The Backstory

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 This is about a 2-minute read, and I promise you it's worth it.

A power cord has two jobs – get electrical current from your outlet to your gear (using conductors and plugs), and keep the signal as clean as possible (using shielding).  You could distill it further and simply say, despite what some companies may tell you in their marketing, a power cord conducts electricity.  And when it comes to conducting electricity, there are a few guidelines to help keep you grounded (cue eye roll):

1. Increased Conductivity = Decreased Resistance

(more/better current flow – the garden hose vs. fire hose analogy)

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2. Greater Insulation & Shielding = Less Interference & Lower Capacitance and Inductance

(cleaner and more efficient current/signal transfer)

Before I go any further, I want to address something perpetuated by various marketing departments, and even some  publications and/or their reviewers about how cables in and of themselves sound.  I believe that a well designed cable simply maintains more of the original signal, allowing the sound of your gear to come through better.  While I certainly agree that cables affect what you hear, I believe they only reveal more of what is already there - or less if they are poorly designed and/or constructed.  I can spend all day on this, but moving on...

I have been making cables for about 20 years now, and in that time I've experimented with countless combinations of wire AWG's and configurations, assembly/build processes, and pretty much every off-the-shelf option there is for build materials.  This included using the materials found in all the DIY power cables that seem to be everywhere these days (US/Canuck Audio Mart, Audiogon, various forums, etc.), and I used to think these types of cables were the best thing I could make for myself (and/or others).  As such, I made my last 10 AWG cable back in the early 2010's, and didn't upgrade anything for quite a while.

That all changed a little while back when I had the opportunity to make some new contacts who work on the manufacturing side of electrical wiring.  After picking their brains about various products and manufacturing processes, our conversations eventually landed on power cables, and I finally had an opportunity to do a deep dive.  Despite the fact there are benefits to using larger wire, power cables usually top out at 9 AWG (brand-name, bulk wire, you name it), and I wanted to understand why.  As the research piled up, I asked myself if I could finally upgrade my 10 AWG power cables (without re-mortgaging my house), and I’m about to answer that question.

In part, the AWG barrier exists because as conductor size increases, the insulation around said conductor must also increase.  The significantly greater overall size of the cable and conductors also make termination difficult, and that is perhaps the biggest issue, and it's two-fold.  The first problem is every plug on the market (well almost every, but more on that in a moment) is/was only designed to accommodate up to 9 AWG wire.  As such, if company "X" wanted to make cable with larger wire, then said company would have to create their own own plugs to accommodate the wire.  Even if/when you solve that problem, another one comes along in the form trying to automate the termination process with these new parts, which is a massive headache because now you have to re-calibrate all of your machinery.  The "easy" solution to that of course, is to hand-build the cable, but that brings its own set of headaches, not to mention pretty significant costs.  With all that said, it becomes clear why this AWG barrier exists.

I mean, who's crazy enough to go out and design their own custom wire, custom plugs for the custom wire, custom chassis for the custom plugs, hand-build everything himself, then offer his custom creations for head-scratchingly low prices... all while overusing the word custom, and making up terms like "head-scratchingly low"?

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I'll give you a custom hint…