Do you know what the insulation materials used around both the previous power cord and the new (thicker) power cord were ? If you say the thicker cord had a positive effect, then this must have been judged against a previous cord ! I am presuming the (Red) cord is in your listening room.

Regards,
May Belt,
P.W.B. Electronics.

Have you tried thicker between the fuse box and the wall outlet?

I bet you'd hear it if you could do it.

I think we audiophiles tend to start coddling the signal at the earliest point that is convenient is all.

We ran a neater wire to our outlets from the fuse box when we built the house. No A/B to compare, but I'm happy.

We got to choose the wire from the city to our mains last house - but I didn't know what to pick! The guy from the power company liked udio and recommended one so we went for it. He said he used it, and later I got to hear his rig and it was nice.

Love this kinda stuff, but I feel none of us know enough yet.

Since, in most of the relevant audio situations, the signals and power are AC, the electrons just move back and forth, so there's no possibility of "dangerous build-up," as with hair products. Beyond that, I choose not to address your "model" of current flow.

Kal

Think of electron flow in conductors like herding cats.

Everything you never wanted to know about signals and electron flow in a conductor

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Power is electrons wandering through cords of (usually) copper with something in the area of the speed of light. Am I correct?

Not really. The electrons actually move very slowly. But there is a shockwave that travels around the conductor at a velocity close to the speed of light, depending on the dielectric. Think of "Newton's Cradle": as one slowly moving electron enters the cable at one end, another almost instantaneously leaves at the other end. But it's not the same electron. (Pace all you physicists who are now going to jump on me because all electrons are by definition the same.)

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

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Power is electrons wandering through cords of (usually) copper with something in the area of the speed of light. Am I correct?

Not really. The electrons actually move very slowly. But there is a shockwave that travels around the conductor at a velocity close to the speed of light, depending on the dielectric. Think of "Newton's Cradle": as one slowly moving electron enters the cable at one end, another almost instantaneously leaves at the other end. But it's not the same electron. (Pace all you physicists who are now going to jump on me because all electrons are by definition the same.)

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

You do, of course, know that there is only one electron in the universe, explaining why every time we take its measure we get the same result.

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The electrons actually move very slowly. But there is a shockwave that travels around the conductor at a velocity close to the speed of light, depending on the dielectric. Think of "Newton's Cradle": as one slowly moving electron enters the cable at one end, another almost instantaneously leaves at the other end. But it's not the same electron. (Pace all you physicists who are now going to jump on me because all electrons are by definition the same.)

You do, of course, know that there is only one electron in the universe, explaining why every time we take its measure we get the same result.

I said _don't_ jump on me :-)

Yes, I am familiar with this hypothesis. But it doesn't affect my description of the transmission of an electrical signal. if you think of the ur-electron as being akin to a multidimensional coil of rope, where the individual strands of that rope coil intersect with the limited number of dimensions we experience, each such intersection will appear to be a discrete object. Cool, eh!

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

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The electrons actually move very slowly. But there is a shockwave that travels around the conductor at a velocity close to the speed of light, depending on the dielectric. Think of "Newton's Cradle": as one slowly moving electron enters the cable at one end, another almost instantaneously leaves at the other end. But it's not the same electron. (Pace all you physicists who are now going to jump on me because all electrons are by definition the same.)

You do, of course, know that there is only one electron in the universe, explaining why every time we take its measure we get the same result.

I said _don't_ jump on me :-)

Yes, I am familiar with this hypothesis. But it doesn't affect my description of the transmission of an electrical signal. if you think of the ur-electron as being akin to a multidimensional coil of rope, where the individual strands of that rope coil intersect with the limited number of dimensions we experience, each such intersection will appear to be a discrete object. Cool, eh!

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

Sorry, I meant it as a joke, I didn't mean to make you feel jumped_on.

In a Universe of cosmic coincidence, we can actually watch as the magic electron makes changes in its trajectory.

The annihilation reaction of an electron and a positron marks the precise moment in which the particle reverses its trajectory in time.

If you think about it, humans can actually affect the One True Electron...at will!

Mwaaaahaaahaaahaaha...

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I think I've got it now. Electrons are inside the copper, even when no current flows through it. Thicker wire = more electrons. But it's just what I think - I'm not sure if anyone really understands all of it. But why better sound because of better wire?

I don't think it's necessarily as simple as the thickness of the wire or the purity or type of metal or even the dielectric. There are undoubtedly excellent examples of cords and cables that are very different from each other. Omega Mikro interconnects are 56 gauge solid core with air dielectric; these ICs are very open, high resolution and terrific in the bass frequencies. So, I don't think one can say that thicker is always better. I have used primarily high purity silver, crygenically treated cables, broken in for 30 days on a machine and tested for directionality. But one can always improve upon the basic formula. I suspect how far one goes with these things depends on what one is trying to accomplish.

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... and how far your credit card will let you go

A lot of it is finding out what works the old fashioned way, by trying it. It might be of some consolation to you how very average and pedestrian many expensive rigs sound.

"If you control the mail, you control information." Newman

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It might be of some consolation to you how very average and pedestrian many expensive rigs sound.

Very, very true.

On the flip side, there are many wonderful, lovingly set-up inexpensive systems that are much better.

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When playing very loud, the treble can be a bit grainy, but this is no big surprise on speakers to around $1000 a set.

If I may be so bold: it's not the speakers. Even systems with expensive speakers exhibit this phenomenon when played loud - it's as if the system is over-loaded, congested, raucous with much grain, blare, and good old fashioned noise and distortion. Strident and harsh, just plain unlistenable, really. Part of the explanation is comb filter effects coming into play as sound pressure levels go up around the room, but the rest of the explanation is more, uh, mysterious and, dare I say.....disturbing.

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...but the rest of the explanation is more, uh, mysterious and, dare I say.....disturbing.

Does the explanation involve mimes or clowns?

Many find both disturbing.

Some people find large woodland animals to be disturbing.

As well they should!

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...but the rest of the explanation is more, uh, mysterious and, dare I say.....disturbing.

Does the explanation involve mimes or clowns?

Many find both disturbing.

You're close, really, really close. Minds.

So in a piece of wire in an AC circuit such as a power cord or speaker cable the electrons just move back and forth like in a line dance. The same old electrons over and over. But in the DC power supply the electrons flow only in one direction. Out with the old in with the new. AC sounds like trying to heard cats. Go this way, no wait, now go this way.
I think that using DC for all audio signals would yield significant improvement.

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So in a piece of wire in an AC circuit such as a power cord or speaker cable the electrons just move back and forth like in a line dance. The same old electrons over and over. But in the DC power supply the electrons flow only in one direction. Out with the old in with the new. AC sounds like trying to heard cats. Go this way, no wait, now go this way.
I think that using DC for all audio signals would yield significant improvement.

I'm all in favor of getting rid of electrons altogether. I vote for using neutrinos instead.