Right way - yes there is!

Is there a right way and a wrong way to plug in a power cord or a mains cable as it is called in the United Kingdom, and many other places around the world.

The picture on the left is just a normal simple mains plug that needs to be plugged into the power outlet to receive either 110 or 220 Volts

Why should it matter which way you plug the plug into the power outlet and what difference does it make?

Please remember that we are talking about getting the correct power to supply your amplifier or CD player and not an electric kettle.

The Basics.

I have been amazed over the years the amount of people who do not realise there is a right way and a wrong way to put a mains plug into a power outlet. I have even found Audio equipment suppliers who are not aware there is a right way and a wrong way and the first time I found this out came as quite a shock to me. If the supplier does not know then how can the customer know what to do to make his equipment sound correct.

At one end of the cable, there is the mains plug and at the other end of the cable, there is the IEC plug. It is this IEC plug that fits into the Amplifier, CD/DVD player, DAC, Turntable or even a kettle because we all like a cup of tea when listening to music.

The correct way is to make the mains positive power appear on the right-hand connection of the IEC plug. This is a very simple and easy thing to do and takes only a few seconds but makes all the difference to the sound.

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The method

You will only need one item for you to check the polarity of the mains power, and this one item will cost about you about one Euro.

This is an electrician’s screwdriver and this is one of the best items that you could ever use when setting up your equipment.

I can remember at my technical college some of the lessons were dedicated to power and power supplies and positive and negative connections. Also the importance to haveing the correct signal paths and signal flows and I never thought that many years later I would be writing about it!

The first thing to do is to plug your mains cable into the wall and put the screwdriver into the right-hand side of the IEC plug and to see if the screwdriver lights up. If it does that is great but if it does not then just remove and rotate the mains plug 180 degrees so it goes into the wall socket the other way. When you check the IEC you will find that the screwdriver lights up and the positive power is on the right-hand side.

Cables and cords

It is essential that every power cord/mains cable that you have in your system is checked like this and everything is heading in the right direction. You may have power bars and power boxes. You may have conditioners and filters. It does not matter because EVERY piece of equipment MUST have the power being fed to it the correct way.

People spend hundreds of pounds on their audio equipment and some spend thousands of pounds just to try and get a better sound. I have visited people who have spent very big sums of money on their equipment but only have the simple power cords that were supplied with the item and are completely ignorant as to the fact that there is a right way and a wrong way to hook everything up.

I have also visited audiophile’s who have spent thousands of pounds on their equipment and also thousands of pounds on the mains cables because they have been advised and also read that a power cord does make a difference. However when I have checked the polarity of the mains cables you would be surprised how many are connect incorrectly.

Conclusion.

There’s a right way and a wrong way to do things in the audiophile word and there is a very good reason for this.

The Equipment manufacturer makes a component and it’s circuit needs positive power. Why would you ever want to do something that is not so good for the componetts?

The result is simply if you give the componets what they need then they will work as they were designed. The result is that you will hear your system better and you will feel your system better. I wish I had photographs of some of my customers faces when I show them this simple method of makimg their system better!

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