How to make an audiophile power cord...

[pucho812]

https://www.facebook.com/1713075602318559/posts/1784898521802933?d=n&sfns=mo

 

[ubxf]

well that doesn't look like totally crazy (one size up from what's in the wall and some proper shielding seems reasonable) . Price might be another story

 

[pucho812]

well that doesn't look like totally crazy (one size up from what's in the wall and some proper shielding seems reasonable) . Price might be another story

True but if you want to roll one, can easily do this one for less money than they sell for.

 

[Gold]

The Belden 12ga three conductor with shield I have is like $4/ft. A good Hubble connector is about $20. I didn’t look at the price but it could easily be $60 in non crazy parts.

 

[ubxf]

Do you feel that it's necessary to use this type of power chord for every piece of gear in the studio ; or only gear that draws a lot of power like a tube amp. I was gifted one and to me it is a little cumbersome to use because of lack of flexibility, it even stresses the power socket in equipment.

 

[pucho812]

Hmmmm. Necessary? Not to this extent.

 

[JohnRoberts]

Do you feel that it's necessary to use this type of power chord for every piece of gear in the studio ; or only gear that draws a lot of power like a tube amp. I was gifted one and to me it is a little cumbersome to use because of lack of flexibility, it even stresses the power socket in equipment.

It has been a while since I ranted about this....  8)

If a different line cord makes an audible difference to an audio product, that suggests either you replaced a faulty line cord, or encountered a faulty product (PS) design.

JR

PS: Line cords need to be sized appropriately for current draw but this is unlikely to be an issue for other than very high power amplifiers.

 

[Tubetec]

I did once need to make up a heavy duty screened mains cable for my Amek switcher PSU, as far as I remember I connected the screen only at the equipment end  where it connected to the ground wire ,at the plug end I insulated the screen  and just connected the green/yellow wire to ground ,  I'd be interested to know which way people like to wire theirs ,screen connected at equipment or plug end , I cant see any point in screen and ground connected at both ends.

 

[pucho812]

typical  molded IEC power cords are anywhere from 18-14 AWG wires

 

[ubxf]

i charged a car through one of these typical extension cord and almost started a fire. Now  i have a dedicated  8awg line straight from the breaker.

 

[JohnRoberts]

i charged a car through one of these typical extension cord and almost started a fire. Now  i have a dedicated  8awg line straight from the breaker.

When you purchase a new extension cord it notes AWG and rated current... I own several, some heavy (for heavy loads) and some wimpy for wimpy loads.

How heavy was the line cord attached to the battery charger? Did the charger OM give advice about sizing extension cords?

JR

 

[PRR]

> Line cords need to be sized appropriately for current draw but this is unlikely to be an issue for other than very high power amplifiers.

In the US, the minimum line-cord can "safely" pop a 20 Amp fuse. And is typically rated for 13A steady. That's like 1,500 Watts. So as you say, only the hungriest stuff could possibly feel short-changed with a minimum line cord.

 

[JohnRoberts]

For today's dose of TMI, back last century when I was working in the audio trenches UL made us put 30A camper line cords on 3kW+ audio power amplifiers. It appears they were conflating peak current draw with continuous power.

When I saw competitor products at a trade show with normal line cords and UL approval I had my in-house agency approval guy look into it. It turned out that the east coast UL office was giving different approval advice than the west coast UL office (which was more sensible for a change). I called the east coast office and suggested they get on the same page as their west coast buddies.  8)

JR 

 

[Phrazemaster]

Do you feel that it's necessary to use this type of power chord for every piece of gear in the studio ; or only gear that draws a lot of power like a tube amp. I was gifted one and to me it is a little cumbersome to use because of lack of flexibility, it even stresses the power socket in equipment.

I like to use certain power chords for certain songs. I always thought C - Ab and back to C was a particularly nice set of power chords.

Now, connecting to the wall, I like to use power cords.

 

[Speedskater]

The UL standard is 180 pages long:

UL 817 - CORD SETS AND POWER-SUPPLY CORDS

 

[pucho812]

The UL standard is 180 pages long:

UL 817 - CORD SETS AND POWER-SUPPLY CORDS

that's a lot of pages.