Are all power cords the same?

[Headphone Czar]

I compared my Zu Mobius PC which was over 200 for 6FT, but got mine new on Ebay for 60.00, to my 20.00 PC, and noticed a lowered noise floor and had a better black ground.. I don't want to get into plecebo talk. Since the PS3 allows for a after market PC, would it be worth my wild to get one instead of using the stock PS. My Zu PC is connected to my receiver.. I'm using a Panamax 4300 as my power center/surge protector. Thanks.

[dhitoshi]

I have upgraded ALL my power cords to Audioquest NRG-2 & NRG-1.5 and they do make a difference. Electricians wire with romex which is solid-core not stranded wire such as most power cords. All Audioquest cables are solid core minus their entry level speaker wire. The AQ NRG series are also a larger gauge wire than the usual 16 awg power cords that come in the box with gear.

[naturephoto1]

Good power chords as well as good cabling (speaker, ICs,Coax, Optical, etc.) can most definitely have an affect on the sound. Frequently heavier gauge power chords contribute as of course the cable itself, shielding, and the connectors. This may be quite noticed in bass response.

Rich

[H9k_]

No.

But you get way better and safer results with a good power conditioner. No matter how "good" a power cord is.. if you feed it with s**t from the wall power outlet it can only deliver what it is fed.

[dhitoshi]

Many customers at the Hi-Fi store I work at will buy a Panamax M5300PM or M5400PM over the lower priced models since these 2 models have a detachable power cord. I needed at least 2 extra feet of power cord and I had upgraded all my other equipment's power cords so I changed out my M5400PM's cord also with a Audioquest NRG-2

[BLURAYSONYES]

Even purchasing the most thickest baddest of any cable we all use for Home Theater except for HDMI wont make that much of a big difference because whats inside of those unit or power outlets are regular normal wires. Try this...take off your speakers off their cabinet. Do you see them using super thick speaker wires inside your speaker cabinets?

[Gremal]

I never imagined it could make a difference until I actually compared several very different cords, including an Electra Glide Fatman (this was back around 2001), a Mapleshade cord that I believe was called DNA, a stock cord and a few others. Each one sounded considerably different--some clearly had a negative or positive impact on the overall sound. We used the cord feeding my amp, but I also noticed an effect on the disc machine.

[richteer]

Power cords, like all other cables in one's (audio) system, can have a noticable effect on the PQ and AQ. The best thing to do would be to experiment with a few to see if you notice an improvement, and whether that improvement justifies the cost of the cable.

Keep things proportionate: I wouldn't recommend spending (say) $1000 for a power cable that's connected to a $500 receiver!

[fparais]

People need to understand that the electricity which feed your electronics do a long journey trough kilometers of cables. Power cord have a quality higher than the the rest of the electrical network. So do you really thing it change something. In fact the conductor in those cord will affect the signal in a way that it will affect the sound or video of your gear. You will like the effect or not. Same thing as power conditionner : Sometime it is too much . Your gears contains already electrical filters. they were calibrated to work with standard current from your electrical outlet. I've been there, and last year i sold my power conditionner and my power cords because after a year i decided to listen my equipements without that stuff. I can say after listening to both world that i preffer the sound without that stuff.
I have good interconnect and speaker cables , but now i'm not going overboard with those items.

[dhitoshi]

Originally Posted by BLURAYSONYES

Even purchasing the most thickest baddest of any cable we all use for Home Theater except for HDMI wont make that much of a big difference because whats inside of those unit or power outlets are regular normal wires. Try this...take off your speakers off their cabinet. Do you see them using super thick speaker wires inside your speaker cabinets?

Measure the length of the wire inside your speaker. Maybe 24 inches from crossover to driver if that? Most speaker wire runs from amp to speaker are at least 10 feet. The longer the length of wire the more resistance, hence larger gauge wires are recommended even by a speaker manufacturer. At the store I will demo for people (2) 10ft pairs of wire with the A/B switch on a 2 channel receiver.
(1) pair of basic Audioquest Flex 16/2 stranded wire
(1) pair of the entry level Audioquest solid-core wire Type 2
Most people assume that there is no difference between speaker wire, but everyone who listens to the demo agrees that the solid-core copper has more detail and better bass performance.
It always amazes me at how people read some article ONLINE from an "expert" and without listening for themselves believe that all cables are the same.
The other item to mention is re-wiring a speaker's internal wires will make a huge difference. Even expensive speakers usually have mediocre wire inside. It takes about an hour at most on a pair of speakers and is well worth the effort.

[Headphone Czar]

Would the iron lung be a good choice?

[bhampton]

Are all power cords the same?

No... The european ones have funny connectors on them.

I've always thought cables and cords didn't make any difference till I tried running the theater without them... Big difference... Night and Day. Black levels were great and the noise floor disappeared completely but picture quality and sound quality were basically non-existent.

=Brian

[Hammie]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Are all power cords the same?

No... The european ones have funny connectors on them.

I've always thought cables and cords didn't make any difference till I tried running the theater without them... Big difference... Night and Day. Black levels were great and the noise floor disappeared completely but picture quality and sound quality were basically non-existent.

=Brian

[gearyt]

Once it hits the wall,, IF 20 amp - 12 gauge, 15 amp - 14 gauge
think 6' will make a difference of a 100' run ??