Forums - Print Page

Forums
https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl
AUDIO FORUMS >> General Discussion and Support >> Power cord break in.
https://www.decware.com/cgi-bin/yabb22/YaBB.pl?num=1580078956

Message started by Donnie on 01/26/20 at 22:49:16

Title: Power cord break in.
Post by Donnie on 01/26/20 at 22:49:16

I've ordered up a DHC-1 power cable and have been thinking about how to break it in.
Can I just hook it up to my wife's TV? She watches the stupid Tennis Channel 24/7, I would think that a couple weeks of that would cook anything in.
Am I wrong in my thinking?

Title: Re: Power cord break in.
Post by Lon on 01/26/20 at 22:54:27

I think you're thinking is right. TV's draw a bit of current and if it's heavily used a week should get you a broken in cable.

Title: Re: Power cord break in.
Post by Donnie on 01/26/20 at 23:59:58

I just didn't know if the incessant knocking of a ball over a net would make the electrons jump ship and ruin the cord. Lol
Can you tell that I don't care for tennis?

Title: Re: Power cord break in.
Post by Lon on 01/27/20 at 00:19:03

I can understand not liking tennis on TV. I find watching sports on television to be . . . silly. Playing sports, sure. Watching a loved one play a sport, okay. Watching "professionals" on TV? Not something I ever got in the habit of. . . probably because I spent years 11 to 17 in Africa with no TV.

Title: Re: Power cord break in.
Post by Lonely Raven on 01/29/20 at 17:27:44

I'm somewhat skeptical of power cords in general, even more of "breaking them in".

That said, it's fun thought exercise to think of where I could put a calbe inline around the house to "break it in". I could see me taking an electric heater to the garage and rigging up Heater power -> Adapter -> IEC Audiophile Power Cord -> Wall.

And if there is a break in, I wonder what's really happening?

Title: Re: Power cord break in.
Post by Lonely Raven on 01/29/20 at 17:29:48

Maybe I could even install some audiophile fuses in the home grown adapter - Like three of the 6.8Amp in parallel between the power outlet and IEC connector in the Adapter. Break them in too.

Title: Re: Power cord break in.
Post by Palomino on 01/29/20 at 21:50:05

I have heard of people hooking it up to their refrigerator for a few weeks. I think because of the current draw.

Title: Re: Power cord break in.
Post by Donnie on 01/29/20 at 22:13:41

We have a whole bunch of those big windmills right up the road. I might have to cimb up one and use the cable to jumper the power through them.
Except I'm really afraid of heights and electricity, plus spending the weekend in the county slammer and eating stale bologna, for trespassing doesn't sound too entertaining.

Title: Re: Power cord break in.
Post by Lonely Raven on 01/30/20 at 15:57:31

Sounds like you need a partner...you shouldn't be going on such adventures alone!

Title: Re: Power cord break in.
Post by Donnie on 02/01/20 at 02:12:59

Holy crap, this power cord does sound better. Truthfully I thought that all the power cord stuff was just bullshit.
But I'll stand up and say that I do think that at least on Dan the Amp, the Decware DHC-1cable sounds better than a regular stock power cable.
Could of fooled me.

Title: Re: Power cord break in.
Post by Bottlehead on 02/01/20 at 04:33:16

Uh-oh, Donnie! You're on the slippery slope!

Randy

Title: Re: Power cord break in.
Post by Steve Deckert on 02/01/20 at 04:50:00

Quote:

And if there is a break in, I wonder what's really happening?

What's really happening is the complex current pulses flexing the molecules between the conductor and the dielectric, just like a signal capacitor. After all, a power cord is a capacitor. Hooking it up to a motor or a refrigereator will just train it to sound good on a motor and a refrigerator... You need an amplifier playing music to burn-in a power cord.

Many power cords do not make a difference. The IEC connector is a joke for audio amplification and purist standards in audio. It was a computer connector for a flexible light weight PVC power cord. This could be the reason for that. Also the reason for why some fancy power cords make it sound worse. That said, some power cords do make it sound better, and I stand firmly behind ours.

Understand, that a audio system is a conglomeration of components, of which the the sound is dependent upon. The weakest link in that chain of components and cables is going to be the limiting factor of the resolution you will be able to hear. When using good after market power cords, doing only a single component will have only 10% the difference than you would hear if you did all the component at the same time. Sadly that is the reality of it, just like room diffusers, using only one or two does almost nothing. Wrapping your entire room does almost everything.

Steve

Title: Re: Power cord break in.
Post by Donnie on 02/01/20 at 15:45:55

I've spent the last few hours listening to Dan the amp (ZKit 60) playing from my much quieter laptop with my new power cable.
Wow, it really cleans everything up.
My Open Baffles are throwing up a much clearer soundstage.
Everything sound so much clearer and cleaner.
It was a good $180 spent.

Title: Re: Power cord break in.
Post by DirtDawg on 02/06/20 at 07:09:57

I can not really add anything to this conversation, as Steve has already posted, but I use a "conditioner" to handle my AC input. Everything plugs into this Kleanline product.

If I mess with it at all, everything is funky for a while.
I do not understand how unplugging something and moving it three feet can affect anything, but from what I have seen/heard, it does. I am only talking about moving the electronic power thingy, nothing more No part of the audio electronics in the stream was ever moved.

And yet, things are different. Not as crisp is how I would put it. Like an edge has been sanded off or something.

I am sure that a bit of psycho audio crap is going on in my head, but I could not make it go away for over a week.

I would love to not think these things. I just want it all to work and keep working forever.