Speaking of fire hazards. Wild storms did this on Good Easter Friday (19th April 2019). This is the 3 phase mains connection box connecting mains power from the grid to 8 dwelling in my neighbourhood.
Apparently there was a loud bang and street and traffic lights were taken out temporarily when this MCB blew. I slept through the explosioin as this happened in the middle of the night.
How thick are 3 phase power cables (They are hidden in the metal pole)? Each conductor has a diameter of 25 mm!! These cables are a pain to deal with.
So we have dealt with external wiring. They are actually pretty good. Sure the grid power cables are not made of copper. But they do the job. And they are capable, and not ‘bad’ as claimed.
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I could not agree more. I have always replaced my power cables on audio-related devices with homemade new ones. The thing is, I get great results from quality thick gauge 100% copper power wire I get from the local hardware store, it costs me less than 20$ after I buy good plug ends from any random asian manufacturer on eBay, The sound improvement is HUGE>
The thing is, I don’t have a 100K$ system to hear what a, say, 1000$ cable sounds like… so I don’t need more than what I have.. I’ve tested expensive cables that I’ve borrowed from friends (who have crazy (systems) and my 20$ cables sound EXACTLY the same, no better no worse.
most of my stuff is vacuum tube related, so power is a big factor.
Your right, the bottom line here is that power cables do make a difference and we should pay attention to them in our system. - BUT… our expectations shouldn’t be set as high (or low) as our wallets.
Great article, thanks
T