Someone Explain The Need for High-Priced Power Cords

[My_Two_Cents]

Okay, this has bugged me for some time, and I don't mean for this to turn into a cable-bashing thread. My question is this: Why do some insist that specialty power cords costing hundreds of dollars will improve the quality of your system?

I'm sure I'm just missing something here, hence the question. My argument against is simple. Cheap, standard wiring is used throughout your house from the circuit breaker all the way to your outlet. Is a $400 power cable running from your outlet to your piece of equipment is going to magically improve the power somehow? What is it actually going to do for you? Or do folks that spend this kind of $$ use it in conjunction with a power conditioner of some type, and that's where the advantage comes in?

I use the same argument for those $100 gold plated RG6 cables. Do folks really believe that using one to connect your cable/sat box to the outlet is going to give you a better picture than a standard cable? Again, it cannot magically make the signal better than what is being transmitted through stock "builder-grade" cable.

[fronn]

Generally you won't find any sort of sensible argument for something like that.

Science and logic would tend to disagree with the findings from those that claim to see improvements from power cords.

You can typically put most things in the audio world under the umbrella of the "placebo effect"... Especially if it's something extraordinarily simple and costs a lot.

Maybe there are improvements, but I'd say the safe bet would be against it in a blind test.

[sandman6662]

LOL, They do the same thing as your lights you have behind your TV. No punn intended,, Nothing just feels & looks cool, Really they are a personel thing in my OP, Like me to Monster Cable, I like it & use it , As others don't. We all try to achive what's in our vision . A goal , Conquer, defeat, My goal to have an awesome system agian, and to make the best I could on a budget, then finish it and sit back & enjoy it, I'm a brand Loyal kind of person , I like Marantz-- Klipsch--Monster Cable, but thats just me . As for Power cords, Yeah I will be connecting them to a Power conditioner, via wall power outlet , via Sept AC line , to Breaker box, So hey , never know , BUT IT MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD DO IT !!!!!, I'm looking at the Monster powerline 200/300 power cords , Do I really need them probally not , but hey got to be better than what came with the EQ, Well my RECV, Has a heck og a power cord already , but maybe , as I said before , It really make a person , feel like it's a complete system when everything is done. Like a dream , thats what i feel ,, do I do it to brag or put someone else down , never, Just for my own personel satifaction, , Hope this explains alot for you

[Hammie]

I read a thread or article about this around Thanksgiving.

The important thing was that stated by en electrical engineer was that unless you upgrade ALL the wiring between your service panel to your HT setup, there will probably be no difference. Once you upgrade everything, you may see some difference. The most difference you will see is when you put in an AC-DC-AC power cleaner and noise suppressor.

BTW, most of my equipment has pretty hefty power cords so I don't see why I would spend hundreds on a power cord.

JohnK (I think is his name) has a how-to-thread on DIY power cords. I thought that was more helpful since you can build them to length and clean-up your HT wiring some.

[Trix]

I had someone mention once that they didn't trust the "Made in China" bare-bones power cord that came with the TV, and that he felt more comfortable having a "high-end" power cord. I didn't have the heart to tell him that all Monster products are made in China...

On the other hand, I can understand the desire to have decent quality power cables if you've taken the effort to have your home theatre wiring done by a custom home theatre electrician, who ran the power to the home theatre from a different breaker panel with seperate ground and no link to any of the house's other electrical. But, I would be willing to say that there is a very, very minority of people for whom that is the case....

[jibucha]

Hello

High Quality Cables, make a difference; however, just what constitutes a high quality cable is where this all gets confusing.

I am going to approach this in the simplest non-technical manner that I am able.

Regardless what the hype and it’s cost; there are significantly higher quality power cords available, which are in fact technically founded.

High quality power cords do not need to incur ridiculous cost, but understandably, they are more expensive than mass production power cords available simply for cost and value.

Having indicated this, there are extremely high quality cables available, which while more expensive than low quality cables; they are not obscenely expensive as so many of the hype cables offered today are.

Objectively, using test equipment and controlled listening and viewing environments; anyone can recognize and appreciate the improved performance that well-designed cables exhibit.

This is not tweak information or golden anything; rather it is simple science and objectivity.

The problem with perception and appreciation of quality cabling, is that they are rarely properly demonstrated; and this statement is entirely founded on whether the cables are actually quality higher performance cables or just different.

With so much industry hype and subjectivity as to what constitutes sense and non-sense; certainly we can all appreciate the confusion that mis-information constitutes.

For what it’s worth; I can consistently and reliability, demonstrate the objective improvements in any type of cabling. So long as the improvement is real, and the participant un-biased; it is really quite simple. Sometimes it takes more time with one or another, but at the conclusion, all agree. Otherwise, this endeavor is a complete waste of time, which I believe is the point of those that simplify cabling too much, and miss an inexpensive means of improving overall system performance that otherwise would be impossible; relative to the cost of components, of course.

It should be kept in mind that more often than not, poor quality cables interfere with the already acquired high quality system performance; quality cables simply allow that performance to be realized rather than interfered with.

I can go on about this forever, but I do after all wish to be brief and hopefully simple about this.

Thank You

[jibucha]

Hello Again

An example here at Blu-ray.com is HDMI Cables.

While most cables, whether cheap or expensive, are quality and performance wise identical; pricing is either extremely affordable or extremely expensive; this for what is essentially the same cable technically speaking.

This is well documented hear on threads relating to HDMI Cables, which most participants are well aware of with little time researching HDMI Threads.

So, it is commonly recognized that there are good cables available, for less than $10/meter, that are as good as cables costing into the hundreds of dollars.

Less well known on this site, to my knowledge, is that the technically best cables available, significantly better than any cables at any price, are available for less than $40/meter.

While the best cable costs say $30, the lesser quality cable is say $10.

However, in the general public awareness regarding HDMI Cables; popular perception is that cables costing hundreds of dollars are better than cable costing less than one hundred to almost an insignificant ten dollars.

Additionally, there is the brand name aspect to this dynamic.

This follow up to my first post, is to attempt to context in the HDMI Cable Situation, and insight into the Power Cord Situation, that while quality cables are available, have a higher cost, that that does not imply that they are ridiculously expensive, and most importantly, that they do improve noticeably to anyone, both the picture and sound – if one spends the time to find the good ones.


Thank You

[Beta Man]

High Priced power cables don't make a difference......


High quality and better designed power cables may though......

[Lucy Diamond]

Guitar player Eric Johnson can supposedly hear the difference between Duracell and Energizer batteries.

[DavidAg02]

Just like any hobby... some people just really like spending money on home theater gear. For a hardcore enthusiast, it doesn't really matter if the improvement justifies the cost.

Are there much better ways to spend that money? Sure! For one, I would dump that money into room treatments way before I upgrade my power cables.

[Beta Man]

Just to get some people focused here.....


WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT HDMI CABLES.

The OP clearly asked about Power Cables.

[fertacrit]

Fine...THEY ARE A WASTE OF MONEY

[Canada]

You should not spend that much money on cables ever.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by fertacrit

Fine...THEY ARE A WASTE OF MONEY

To YOU!

John

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by Lucy Diamond

Guitar player Eric Johnson can supposedly hear the difference between Duracell and Energizer batteries.

[jibucha]

Hello Again

I guess that this is because of my example to give insight to Power Cords that I used an analogy of HDMI Cables, as I thought that it would be more insightful given that the HDMI Cables threads lay a foundation for understanding relating to often discussed topics.

Reading this post, it appears that some attention might have switched to HDMI Cables as a topic.

I thought that I was clear; perhaps not.

I was in fact still talking about Power Cords; ok?

Thank You

Originally Posted by Beta Man

Just to get some people focused here.....


WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT HDMI CABLES.

The OP clearly asked about Power Cables.

[crackinhedz]

I wouldn't waste a dime on fancy cables. Just gimme ones that work.

[jibucha]

Once Again

Relating, perhaps more appropriately to the original topic; does it really matter?

Whether or not quality cables matter at all, of any type matter, is entirely an issue of whether improved performance from improved cables used in a system, either matter or are appreciated by you.

Better cables do offer improved performance, however, more expensive cables do not necessarily do so; hype products, definitely do have value.

All cables do not have the same sound; simply fact.

Regardless, if your perception is that all cables are the same, or you are unwilling to pay more than the baseline pricing of cables; then clearly, none of the issues of whether some cables are better than others is an issue at all.

I hope that this helps address the original post.

Thank You

[My_Two_Cents]

Originally Posted by jibucha

Hello

High Quality Cables, make a difference; however, just what constitutes a high quality cable is where this all gets confusing.

I am going to approach this in the simplest non-technical manner that I am able.

Regardless what the hype and it’s cost; there are significantly higher quality power cords available, which are in fact technically founded.

High quality power cords do not need to incur ridiculous cost, but understandably, they are more expensive than mass production power cords available simply for cost and value.

Having indicated this, there are extremely high quality cables available, which while more expensive than low quality cables; they are not obscenely expensive as so many of the hype cables offered today are.

Objectively, using test equipment and controlled listening and viewing environments; anyone can recognize and appreciate the improved performance that well-designed cables exhibit.

This is not tweak information or golden anything; rather it is simple science and objectivity.

The problem with perception and appreciation of quality cabling, is that they are rarely properly demonstrated; and this statement is entirely founded on whether the cables are actually quality higher performance cables or just different.

With so much industry hype and subjectivity as to what constitutes sense and non-sense; certainly we can all appreciate the confusion that mis-information constitutes.

For what it’s worth; I can consistently and reliability, demonstrate the objective improvements in any type of cabling. So long as the improvement is real, and the participant un-biased; it is really quite simple. Sometimes it takes more time with one or another, but at the conclusion, all agree. Otherwise, this endeavor is a complete waste of time, which I believe is the point of those that simplify cabling too much, and miss an inexpensive means of improving overall system performance that otherwise would be impossible; relative to the cost of components, of course.

It should be kept in mind that more often than not, poor quality cables interfere with the already acquired high quality system performance; quality cables simply allow that performance to be realized rather than interfered with.

I can go on about this forever, but I do after all wish to be brief and hopefully simple about this.

Thank You

No offense, but your post does not address my question. You state that you can prove your system will improve with better cables. How? I'm talking about plugging a standard power cable into a standard wall outlet. I've yet to hear convincing arguments that in this situation, a 'high-quality' power cable will do you any good. It's no different than connecting a 200lb rated chain to a long length of 50lb rated chain. The 200lb rated chain doesn't magically make the rest of the chain stronger, does it?

Now, if you have a dedicated circuit with upgraded wiring, power conditioners, etc..., I can see there may be an advantage to using a higher quality power cord. Simply saying "I can prove the advantage in a lab" does not mean it is applicable in a real-world application.

By the way, I'm not considering any type of power cord upgrade. To me, this is as big of a money waster as buying "certain" HDMI cables. I've just been curious to know why some do, and what the science is behind it in the real world. From the other posts, I believe I have a better understanding...somewhat.

[crackinhedz]

Originally Posted by Ricshoe

It's no different than connecting a 200lb rated chain to a long length of 50lb rated chain. The 200lb rated chain doesn't magically make the rest of the chain stronger, does it?

...or like buying 12 guage speaker wire, when the wire inside the speaker connected to the driver is only 16 guage.