Do power cables make a difference to sound quality?

You have stopped making sense :grin:

I cannot explain it, I am quoting Furutech. I donā€™t obsess with specific lengths, just that power cables make a difference. Just borrow cables from a dealer and assess for yourself

Yep, and letā€™s face it Furutechā€™s entire market is consumer audio related, so total ā– ā–  and no science on their part.

Why are there no proper cable manufacturers making impossible claims?

You donā€™t hear companies like Belden, Van Damme, Canare, Sommer etc. spouting the sort of bullsh!t you hear from Audioquest, Furutech, Chord Cable Company etc. Why is that?

  1. Because as cable manufacturers and suppliers to the professional audio industry, they know these claims are ā– ā– .

  2. Their professional customers would fail to take them seriously.

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What a brilliantly written article!

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The explanation is perfectly obvious.

1.8m is the length of a standard power cord (at least in the US).

  • If the ā€œideal lengthā€ were less than that, then some potential customers would balk at the purchase, because using the ā€œaudiophileā€ power cord would require rearranging their listening room.
  • If the ā€œideal lengthā€ were greater than that, then no one would object, but the cost of manufacture would go up. Since the price the gullible audiophile is willing to pay is completely independent of the length (as long as the length is greater than or equal to the length of his existing power cord), this would be a net loss of profit for Furutech.

Ergo, the ā€œideal lengthā€ turns out to be the length of a standard power cord.

No knowledge of physics (or anything except basic marketing) was required to predict this.

If you have a better (or, really any) explanation for why the ā€œideal lengthā€ of ā€œaudiophileā€ power cord just happens to be 1.8m, Iā€™d like to hear it.

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UL

Underwriter Laboratories

The ideal length is what gets you from your device to the outlet. Any shorter and the sound is far too laid back - to the point of non-existent. Any longer and youā€™re good, though then one just has to hide the excess.

DC cables for power supplies on the other hand, shorter is better (and the fatter the gauge the better ime). Some say the shorter the speaker cable the better, but then again it depends on the amp - with my vintage Naim amps the longer the better (as the cable acts as part of the Zobel network). But whatever gets you hook up and sound is the optimal length.

I agree with you, Jacques. It makes perfect sense.

Almost no ā€œaudiophileā€ power cables are UL-listed. (They may use some UL-listed parts in their construction, but thatā€™s not the same thing.) So thatā€™s not the reason.

well thatā€™s not very comfortingā€¦ That would suck if youā€™re equipment went up in flames from a non ul-listed power cable. Iā€™m sure insurance companies would have a field day with this oneā€¦

even if it wasnā€™t from the power cable itā€™s one thing they can use against you if you had to make a claimā€¦ and theyā€™ll look for everythingā€¦

Um, on everything? So, youā€™re not going to answer any of my questions about burn-in?

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Have you ever assembled a power cable before? I really wouldnā€™t worry about this. Itā€™s really nothing more than a wire stripper, screwdriver and some heat shrink/etc for strain relief, and getting live to live and neutral to neutral and ground to ground. If itā€™s done wrong, it just wonā€™t work, or would short the first time plugged in.

I doubt there have been very many cases of audiophile or otherwise cords spontaneously combusting (more likely though with cheap UL hardware store cables that have been used and abused vs a pricey audiophile cable that gets plugged and unplugged infrequently and lives indoors behind a rack).

In case of fire with hifi, more likely some sort of fault with the gear itself than a power cable. Like the time my 80 year old stepfather blew a fuse in his Carver amp and thought you could put a piece of tin foil in there as a replacement (no, itā€™s not a '56 Buick). Big sparks and dead amp.

That said, itā€™s best practice to buy a cable (audiophile or otherwise) that fits the space without severe bending at the outlet or IEC.

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Typical fault mode on power cables: degradation of the insulation on the wires inside the cable (due to mechanical stress, heat, age or some combination of the above) leading to a short.

Iā€™m not saying that bespoke ā€œaudiophileā€ power cables are any more vulnerable to this (Iā€™m also not saying that theyā€™re not). But if your house burns down because of one, you can kiss your homeownerā€™s insurance claim goodbye.

Bill, with all due respect your questions were a bitā€¦unusual, let me try. 1. I do not think a cable returns to its original state if not used, why do I state that? Because my system was in storage for 7 months and all was good, none of the burn-in responses when the cable was new. 2. You state maybe the music was horrible, hmmmm, I will choose not to respond to such a comment, were you actually serious? 3. Maybe the electrons cut a groove in the conductor and the cable is now damaged, Bill, Bill. Bill , come on now. I will take a fifth, I am sure you will understand, were you smoking a joint? :grin: So in conclusion, do you have a serious question? Take care mate

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Life is full of risks. The ā€˜audiophileā€™ cables I have, and the DIY ones, I have no concerns about. More often than not, when one hears about a house fire itā€™s: kitchen, candles, smoking, space or baseboard heaters, or very old lamp or internal knob and tooth wiring being frayed from rodents. I would assume rarely, or possibly never, an overbuilt audiophile cable. I have priceless negatives in our home, so Iā€™m pretty careful about all of our wiring and potential fire risks.

No.

Expensive cables just make it harder to plug boxes into the wall and route the cable.

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This thread is gotta be even more polarizing than the MQA threads. So many experts. :laughing:

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Iā€™ve only spotted one or two :wink: Iā€™m not counting myself among them TBC.

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@QuinnT ? feel free to PM me if itā€™s too juicy to post.

@rrwwss52, nothing really.

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