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I need a Power Cable for my Egnater Mod50


bubs_42

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I've heard good things about the Volex 17504 power cord. I picked up the info on Audiogon, a high end audio forum. Some guys there say that this industrial-style shielded cable (most low cost ones are not shielded) from Volex is competitive with $100-250 high end audio cables. I haven't used one myself yet.

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I've heard good things about the Volex 17504 power cord. I picked up the info on Audiogon, a high end audio forum. Some guys there say that this industrial-style shielded cable (most low cost ones are not shielded) from Volex is competitive with $100-250 high end audio cables. I haven't used one myself yet.

Of course it is, it's #14, the same as in your home, you can't get more out then you put in.

Lately, I've been making "over the top" #10 and #12 power cables for some guys (including for myself) "just because" and it kills me the claims some people have for their cables.

I had one sales guy telling me how great his new power cables were at only $450, and he figured they'd have 8% less losses... I told him I could easily cut the losses on the stock 5 foot cable by 20%!

Cut it a foot shorter.

Having a gauge that's bigger for the last 5 feet then the 60-100 feet in the wall to your panel is a riot. Specially if other items are plugged into the same receptacle or even the same circuit somewhere else in the house. People just don't get that there's more of a difference between plugging your amp into the receptacle on the right of your gear, then the one on the left (because one is closer to the panel, that's 10 feet and one connection less of losses... but it still counts for squat...) then a $450-$7,000 power cable. And I defy anyone can tell which one is closer to the panel by sound (heck it's seldom even the one you think should be closer, it depends which way the electrician ran the line).

The other laugh is Audio Grade Receptacles. There is no such grade, people just made up the name and assigned it to their stuff to sucker in people looking to treat themselves. Through my day job, (electrical and robotics) I had a long talk with a receptacle manufacturer recently about their products. He was quite clear, residential receptacles are designed to have a lamp plugged in in 1972... and left there until 1979... They're not great, with not a lot of in and out life, but they do pass 15+ amps continuously (and massive peaks too) at the rated 120 volts, and that's all they need to do.

Commercial/Industrial ones have a tighter connection and more contact surface area. Not for better conduction like many people believe, as they're all rated the same, but just so things don't pull out during use and to take more wear and tear. They also usually have a more 3D face to make it easier for people to be plugging in and out constantly, like nightly floor polishers or various power tools swapped in all day and such. Hospital Grade receptacles, the ones audio guys seem to prefer... are commercial ones, but with a different plastic face that's more resistant to chemicals spills, and the copper works inside are plated for the very same reason. And arguably, they conduct less then the commercial ones (OK, you'd be hard pressed to even measure the difference). I asked why they didn't make an audio grade, and he said they do, but only OEM for someone else, who sells them for a hundred bucks with gold plated screws holding the plastic parts together... and that industry scrutiny would laugh them off the market if they released them under their own name.

I think it's a riot the ones with gold plating (gold is a worse conductor then copper or silver) are cheaper then the silver plated "super conducting" ones... even though the only difference is the plating, and gold is a lot more expensive then silver.

P.S. the voltage of the average American home varies by 5 to 15 volts a day, so anyone thinking that they're getting that .0001 extra volt with a zillion dollar cable is kind'a silly.

P.S.S. I use shielded power cables (like the ones above, and I use the shortest length I can get away with) specially for things with switching power supplies (computers, Blue-ray players etc). Unlike shielded guitar cords where you're trying to keep noise out, with power cables you're trying to stop them from broadcasting noise near other susceptible cables close by.... like guitar cords and audio interconnects.

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Of course it is, it's #14, the same as in your home, you can't get more out then you put in.

Having a gauge that's bigger for the last 5 feet then the 60-100 feet in the wall to your panel is a riot.

Commercial/Industrial ones have a tighter connection and more contact surface area. Not for better conduction like many people believe, as they're all rated the same, but just so things don't pull out during use and to take more wear and tear.

Hospital Grade receptacles, the ones audio guys seem to prefer... are commercial ones, but with a different plastic face that's more resistant to chemicals spills, and the copper works inside are plated for the very same reason.

I asked why they didn't make an audio grade, and he said they do, but only OEM for someone else, who sells them for a hundred bucks with gold plated screws holding the plastic parts together... and that industry scrutiny would laugh them off the market if they released them under their own name.

I think it's a riot the ones with gold plating (gold is a worse conductor then copper or silver) are cheaper then the silver plated "super conducting" ones... even though the only difference is the plating, and gold is a lot more expensive then silver.

Hey Armitage...thanks for a couple of refreshing bits of sanity in an otherwise totally insane world.

Most people never think about the fact that you will never get any benefit whatsoever by using a power cord that is a larger gauge than the wiring you are plugging it into...the audiophile places would be screwed if that got out :lol:

We build a lot of stuff with "hospital grade" AC power cords and according to the manufacturer of the cord sets the major difference is the much higher force required to unplug them...so that nurse can't trip on the cord and pull the plug on your ventilator!

The gold mystique is another great one. Conductivity of metals is most often expressed as percent IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard) and copper is rated 100. Silver is rated 105 but gold is only rated 70. Gold is used for its resistance to oxidation not its conductivity.

If you think you can hear the difference you probably have a case of "Eric Johnson syndrome" :lol:

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Yeah, the conductivity of metals thing gets to be a total riot when it's only a plating... and a few microns thick! But of course, no matter how many times it's proven to audiophiles that skin effect has no effect at the frequencies, lengths and wire gauge used in audio eqipment... they still want to believe it's a serious problem... so they still think they can hear a difference... but can never hear it in a blind A/B test.

BTW, just because an interconnect says it's gold plated, doesn't mean it's plated with Gold! Gold is a COLOR too! Lots are just gold colored nickel/tin or chrome.

It's funny, The Amazing Randy (a paranormal and pseudo science debunker and ex-magician) has a Million Dollar Offer if anyone can prove they can hear the difference between a typical Best Buy audio interconnect, and anything more expensive or even technically better... (but not including speaker cables), and no one has claimed the prize. One company who made a $7000 interconnect tried to claim it... and failed. You'd think if any of these company's (or cable owners) could prove it, they'd want that million bucks, I know I could use it, but they know they're selling B.S. The active and high impedance of the input and outputs of audio gear and the lengths used... make even measurable differences insignificant.

Note that guitars (with passive pickups) and guitar cables are a different thing altogether.

re Hospital Grade:

In the early '80s I set up a bunch of equipment at St Joe's Hospital in Hamilton, and one of the biggest problems was the then new Hospital Grade plugs... The little Filipino nurses just couldn't unplug the equipment anymore, so they started wrapping the cords around their wrists and giving the cords a serious yank... soon the cords started failing. It was a lot more work, and took a lot more time, to have someone come repair a cord, then to just plug one back in.

Which reminds me of the "Bed of Death" story I was told back then;

Apparently there was a big hospital in South Africa with one bed in intensive care that had more deaths then any other, by a huge margin! It turned out that at night, the cleaners would come in to do the floors, they'd unplug a piece of equipment to plug in their floor polishers and when they were done they plug it back in... sometimes too late.

( I always questioned the story, everything important we had would buzz if it got unpluged... but maybe they just had old stuff, cheap low end stuff, faulty hand-me-downs or just no one would respond... I don't know... wasn't there... but it was a good story ).

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Which reminds me of the "Bed of Death" story I was told back then;

Apparently there was a big hospital in South Africa with one bed in intensive care that had more deaths then any other, by a huge margin! It turned out that at night, the cleaners would come in to do the floors, they'd unplug a piece of equipment to plug in their floor polishers and when they were done they plug it back in... sometimes too late.

( I always questioned the story, everything important we had would buzz if it got unpluged... but maybe they just had old stuff, cheap low end stuff, faulty hand-me-downs or just no one would respond... I don't know... wasn't there... but it was a good story ).

Easy enough to find out.

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Which reminds me of the "Bed of Death" story I was told back then;

Apparently there was a big hospital in South Africa with one bed in intensive care that had more deaths then any other, by a huge margin! It turned out that at night, the cleaners would come in to do the floors, they'd unplug a piece of equipment to plug in their floor polishers and when they were done they plug it back in... sometimes too late.

( I always questioned the story, everything important we had would buzz if it got unpluged... but maybe they just had old stuff, cheap low end stuff, faulty hand-me-downs or just no one would respond... I don't know... wasn't there... but it was a good story ).

Easy enough to find out.

Ha, like I said, it was a good story. Interesting they say the story started in '96, and I was out of the hospital and on to another job in the very early '80s, so they're only off by at least 15 years.

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