex sleeve. Wire black to hot, white to neutral, both greens to ground. For extra filtering, you can optionally put a small cap between hot and neutral at the component end.

What the heck, it's cheap and it probably can't hurt anything.

[ThomasW]

Yeap Dennis, that may have something to do with it.

aarsoe,

What are the design specifics of the cord where you heard the differences?

[aarsoe]

Thomas

Dont know - to expensive to want to open up and take a look - but on the other hand, not more expensive than a small part of what I have already spend on other cables 8)

However there is a description that can be found here:
http://www.xindak.com/en/products/productinfo.asp?id=20 but I dont really think it describes it - more like marketing hype..

If you ever come across a cable from Shonyata, then do your self a favor and take a listen. They are on the other hand, outragiously expensive and way above my budget. However they do convince even the most sceptic people that there is a night and day difference.
Apperently the same is true for the new Nordost Valhalla power cables..

[Jariten]

:rofl: :rofl: :laughat: :roflmao: :rollhead:


Thomas....I loved your Favorite tweaks page...Awesome...
'Cream Electret"...apply to the label portion of the LP ...

o_O

[Jariten]

aarsoe ...I wasn't pointing at your post BTW...


It's always interesting that all these EXPENSIVE power cable manufacturers COVER the plugs they use....

I make mine with 11$ Male Hospital grade plug and Furutech IEC Rhodium plated connector that costs 29$

The cable is made by Oyaide in Japan and it's OFC copper in a silicon insulator with a nylon mesh around it...and ten a blue cotton mesh around the 4 x 14GA cables

does it sound better than what the customer supplied with their products...
Well....

What I like is that the Furutech IEC has a very firm grip...unlike the cable that came with my HCA2205A amplifier..at the time...
I have seen so many IEC input modules burnt because the female connector was soo loose...that ...I prefer the Furutech....^_^lll

these are my 2yen :T

[aarsoe]

Even if I cant open them, I can tell you they use Wattgate plugs.
But if any of you recall your physics lessons, the contact area between two surfaces at a given weight/pressure will alwayes be the same, no matter what shape, size or form - so in theory you should be able to create the same contact area with normal power plugs if your widen the individual pins - however when it comes to interconnects most of all believe that a high quality plug is better than a low quality plug. So it must be the cable design, geometry, winding, material or what ??

Dennis - I dont believe filtering has anything to do with it. I have over time tried at least a dusin filters and even if some if them had a clear effect I alwayes ended up prefering the "pure" stuff.
But I guess that really depends on the quality of your electricity - and I must admit the power quality I experienced while living in the US was about 100 times worse than what we normally have in Europe.
(But we dont have as many thunderstorms as well! and most of our cables are running in the ground and not hanging in the air - even if they where dug down where I lived.. Also we have 63 Amp's cables to almost all houses or at least the ones running under the streets)

Finnally an observation. For reasons not to be mentioned here I have a set of Halogen lights where one of them is located next to my Rotel 1095. This have alwayes produced a low hiss that could be heard if you where to put your ear next to the speakers. However when I got the Xindak power cables, the hiss was dramatically lowered..
Now anyone care to take a guess why? And before you say shielding - I tried that on a normal cable - did not work..

[Hank]

"...energy, from the human being, passes through the Tweezers, to the jaw end of the Quantum Clip."

Are you SHITTING ME???!!!

Okay, If I post innane verbosity, claiming outrageous, anti-physics phenomena, can I too, make money on the net?

BTW, have I shared with you guys my discovery of the medical effects of specially extracted and distilled oil of the mesquite bean? Also, I'm all a-twitter over what interconnects sound like after cryo treatment followed by pressure soaking in mesquite bean oil. And for another thread is my experimentation with Tibetan Yak foreskin speaker cones! :B

[ThomasW]

What I like is that the Furutech IEC has a very firm grip

That's an understatement, the ones I played with had death grip!

Hey Hank

There are crazier tweaks than that, I'll post some more later.

One I realliy like is the debate about which varnish/shellac /urethane sounds better on which wood (oak, birch, maple) AC receptacle covers..... and no I'm not kidding... :E

[Hank]

I'm reminded of the 2003 CES high end show, where I happened into a room where a guy/guru was showing his cable elevators. To get your speaker cables up off the floor, he had some ceramic doohickies that looked like upside-down handmade coffe mugs that cradle your cables. Just lay down a line of 'em between your amp and speaker, lay your cable on top of them and presto - no more sonic nasties picked up off that evil, noise-inducing floor! Two converts were following the designer/wierdo around the room, fawning over him and his latest itteration of his cable elevators. It was a sickening scene - some people can talk themselves into absolutely anything. :roll:

[Bing Fung]

So for the ultra boutique power cords to sound better.....

The basic Idea is the last 2 meters of cord is more important than the $0.02/per foot wire in the wall to the breaker panel, and then to the substation? :scratchhead:

[Jariten]

Bing.

I'm totally with you on that one...
^_^;;;

Maybe we should ask the Electric companies to upgrade to better cables because of our needs?

^_^;;;


:T

[Hank]

Bing, you got it: two meters make up for a hundred miles of aluminum wire high tension lines from the power generation station. One of many miracles in the world of snake oil :rofl: