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The Musician Forums => Music Technology & Pro Audio => Topic started by: karlo on October 22, 2009, 07:21:23 AM

Title: "reference quality" power cords
Post by: karlo on October 22, 2009, 07:21:23 AM
anyone use high end power cords (or as audiophiles like to call them, "power delivery components") in the studio or on stage? how large of a difference will they make to the sound, if any? curious..
Title: Re: "reference quality" power cords
Post by: mixx on October 22, 2009, 08:42:41 AM
bro copper is copper..... you'll just waste your money on the bling bling
Title: Re: "reference quality" power cords
Post by: karlo on October 22, 2009, 01:54:52 PM
exactly the way as I see it also. was curious how people here see these really esoteric high end stuff after I ran into this article: http://blog.stereophile.com/ces2009/the_silent_snakes/ (http://blog.stereophile.com/ces2009/the_silent_snakes/)

There's a comment in there that was particularly well put:

Quote
I must say, in a purely objective sense, that in this industry sector (cables and interconnects etc.) we seem to have reached a new paradigm of sorts: one can only remain competitive by raising prices. Unprecedented, in my opinion. Every new iteration to an existing product line must carry a heart stopping price tag, if only to assert its' superiority to the previous flag-bearer. Even the diamond and precious stone industry adhere to a carefully derived set of very strict standards, so the $75k diamond you just bought your wife/other carries a kind of globally recognised "imprimatur".

Can the same be said of high end recording pro audio? Maybe
Title: Re: "reference quality" power cords
Post by: peeves24 on October 22, 2009, 02:28:32 PM
perhaps cooper is not just cooper...

in cymbal analogy, the b20 bronze used by cymbal makers differ in sound due to formulation, treatment and whateverchuchu. b8 bronze is considered inferior or entry-level by many but there are also a lot of great sounding cymbals made from b8.

guitar players swear that cables affect the tone of their guitars...


i cant afford better cooper. i wouldnt even be able to distinguish the sound of premium cooper over sampayan-grade cooper. i guess i have no point, carry on  :wink:
Title: Re: "reference quality" power cords
Post by: KitC on October 22, 2009, 03:45:35 PM
While copper is not just copper, bronze, however, is an alloy of copper and tin (plus other trace amounts of metal). Changing the proportions of copper to bronze may affect how a cymbal sounds. That's just plain metallurgical principle, although getting the right proportions are a closely guarded secret for some manufacturers.

For guitar cables, pure copper cables would probably be perfect, but it makes the cable strands soft, malleable and prone to breakage that's why some steel is added to strengthen the copper wires. Low quality cables most likely have more steel content, which in turn can affect conductivity and capacitance, changing the tone of a guitar. Indeed, some of my friends who went wireless commented that their guitars sounded brighter as a result. In theory, gold and silver are better conductors, but obviously, these would make very expensive cables - Zaolla makes silver cables for musicians. Let's not forget that cable length also has an effect. The longer the guitar cable, the higher the capacitance value which corresponds to a change in tone (there is also a resistance component but it is largely negligible).

As for power, I think concentrating on clean power is better than getting audiophile grade power cords. Commercial power is largely "dirty". Electrical noise, RFI, power surges/dips and other factors will have a larger impact on sound quality than anything else. That's why some studios have isolation transformers and very good grounding systems. For digital systems, having a very good, low-jitter master clock is sometimes more important than getting an audiophile grade "power delivery component".

And let's not get started on the "audiophile speaker wire that fooled the experts"  - and that wire happened to be plain coat hanger wire. I'm not kidding. Google it.
Title: Re: "reference quality" power cords
Post by: BALDO on October 27, 2009, 06:48:28 PM
THE MASTER HAS SPOKEN..you better believe it..amen to that..