Are power cable upgrades worth it?

[relayer]

I have a rotel 1070 pre and rcd 1072. Is it worth upgrading the power cables? Is there a substantial performance advantage with upgrading the cables?
Russ

[Nolan B]

I have a rotel 1070 pre and rcd 1072. Is it worth upgrading the power cables? Is there a substantial performance advantage with upgrading the cables?
Russ

unless there is a deffect with the cables that came with the units there is no advantage to upgrade.

snake oil.

[Tha Freak]

agreed...

[H.Donald]

This question seems to come up on this forum several times a year.If you look around or do a search,you will find many threads dedicated to this question.On them you will find many who believe and just as many who believe the opposite.

As for my answer.....I have replaced most of the stock cords on almost all of my equipment for one reason or another.The replacements were in the 60 to 110 dollar range.I replaced some because I was curious...others because I needed lenth.
Was there a substantial performance increase....no....would I do it again,yes.....

[bzrk]

You buy a 100$ powercord and in the wall and everywhere else you have cables worth 5 cents a meter. Do you really think this last meter will make a difference?

i seriously doubt it... but who am i?

[H.Donald]

Good question,who are you......I purchased the cable because it was 4 meters.

[grit]

If you're worried about power supply, I'd consider a power conditioner rather than new cords, for the reason bzrk made... the rest of the wires in the wall are (probably) no big deal. I've read the best solution is really a dedicated line of power to your system from the main junction box with hospital grade breakers.

[kurtholz]

i just did this, the dedicated power supply, using hospotal grade socket, it made a HUGE difference in noise suppresion.and produced a massive difference in sound stage

now to make this worse, i did buy an expensive power cord ,i am using it with my Rotel amp, which was still the weak link in my system, it did make a noticeable improvement

sorry, i hate to perpetuate the myth, but i do think power cords do work better

Kurt

[grit]

Kurt,

I have no doubt that power cables can make a difference, just like interconnects and speaker cable do. I think the difference probably varies depending on your equipment, acoustics, and power supply. And, as with other cables, whether or not the difference is an IMPROVEMENT is probably subjective.

That being said, I'm glad you found something that worked for you, and (of course), it makes me wanna give it a try.

- Garrett

[sprout]

My personal findings ahve been as follows:

If you have no Mains filtering in place, then it makes little to no difference.

If you use a conditioner, then reasonable screened cables from this to your equipment may have a small value. i.e in protecting the improvement gained by the conditioner, helping prevent any local pickup.

So for me it is a not over the top Power conditioner and home made screened mains cables produced to the length required.

sprout

[Dmantis]

I have found slight differences in my system when upgrading power cords. the one thing I like about upgraded power cords is the fact you can buy the length you want. This means less wire mess.

Dan

[Bostonears]

the one thing I like about upgraded power cords is the fact you can buy the length you want. This means less wire mess.

Agreed. I custom made a bunch of nicely shielded power cords just the right lengths to go from my power conditioner to the components in my home theater stand. Most of these cords are less than three feet long.

[greggz]

For my more power hungry pieces (amps, subs, etc...) I decided to make "improved" power cords.

I bought several shielded 14ga power cords from Newark Electronics (approx $5 ea).

I cut the injection moulded ends off of them and replaced them with Wattgate parts from PartsExpress (approx $20 for the plug and $15 for the IEC).

I replaced my stock outlets with Hubbell 8200 15A hospital grade outlets from Grainger. (approx $20 ea)

I don't know if high dollar boutique power cords can really improve sound or not but my thinking was to allow as much unimpeded current flow to these specific components. Since there is 14ga wire in my walls, I wanted a 14ga cord to go to the components. The Hubbell/Wattgates are nice beefy industrial grade connections.

CD players, DVD players, pre-amps etc don't make huge current demands. I chose to leave those cords stock.