mains cables

[Deleted member 188516]

Hi Doug,
Having just rejoined after a long absence, this is probably far too contentious to argue for or against. My own personal experience is that following 46 years of using the supplied cables, my dealer convinced a very sceptical me to try one. Within the week, I had bought two more. There is no fool like an old one, I know, but my ears were convinced. Like all equipment, is it possible that not all mains cables are created equally as I’m sure the negative views and experiences are highly valid? Mine are Audioquest NRG Z3. He wanted me to buy a niagra conditioner thing, but I drew the line at that. My dad was an electrical engineer, hifi enthusiast and assisted Dan McDonald in design elements of the BSR Turntables post WW2. Should have stuck with him as eventually employed 17000 in 3 factories making 80% of the worlds TT. His advice: route mains cables away from other cables, never coil/ loop them to avoid induction loops and put a decent fuse in the plug. Don’t know what he would have made of this discussion but there were no Wi-fi, mobiles, computers smart devices etc. filling our listening environment with interference in his day.

may i ask did you used to use the forum name "oldphrt" ?

 

[Deleted member 188516]

I have my own views on this but can't write them here as I guarantee a ban will undoubtedly follow!

give us your view i'm interested.
(if the forum bans you that would be daft as its your opinion which your entitled to).

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Hi Doug,
Having just rejoined after a long absence, this is probably far too contentious to argue for or against. My own personal experience is that following 46 years of using the supplied cables, my dealer convinced a very sceptical me to try one. Within the week, I had bought two more. There is no fool like an old one, I know, but my ears were convinced. Like all equipment, is it possible that not all mains cables are created equally as I’m sure the negative views and experiences are highly valid? Mine are Audioquest NRG Z3. He wanted me to buy a niagra conditioner thing, but I drew the line at that. My dad was an electrical engineer, hifi enthusiast and assisted Dan McDonald in design elements of the BSR Turntables post WW2. Should have stuck with him as eventually employed 17000 in 3 factories making 80% of the worlds TT. His advice: route mains cables away from other cables, never coil/ loop them to avoid induction loops and put a decent fuse in the plug. Don’t know what he would have made of this discussion but there were no Wi-fi, mobiles, computers smart devices etc. filling our listening environment with interference in his day.

I value your input, thank you. Personally, I have never heard these magical differences between cables. Do they exist, or are our heads playing tricks on us?... The jury will be forever out on this one

 

[Deleted member 108165]

give us your view i'm interested.
(if the forum bans you that would be daft as its your opinion which your entitled to).

You may be interested but I am not.

 

[TrevC]

iec plug:-

Russ Andrews - Hi-Fi mains and cable specialist

Leading manufacturer and retailer of Hi-Fi mains cables, mains conditioning products and Kimber Kable interconnects and speaker cable. Est 1986.

www.russandrews.com

iec socket :-
(as commonly found on amplifiers...)

6100.3200 | Schurter C14 Panel Mount IEC Connector Male, 15A, 250 V | RS

uk.rs-online.com

I got you on a technicality. The IEC plug is on the amplifier, the socket is on the end of the lead. It would be a bit dangerous the other way round.

 

[TrevC]

Hi Doug,
Having just rejoined after a long absence, this is probably far too contentious to argue for or against. My own personal experience is that following 46 years of using the supplied cables, my dealer convinced a very sceptical me to try one. Within the week, I had bought two more. There is no fool like an old one, I know, but my ears were convinced. Like all equipment, is it possible that not all mains cables are created equally as I’m sure the negative views and experiences are highly valid? Mine are Audioquest NRG Z3. He wanted me to buy a niagra conditioner thing, but I drew the line at that. My dad was an electrical engineer, hifi enthusiast and assisted Dan McDonald in design elements of the BSR Turntables post WW2. Should have stuck with him as eventually employed 17000 in 3 factories making 80% of the worlds TT. His advice: route mains cables away from other cables, never coil/ loop them to avoid induction loops and put a decent fuse in the plug. Don’t know what he would have made of this discussion but there were no Wi-fi, mobiles, computers smart devices etc. filling our listening environment with interference in his day.

The science is settled and has been for many years, you are imagining there are differences in performance with mains stuff. It is not possible. You aren’t alone, look at the mains lead reviews on WHF!

 

[newlash09]

I usually dodge cable threads. But one guy whose ears i trust, told me that the addition of a less loss mains cable to his dac , removed the wooly boomy bass he had. He is running ATC scm40's. As for myself...I've never bothered myself to try to be honest. But these things seem to work for some and not for others. So its probably a suck it and see case

 

[iMark]

Expectation bias is one of the wonders of the universe.

 

[Oldfart]

The science is settled and has been for many years, you are imagining there are differences in performance with mains stuff. It is not possible. You aren’t alone, look at the mains lead reviews on WHF!

Thanks Trev,
I’m happily deluded. Taking delivery of some DALI Epicon 6s next week. Usually I play one of my favourite SACDs for an initial impression, but instead I will seek out the Temptations on Tidal and play “ it’s just my imagination, running away with me”

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

I often give thanks that we have people who make almost no contribution to the forum, other than popping up every now and again to tell us how deluded we are.

 

[Deleted member 188516]

You may be interested but I am not.

yet you continue to post on this forum !

 

[Deleted member 108165]

yet you continue to post on this forum !

Do you have a problem with me posting on this forum? It appears that you do.

 

[Deleted member 188516]

Do you have a problem with me posting on this forum? It appears that you do.

not really but you seem to have a problem with me !

 

[Mike Hunt]

I often give thanks that we have people who make almost no contribution to the forum, other than popping up every now and again to tell us how deluded we are.

An injection of facts should always be welcomed.

 

[GSV Ethics Gradient]

You can't conceivably have thought I was talking about you, surely...?

 

[Mike Hunt]

You can't conceivably have thought I was talking about you, surely...?

Of course not, although it would be much easier to have an official 'Snake Oil' thread, containing a list of known snake oil products. It'd save people having to ask the same questions over and over, and it'd prevent a fair few arguments.

 

[Adam W.]

Sometimes I think my HiFi system sounds really good and I thoroughly enjoy listening to the music. I even feel like I'm discovering new bits of detail I previously missed. It's a great time!

Sometimes I sit back and play some music, the same music I enjoy, and it just doesn't seem to sound as good. I'm just not feeling it. I'm not hearing what I want to hear. It's not as satisfying.

Nothing has changed other than the date and time.

Anyone else experience this?

 

[Mike Hunt]

Sometimes I think my HiFi system sounds really good and I thoroughly enjoy listening to the music. I even feel like I'm discovering new bits of detail I previously missed. It's a great time!

Sometimes I sit back and play some music, the same music I enjoy, and it just doesn't seem to sound as good. I'm just not feeling it. I'm not hearing what I want to hear. It's not as satisfying.

Nothing has changed other than the date and time.

Anyone else experience this?

Everybody experiences that.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

Sometimes I think my HiFi system sounds really good and I thoroughly enjoy listening to the music. I even feel like I'm discovering new bits of detail I previously missed. It's a great time!

Sometimes I sit back and play some music, the same music I enjoy, and it just doesn't seem to sound as good. I'm just not feeling it. I'm not hearing what I want to hear. It's not as satisfying.

Nothing has changed other than the date and time.

Anyone else experience this?

What Mike says... Human physiology and psychology is a strange thing, we are complex creatures. If you're not it the right mood it won't sound as good, if you're in the right mood then... hell yeah!

 

[newlash09]

Sometimes I think my HiFi system sounds really good and I thoroughly enjoy listening to the music. I even feel like I'm discovering new bits of detail I previously missed. It's a great time!

Sometimes I sit back and play some music, the same music I enjoy, and it just doesn't seem to sound as good. I'm just not feeling it. I'm not hearing what I want to hear. It's not as satisfying.

Nothing has changed other than the date and time.

Anyone else experience this?

Please don't burn me up the stake

Most electrical equipment in the house, including even led lights, and the newer small box fan regulators dump a lot of electrical noise back into the mains. Not to mention televisions, refrigerators and geysers etc. So usually at night, when most of these equipment is off, the music might sound more pleasant, due to the reduced noise on the mains. In my room, when I change the fan speed, I could hear a audible click through the speakers.

The snake oil power cables, claim to do some filtering via the material and cable lay / symmetry used. And also claim to insulate from air borne emi/RF better. But if one has clean power, ideally a shielded mains cable should be all that is required. These are cheap, and can be made diy under 15 pounds per meter.

My friends got some exotic lessloss cables from the USA at usd 1650 per meter. And claimed great results when used on their dacs. They offered me a try, but i politely declined, as I didn't want to tread down the cable rabbit hole.

 

[Friesiansam]

Of course not, although it would be much easier to have an official 'Snake Oil' thread, containing a list of known snake oil products. It'd save people having to ask the same questions over and over, and it'd prevent a fair few arguments.

You could do but, who's going to sit down for a week to read through it all before posting?

 

[Mike Hunt]

You could do but, who's going to sit down for a week to read through it all before posting?

It could easily be condensed to not many lines.
Any cable costing more than £10/meter, or manufactured by a company that swaps a C for a K
Any fuse costing more than 50p
Anything manufactured, sold or endorsed by Russ Andrews.

etc.

 

[newlash09]

It could easily be condensed to not many lines.
Any cable costing more than £10/meter, or manufactured by a company that swaps a C for a K
Any fuse costing more than 50p
Anything manufactured, sold or endorsed by Russ Andrews.

etc.

Hello sir

I would advocate trying these snake oil cables for yourselves before dismissing them entirely. Some of the ears i most trust have reported immense gains by using these very snake oil cables. I run my system on power generators, so I don't need any filterance within the power cable itself. So I've never been tempted to try my friends exotic power cables. But I would not entirely dismiss them, just because I didn't try them,

And please take it easy.. iam not here to start a debate

 

[Deleted member 160668]

This.

I wrote a long post before, pages ago, then deleted afterward because I just can't arsed.

I only keep things that I like and that make a difference (to me).

Maybe I have golden ears (yeah right). Maybe my ears are more sensitive (I'm no doubt much younger than the typical demographic).
Maybe it's all bollocks.

Mine are staying. That's my last contribution to this thread. Have fun folks.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

not really but you seem to have a problem with me !

Don't have a problem with you, you seem a decent chap and some of your posts are informative. It's just I don't understand your obsession with cables... I guess we'll always be polar opposites regarding this subject