FYI: DIY Power Cord info

[tryrrthg]

I've been wanting to replace the stock power cords on my equipment for some time now, something with shielding and better connectors is my main concern, but I just can't get myself to spend a lot of money on power cords. So I've been doing some reading on DIY power cords lately and have discovered a few things that might be of interest to those that want a nice power cord that is high in value.

I know some people here have mentioned the Volex cords before and I was contemplating getting some of them as they're really cheap (around $5-7 a piece), offer good shielding, etc. I then thought maybe I'd step it up a notch and go for the Asylum power cord, which is a Bob Crump design based on Belden 19364 power cable/wire. The Asylum cords would cost quite a bit more, since I need four of them the cost is more than I was ready to spend. Anyway, after doing some more investigating at the Audio Asylum forums I found out that the Volex 17604 and 17605 power cords are made with the Belden 19364 wire AND they're already terminated. Volex is actually a Belden company.

So if you've made it this far in all my ramblings, the Volex cords are the same wire used in the Asylum cable, and they're much cheaper! If you want to step up the volex cords a bit, just cut off the factory terminations and terminate them with better terminations.

You can buy the Pass & Seymour 5266-X AC plug at Home Depot for around $7-8 I believe. The Schurter 4782 IEC, which is used on quite a few high dollar cords, is a whole lot cheaper (around $5) at Allied Electronics

In the next few weeks I'll probably buy the Volex cords and update the connectors in the future. I've got the DH labs power cord on the way from the cable swap program so I'll see if I can tell a difference with that, it will be my first "real" power cord in my system.

Oh, you can get the Volex cords really cheap at
http://cbchome.carlton-bates.com/

End rambling.

[Tritonman]

Good info