While by now it seems there are no longer any doubts about the importance of using signal and loudspeaker cables of adequate quality, there are many doubts regarding special power cables. The question that enthusiasts frequently ask themselves is: does improve the setup a special power cable when all the network line in the house is made up of poor quality cables?

 

Before answering this question it is good to establish the following points:

 

• if a device sounds good, it also sounds good with the PC cable;

• if a device sounds bad it will not be a power cord that will miraculously;

• if a device sounds good, with a good power cord it will sound better;

• power cords are less characterized than signal or loudspeaker cables;

• size matters: larger conductors, shielded power cords, connectors with larger contact areas make the sound better;

• the realization is important: a badly connected plug can invalidate the result;

• handling matters: a complement must not only work well and safely, it must also avoid any problem when you use it;

• we are talking about optimization, that is, small improvements on good quality systems already developed: if you have speakers at the top of the bookcase, the neighbors who do not let you listen to the Home Theater, the amplifier recovered from the Japanese rack of the ' 95 or use the PlayStation as a CD player then keep calm and save time and money  because you don't need anything else than a PC power cord.

 

Let's now analyze the problems that a standard power cable can give and what are the technical solutions to eliminate them with the use of a special power cord.

 

1) Immunity from electromagnetic disturbances. Each HiFi device behaves like an antenna at the same time transmitting and receiving as its operation creates an electromagnetic field around it and injects a series of disturbances of various entities into the electrical network that pollute the already disastrous pre-existing situation. Therefore, the first fundamental prerequisite that a good power cable must have is that it must be shielded or have a braiding made of conductive material (copper, for example) inside which the conductors can pass. This simple device obviously has a dual function: to protect against interference, effectively limiting the receiving power and to prevent the device's own interference from being transmitted to the outside. A good sock must be rather thick and tightly woven. What happens beyond the socket is, of course, very important but not only can we not do anything about it, unless we want to rewire the whole electrical system of the house with audiophile criteria, but the more we move away from the sources of interference (read appliances) and less their influence on power cables is bad.

 

2) Immunity from microphonic and mechanical disturbances . The sound waves produced by a HiFi system are mechanical vibrations that are transmitted through any type of material. These vibrations can go in the system causing a phenomenon called acoustic feedback : the system amplifies again the signal it has just reproduced through the speakers. The same passage of the alternating current inside a power cable and the sudden variations of the voltage and of the current request by the musical program exert mechanical actions on the conductors of anything but negligible entity. To try to block the resonances inside the cable as much as possible, it is necessary to use particular techniques: extremely dense and rigid shielding sleeves, add an additional dielectric braiding and a rigid sheath, introduce damping materials inside the cable itself.