When components are linked together and safety grounds are used then ground currents can couple to the circuits. These are not just 50hz and 60 hz components and can carry audio. Therefore there is a mechanism by which power cords can affect sound and why the old yet often repeated sarcastic mockery (usually advanced as if it is the height of wit) "you need single crystal wire right back to the powerstation" says more about the maker of the statement than his targets.
It's true that ground currents can get into the signal path when single-ended interconnects are used. To my mind this is an example of why single-ended connections are inherently troublesome, and balanced connections are superior for serious fidelity.
Interesting! can you please explain the science here or at least the mechanism by which an upgrade power cable will better negate this effect you describe? Are you saying it acts as some kind of a filter? If so why not just use a filter?
No I am not mentioning and have not mentioned anything about an "upgrade". However, cables with a different ground impedance to that of a reference cable will result in different ground currents flowing to the same system with the reference cable. Power cords with different electrical characteristics will, not might, alter ground currents compared to others.
The filter you talk about will probably do nothing at all about inter-chassis ground currents, most filter phase and or neutral only.
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How? it's just a piece of wire, it's either connected or it isn't. If you are recommending using say 2.5mm dia conductors as opposed to 1.5mm then I suppose I can go with that. After all it would only cost us a few quid to make such a cable to see if it makes any difference.
Spending a lot of money on a mains cable is fallacy. It's still just a short length of mains flex.
Spending a lot of money on a mains cable is fallacy. It's still just a short length of mains flex.
The title of this thread is "can a power cord affect sound quality". Not "can an expensive power cord affect sound quality". I have demonstrated a mechanism where it might, since the electrical characteristic of the cord will alter the ground currents. If you require more, about for instance how varying EM fields are induced into wires and why therefore ground currents carry more than 50 or 60hz components,I will need to come back to you, since I am at work and should really be concentrating on that right now! A hint though none of this is esoteric and can be easily looked up.
Rob.
Spending a lot of money on a mains cable is fallacy.
spending a lot of money on anything is fallacy
but if someone like to build mains cables because they like the fancy look, fine
if someone can afford to buy them, its their money
and if anyone think it improves their sound ... well, whatever
any improvement is bound to pass soon anyway
spending a lot of money on anything is fallacy
but if someone like to build mains cables because they like the fancy look, fine
if someone can afford to buy them, its their money
and if anyone think it improves their sound ... well, whatever
any improvement is bound to pass soon anyway
Robert, you are very correct.
They can get into the signal path of a balanced interconnect as well. Pin 1 problems.
Also, the typical equipment we use is capable of creating ground loop audio currents as well as being susceptible to them.
I note that in the last 10 years, very few understand this. It boggles my mind.
jn
Whatever the pros & cons of balanced interconnection, this is a very good question.
So you are saying that one wire will have a different resistance than another? Also, you are saying that one piece of wire will intuitively know not to transfer noise while another one will not? Nonsense.
Current does not seek the path of least resistance to ground, it seeks all paths to ground. As long as the ground is properly connected then it will make no difference in sound. It is a piece of wire. A piece of wire has no inherent characteristic over another piece when it comes to noise rejection in a power cord. A power cord is a balanced circuit.
A properly sized power cord will not make a difference in sound compared to another properly sized power cord. I say properly sized as this will ensure that the voltage and current supplied by the cord will meet spec without resistance. A smaller cord will restrict the power supply demands, this is not the same thing as this piece of wire sounds better than that one because that physically cannot make that difference.
I'm agreeing with Brian. I don't know about everyone else here but all of my three-prong male plugs go into the same power conditioner's array of receptacles and it has one ground to my wall. Safety green-wire grounds are not supposed to carry any current unless there is a fault in the equipment they serve so they are connected to "accessible" conductive parts of the enclosure. Areas where people can touch. If a live conductor happens to fault to said metallic parts the fault current travels back to the panel via green wire and opens the fuse or breaker. Otherwise they do nothing and again, should be joined as a star-ground to one outlet or one AC manifold like a strip or multi-receptacle filter/conditioner. That's an example of my "whole house" water filtration system for dirty and/or distasteful utility water delivered to your home. Once cleansed, clean water is manifolded out to all faucets.
Balanced connection just means that the audio is 2-wire differential. The "receiver" has no interest in anything that's the same on the two wires. It is only interested in the difference between the two wires. Both wires can have 50Vac riding on them but the receiver only sees the 0.5V ac audio signal. That's why they are great when you have very distant source and receiver. Who cares about ground diffs? Don't connect/ground the shields at both ends. Bad joo-joo. Excellent for outdoor concerts, traveling shows, etc. David Gilmore's amp is at one ground potential or mistakenly ungrounded and the mixing panel is running off a generator with a stake driven into the dirt for a ground. For us, it's kinda silly.
Balanced connection just means that the audio is 2-wire differential. The "receiver" has no interest in anything that's the same on the two wires. It is only interested in the difference between the two wires. Both wires can have 50Vac riding on them but the receiver only sees the 0.5V ac audio signal. That's why they are great when you have very distant source and receiver. Who cares about ground diffs? Don't connect/ground the shields at both ends. Bad joo-joo. Excellent for outdoor concerts, traveling shows, etc. David Gilmore's amp is at one ground potential or mistakenly ungrounded and the mixing panel is running off a generator with a stake driven into the dirt for a ground. For us, it's kinda silly.
Does anyone here think that recording studios uses anything other than the manufacturer-supplied power cords for their equipment? I can tell you with certainty that they do not. If the major recording studios don't use special power cords, how is it possible that some high-priced electrical cord could possibly make an audible difference when playing a recording from these studios?
Racks full of gear which have balanced inputs and outputs for their long interconnects. "Infamous for grounding problems?" Every studio that I've designed had no grounding problems.
Get a grip on reality. Power cords, if properly sized, do not make an audible difference in the performance of audio electronics.
Get a grip on reality. Power cords, if properly sized, do not make an audible difference in the performance of audio electronics.
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