Some DIY power cords

[pjdami]

In the past couple of weeks, I have built several DIY power cords. ATCVENOM told me about the Red Cobra Cable website (which is unfortunately shut down now) for a Bob Crump DIY pc design which is known as the "Audio Asylum" power cable. It is a shielded design based on Belden 19364 three conductor wire. It utilizes a Schurter 4300.0603 IEC and a Pass & Seymour 5266-X wall outlet. Total cost to build is about $30.

The second power cord I built is based on Carol 3 conductor 10 gauge power cable that can be purchased bulk from Parts Express. It uses Marinco 8215 wall outlet and Marinco 320 IEC.

I was going to purchase a PS Audio Statement power cord a while back based on a recommendation of a respected member here but missed out on a $100 dollar drop in price. The Statements run about $299. For that kind of money, I wanted to explore the DIY thing first to see if there is any difference. I also entertained a Kimber PK10 power cord upgrade but again, wanted to see if DIY would help at a much lower cost first.

I also want to build a Venhaus Flavor 2 power cord and perhaps a JPS Labs based power cord with Marinco plugs. The JPS Labs in-wall power cable wire costs like $18 / foot though!! Whew..... It does get a lot of praise though from people in other forums that I have been researching.

Once I burn these in I will give a review.

[RuSsMaN]

Nice looking work.

If you unass one or the other, let me know.

Cheers,
Russ

[dorokusai]

75% of DIY power cables are based on Bob Crumps' design, it's simple and effective. I am not sold on the boutique power cable thing, so DIY is as far as it will ever go for me.

Nice cable work, they are keepers for sure :)

[mantis]

pjdami,
yes nice work and man do they make a difference.I'm truely shocked as I bought a Kimber pk14.Amazing is what I say.

[Zero]

Good work Paul. Very nice looking. Your regular stock cord up above looks different, the IEC is silver instead of black. Beautiful :)

[pjdami]

Thanks for the comments guys. Really is pretty easy to do actually.

ATC,

The "regular stock power cable" above is actually the cable made from the Parts Express catalog. All of the stock power cables that come with gear usually just have the plain black connectors and wire.

Mantis,

I do plan on buying a "boutique" power cable be it either the PS Audio or Kimber and compare to these. I'm taking some small steps first to see if I can justify the cost.

I was counting today... how many stock power cords I need to upgrade. I counted 8 of them. So before I take the plunge I wanted to see what DIY has to offer, buy one of the better cables, do some blind test listening and go from there.

[dcarlson]

While auditioning powercords, for the best results plug them directly into the wall. Anything between the wall and the powercord can and most likely will affect the performance of the powercord.

[mantis]

pjdami

Ps audio really got my attention.I'm looking forward to the demo.I would gladly conduct it for yeah if you wanna send one of those nice cables this way.I will pay for it,you time and all.

Dan

[polkatese]

Great looking cable, Paul! do let me know if you are ready to move up to Kimber, I would be interested to read your review on the Carol vs. Kimber

[ezc]

Nice cables! Have you tried them, & did it change the sound? I have tried a few diy friends made & they sounded good. My preference in sound & pic is still the Kimber PK10 gold. Does any of the power cables use black insulatuion? Kimber had done research on how the black insulation ( it has carbon in the black) changes the sound. Kimbers Power cables use no black insulation that touches the wire, & if im not mistaken no black insulation on any of kimbers cables. Getting ready to run a sub panel to my gear & from the panel to the outlets Ill use white, green, & red 10 guage wire. Four wires for hot, four wires for neutral & one for ground. One outlet/circuit for each peice of equipment. I have heard & seen the improvment & am just blown away! The WAF is what is slowing down the upgrade! The better half donst want a comercial panel box in our lv rm, she feels the system is great the way it is! But I know I can make it better! The AC upgrade is used here by the high end 2 chanel folks & is now starting to catch on with the HT folks! Always in search of better pictuer & better sound! Paul your right kimber is costly Retail $250 termination + $10 per foot = 8 ft cable $250+80=$330 retail! Or purchase one long legnth like 50' & buy extra wattgate iec & plug ends & cut & terminate as needed, thats how we purchase.

[gidrah]

Good looking stuff man.

[pjdami]

Yeah Russ, you got first dibs if I decide to ditch one of the cables.

Dan, I would be happy to send you a cable to demo. I would only ask for the price of shipping / parts. My time I would not charge for. I wouldn't feel right about that. My time building the cable is just as equal as your time or anybody else's time on this forum who has spent the time replying to posts and giving advice. That's just the way I feel about that. That's what the forum is here for to get advice, direction, and opinions to try out for oneself.

ezc, I'm still burning in the cables. I'm going to give them a 75 hr burn in and then keep them in the system for a couple of weeks above that. Then I will switch back to the stock power cables. Usually, this is when I hear a difference because "something is lost"; at least that has been my experience with ICs.

The black insulation with the Kimber.. man I don't know about that. The Kimber 8TC speaker wire has a black color on it for the negative lead.

One thing I am finding with the "boutique" cables like the Kimber PK10 gold series is that they use the "audio grade" IEC and wallplugs. Wattgate is the source of these plugs. Just the plugs run about $160 for the parts so that certainly increases the cost of the cable. These plugs use a layered plating with gold for the contact area and have a higher spring compression rate on the wire connection. A company called Furutech also makes a competitive plug with similar technology and costs $20 less than the Wattgates. So for one power cord that is $40 less in parts.

Interestingly, I found a website that claims that Cardas uses a $5 IEC connection for that end of the cable. dcarlson, if its not too much trouble for you can you compare your Cardas IEC with the one on the link below and let me know if its the same? Cardas makes some good wire and if they feel that this connector is good enough then that can save some dollars here as well.

I have ordered the Furutech plugs and that is going to be something I use with the Carol cable to compare to the "hospital grade" Marinco plugs to see if there is a difference here as well. I also ordered the Caig ProGold to treat the bare ends of the wire (to prevent oxidation / corrosion).

This entire process is going to take me a couple of months I'm sure. I'm going to take my time and get to know the wires.

http://www.takefiveaudio.com/schurter_4781_0100_iec.htm

[dcarlson]

Will do.

[mantis]

I send you an Email,
What the total cost of the wires you built?
4 to 6 feet will work for me.

Sounds like alot of fun anyhow.

Dan

[dcarlson]

Interesting.... The Cross does use the same end.

[dcarlson]

How about going for the Cryo Treated stuff??? :D

http://www.takefiveaudio.com/weekly_specials_page.htm

[Zero]

PJ,

I had my cables reversed then. Looking good nonetheless. I have the very same power cord on the 'puter. Can't wait to build some others for the main rig - once that gets going again.

DCarlson,

Quite a mark up eh? :)

[dcarlson]

I'm fine with it and not surprised. IMO, the value of a cable is in the performance.

[pjdami]

Thank you dcarlson for taking the time to look at that for me. You are correct in that the value of the cable is in the performance. The terminations are just a part of the whole equation. A lot of research, development, and testing goes into the actual wire construction / design itself by companies like Cardas, Kimber, etc. It's good to know that this is a termination which Cardas is using and I will definitely try this termination out in some of the future cables I will be building here shortly. Yeah, the cryo'ed stuff isn't all that much more expensive either.

[steveinaz]

Man , have I got a great name to sell those under:

The "Pjdami Power Python"

awesome huh?

[pjdami]

Not going to sell them for any profit Steve. These are really just designs that I researched and found on the net; not my original designs.

I have also built a Venhaus Flavor 2 power cord and this is the latest one I made using JPS in wall power cord and Furitech gold plated IEC and wall outlet. this is a serious cable and cost me $140 to build DIY. I'm still burning this one in as well.

[steveinaz]

You do good work!

[ezc]

PJ
PC liks good! Have you found one cable to be better that another? If so which & what type is it? Also Where did you purchase the F Tech Plug & Iec ends from? Im looking for an alt. for wattgate. Ive seen the FT products in ads & seems to be great ends.

[polkatese]

Paul,
that's an awesome craftmanship! Can't wait to read the review when it's ready...when are you going to start taking order? ;)

[Zero]

Excellent work Paul. :)

[mantis]

He does good work,
he built one for me and it's top notch(I didn't crack it open,lol)

The perfromance even with the entry level powercord did yield better performance over the stock 2 I tried.

The B&K avr307 comes with a 16x3 poercord.It's run of the mill molded cord.Vs the pjdami cord the pjdami cord yielded more dymanic range.This was slight over the stock cord.Nonetheless pronounced with watching EP 1 pot race.This is a good demo of dymanic range.The scene as many of you know is explosive.Sabulba's pod really shines with the cord.Switching back to the stock cable choked the dymanic range down.it was a slight drop off.Sounds crazy to the people who never tried it as how I felt before I tried upgraded powercords.

I also demo'd it against my PK10 Kimber powercord.This yielded different results.the pjdami cable performed more like the stocker or closed in comparsion.The Kimber unlocked hidden detail and dymanic range I didn't know the B&K could show.Funny how I felt all wierd about it as it's just a powercord.The stock cord compared to the Kimber was night and day.I couldn't believe the difference.

So I did some research on the topic and found out some intresting facts.Manufactors cut cost at the powercord level along with others.They need to keep there products at a certain price point and find taking the nessary cuts exceptable.I'm not sure if I'm totally cool with that as then you need to Improve the product in order to allow it to perform it's best.Hince the powercord.

If you one of those people like I was,try it for the hell of it and see if you can hear or notice a difference in your system.I know it feel eff'd up spending alot of cash of a powercord.Better speaker cables or Interconects are more juicy,but the damn thing makes a difference and is worth the asking price.

I don't know what level cord should go with the given gear.I know theres got to be a ratio written by someone on which cord to use.I mean at what level powercord does it do it's job 100%?I know different gear has different current demands so using a high current or correct current cable should be a match right?Prebuilt cords get up there in price.PS audio and Kimber have the best reputation in the market for the cords.I bought a used one off audiogon and pjdami built my other one.Going DIY is still much better then the stock.30 bucks isn't alot to pay for any wire in your system.It's extremely worth it.

So I also did one last demo with the pjdami powercord.I demo'd it against the nice thick Pioneer Elites Dv47a's dvd 14 x 2 cord.This stock cable is still a molded cable but thicker then the B&K's stocker...funny how the DVD player doesn't use as much current as the B&K but has a thicker stock powercord.It doesn't use the 3rd conductor but uses the same style end.I noticed a difference in the audio not really in the video.The picture on my Sony XBR 36 inch didn't notice anything diffenent.I assume the stock cable is capable of enough current to power the video section correctly.I didn'[t try the Kimber as I was getting beat moving my rack around and swapping.I demo so much wire I was just tired after this one.Not to mention I worked all day long and was already tired.Audio was a different story.When listening to Norah Jones on SACD 2 channel I noticed a more pronounced mic breath hiss.This is a natural sound when breathing into a mic.You can hear her taking a breath.Cool stuff as I heard it before the upgrades but not as pronounced.I also noticed that the bass was louder.It didn't sound better but there was more of it.Maybe that is better on the level of more is more.

pjdami's 30 buck find is golden.I would if not having found the Kimber out fit my entire system with that cord.It unlocks suttle performance out of your gear,why wouldn't you do it?

Dan

[pjdami]

PC liks good! Have you found one cable to be better that another? If so which & what type is it? Also Where did you purchase the F Tech Plug & Iec ends from? Im looking for an alt. for wattgate. Ive seen the FT products in ads & seems to be great ends.

ezc,
No I haven't compared any of the cords yet. Letting them all burn in for at least a week each. Takes a while to burn in four cords and I want to give them all a fair shot.

The Furitech gold plated plugs were purchased from the Chris Venhaus website.

http://venhaus1.com/VH_Audio_Test.html

With the Furitech plugs you can save about $40 per cord because they are a little more economical than the Wattgate. They use a set screw with a little allen wrench to tighten down to the wires.

Mantis,

Thanks for your impressions on the wire. That one is the Bob Crump Asylum Cable. Sounds like you feel it is better than the stock cord but not up to par with the Kimber. That is understandable.

Anyone interested in building the Crump cord, the parts can be found here:

http://www.diycable.com/main/product...roducts_id=100

The kit above is a little more expensive than if you find the individual parts on your own and strip your own wire, etc. If you buy the parts bulk and plan on making more than just one, the price comes down to about $30 / cord.

[mantis]

pjdami,
I have about 50 hours on the cord now and I think it's fully broke in.It's a nice cable for the maoney.hell it's an awesome performing cable for the money.
Send me your address and I'll cut you a check.Thanks for building it for me.I enjoyed the shootout.I'll use it untill I buy another Kimber.Or start building my own.

Dan

[pjdami]

here is the last powercord that I just finished building last night. DH Labs bulk power cable @ $6 / foot and I used the Marinco hospital grade IEC and wall outlet plugs. I got the wire from Welbourne Labs.

This is a nice and easy cable to build and will fit into the Marinco, Hubbel, or Wattgate plugs with no problem.

I hooked this wire up to my B&K AVR 307 last night with the LSi 15 and Jolida J100 cdp. Turned the SVS sub off and put the LSi 15s on full range (large). This cable sounded very good to me even with no burn in. One can build this cable for $65 and or you can buy it built for $200.

Another week or so for burnin and then I start the real listening sessions.

[mantis]

Dudely,
your killing it.Man lets here it.I wanna read about your Impressions on all these different cords you built.

I gave you mine over a very short burn in.

Come on man..........

Dan