I have solid interconnects and speaker cable, but I was perplexed by the notion that the power cable that comes with your power source and preamp is somehow inadequate. It seems like another thing to try to market and sell to unsuspecting enthusiasts of an expensive hobby.
Personally, I don't think so, the main goal of the power cable is to power your sub, receiver, preamp... the only difference is probably shielding, and that issue can be lowered by having good shielded sound and video cables, and make sure you don't have them running side-by-side. If anything I would put that money on a power stabilizer or a UPS for critical systems....
Han is dead on here with his answer. All I would add is... If you spend some money on room acoustics you will get a better return for your dollar.
I agree. In my view if a power cable can make an audible difference it would only be if absolutely everything else were perfect ... which it never is. Assuming (a BIG assumption) that all electronics are perfect, before a power cable could possibly have any audible impact the power would have to be pristeen ... requiring a multi $thousand power conditioner. And this ignores the MUCH more important impact of room resonances, etc. which, unless you have perfectly tuned the room with bass traps, absorbtion panels, etc won't be the case. Expecting an audible improvement from a power cable is like expecting that leather seats will make a car accelerate faster when the windows are open! I can think of dozens of ways to better benefit from the $100+ one would spend on one of these special cables. I suspect that people that buy them believe in the tooth fairy, God and horoscopes too.
No. However you can easily make your own high end cables buying iec connectors on line or if your gear does'nt have iec connectors, you can solder new cable in to it. I made my own 12 gauge cable with Wattgate interconnects, nice attractive wrap and 12 gauge entension cord I purchased at Walmart (50 feet made me a lot of power cords- cost me $16 for the extension and $10-12 per IEC connector and $16 for 50' of wrap ). Noticeable improvement? No, not at all- but my cable looks just as high end and as pretty as the fancy $100-300 stuff. If your scared of making your own cables, check out OKorder. There is a seller out there offering some really good looking cable ( I think it's 12g-14g ) priced at around $60. The home theater market is BIG business and there are companies out there with so many exaggerated claims about their products that it's mind-boggling. Well, gotta run, I need to put a line conditioner on my refrigerator so that it keeps my food fresher.... LOL.
For the level of equipment that most people have it will not be a noticeable difference. In fact in the ultra high end equipment side it doesn't make a huge difference anyway. However those who want the absolute best possible sound spare no expense and will look for the absolute in quality, even if that means spending $10,000 on a pair of speaker interconnects for what most consumers would consider a diminished return and not worth it. Use my 10% rule as a good place to start for interconnects and power cables, but always audition what you buy and if you don't see hear a diference or don't think it is worth it, take it back. But please do not critisice those of us that strive for the perfect sound and image.
