HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

First time I've seen any scientific justification. I'm not qualified so any experts like to comment on this video? The standard cable used looks very thin to me.

[BBvideo=560,315]http://youtu.be/4qCK--lRFd0[/BBvideo]

Complete bollocks, he is looking at the wrong thing. No item of hi-fi or complete system is ever going to draw those levels of current. What make the difference in power supplies and their cables is source impedance. This will vary house to house socket to socket, let alone mains leads, PLUS getting rid of the plug (even the fuse in the mains plug) will do far more than changing the cable.

It is just more marketing bollocks, finding ways to justify the rip-off.

Idiot. When will people learn?

He is carrying out a valid test for all the wrong reasons. The test is designed to determine the ability of a power system to deliver current into a fault, which will determine how fast the C/B trips (we have a British Standard for that by the way). That is irrelevant to what we want, we will NEVER need the instantaneous short circuit current, if for no better reason than that we don't intend to present our power supply with a short circuit.

We should also be aware that the test in the video is carried out on a North American 110V supply, which has thicker conductors than we do. So that makes the actual values meaningless.

The second power cable he tests is visibly much bigger cross section than the standard one so it is no surprise that it has a higher instantaneous current capability but that too is irrelevant because to require that kind of current would imply a transient of something like 300dB assuming a steady state current of 1A. Short of trying to reproduce a nuclear explosion at full volume you are never going to find that. (unless I have the maths wrong)

A US style mains plug is often a pretty floppy fit in the socket, they are much worse than UK plugs in this respect, so any improvement in the connection at the wall socket is going to affect the instantaneous current reading.

As the Doc says, getting rid of the plug will make more difference than an expensive cable. You can have a separate, dedicated radial circuit installed that will allow you to do just that. By the way the cable under test had an IEC plug which is also less than ideal and also becomes loose over time. Rigging the test would not be difficult either, not that I am suggesting that it was.