HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN HI-END POWER CABLE: The fundamental role of power cables in amplification 

ATTENTION!: If you want a safe cable you should connect the GROUND to the external SHIELD/braid. This will avoid electric shock. SHIELDING (Updated): Since I have received a lot of criticism on my decision on NOT to shield the cable here is a short explanation that may help you to decide what to do. I am adding an important video (ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ekR5-tUk0tA.html) released by Paul McGowan ho clearly states how shielding is negative for audio quality in power cords. PS Audio does add shielding but very very distant from the conductor, which makes sense. I say go all the way and if you do not have interference go with out any shielding. The audio signal will greatly improve. Here is an interesting article that confirms the presence of this issue and its cause: www.empiricalaudio.com/computer-audio/technical-papers/myths-and-snake-oil Unfortunately shielding has two downsides: 1 - it lowers the dynamics In fact, for example 'Audience', one of the best powercable producers out there, has always produced unshielded cables. Only recently they started to introduce some special shielding. 2 - it can vehicle humms The best is to try without, especially if, like me, you are using a power conditioner. If you hear sone interference, just connect the braid to the ground. Very easy and fast to do in a powercord! This is my personal experience.

Much appreciated! Today I finished assembling the power cable as per your instructions. I'm happy to report that the investment paid off really well. Thanks a lot!

Even the videos that come on your channel I watched them all to cooperate in thanking you for making those cables

Thanks for sharing, it is explained very clear. I already ordered the materials to make one myself.

I......could not believe how easy You made it look. Thank you sooooooo much

I made one of these for my toaster. My Pop Tarts have never tasted better!

Clear instruction and encouraging video. Safe operation. A few tweaks for audience make it better 1. Terminate the metal shield at power source (wall plug) side ground connector when grounding wire is inside the shield. 2. Cut off the excess cleaner before wrap them with dialectic tape. Op has a time limit:)

Good point Ivar. Also soldering the connections once screwed in, with silver solder (WBT is good for this). Better sound and the screws never loosen this way too.

I'm an audio engineer, not an audiophile. Good shielded power cables are important to isolate the power signal going to the equipment. BUT IT HAS TO BE COMING FROM A POWER CONDITIONER/FILTER !! Using them with crappy home depot power extension is just going to deliver the bad power signal very well.

Really appreciated, thanks for your video. I'll try to make this cable (matte I'll use less rigid wires) and I'll compare with the np one. Homemade products give more satisfaction :-). Greatings from Italy

I’d love to see a vid about power conditioners and power regenerators. Love the channel!

I purchased an SKW OCC power cable based on your recommendation of their speaker cables. I am now considering opening up my Tripp-Lite Isolation Transformer to replace its stock power cable w/ a custom made OCC power cable probably from SKW to connect it to the mains. - Cheerio

I did the same with all my audio hardware (not that quality) but I changed the standard cables for better ones and like you said! It changes the sound dramatically! Sharper, brighter, more dynamics, bigger Soundstage, more volume and etc and etc.... I highly recommend to upgrade your audio cables

AWESOME!! You just saved me a ton of money. I have to make 3 cables. Thank you so much for including where to buy. What an excellent channel!!!

I built a pair of one meter power cords a few years ago. These were for class D monoblocks so I decided to use shielding because of the switchmode power supplies these units have. I connected the shielding only at the plug end not the amp end because i did not want the shield to carry any current.

If you use single ended triode amplifiers they do not draw more current from the wall outlet during loud music passages so the power cable is less demanding than a solid state amplifier which draws more current. Also, a large enough capacitor bank takes care of momentary brief loud passages. Proper power supply filters: transformers which isolate, filter capacitors, and chokes all remove noise from appliances on the power line. These considerations having been made, the see-through plugs themselves look good to me, even if some think I have bad taste for liking them. You can buy different colored neon bulbs you can put in these plugs (with at least 100 k resistors to the neon bulb) so they light up when the power is live.

Nice TV buddy. I haven't seen one of those for a while

Use that cable for my electric fan & WOW! IT GIVES MORE CHILLS

Thanks for your fast replies.Big help again. Now another Q for you. I have lost about a 3rd of my hearing in right ear and have the wonderful sounds of tinnitus in same ear. Are there phones that can calibrate for that.Have tried friends Nuras and the setup seemed to have equalised (witchcraft/convinced myself?)but still would like to check out other options. Onya dude. Keep up the good work. 🤘

You should connects the shield to ground on one end (the AC wall outlet). Also, with Schuko its easy to swap live and neutral, thus causing current flow between devices. These both need attention when you want to improve sound.

I'm an electrical engineer and I can tell you without doubt that fancy little wire from your wall socket to your amp will make no difference at all, not unless you"ve paid big bucks for one. Then you will hear a difference. Only you will hear the difference but no one else will.

Nice vid, good to see you taking cables and powerchords serious. You could improve on the powercable by connecting the copper shielding to ground on the shuko side. I made my own powercables with the Oyaide Tunami and Oyaide connectors and I am very satisfied with the result.

I've sold loads of these Oyaide cables, this one and Tunami, they should always be sheilded at the wall plug end.

I've watched this video on three different occasions now, and I still come to the same uncertainty regarding the cable's inability to twist, as I presume it could make it annoying trying to plug it into the amp and power board without having to move stuff around. Do you recommend any other OCC based power cables due to it being nearly three years later, or even more important, if you had seen any of your regular vendors who made a male AS 3112 plugs for Australians. Thanks.

It's an important part of the system if you want it to look fancy. The top most important factors are: The room, speakers, power amp, pre-amp, and the audio source. Of the cables, the speaker cables are most important, then the interconnect. The least important is the power cable. The power cables that comes with the equipment is more than good enough for the task. Use your money on speakers and amplifier.

Hi. Thank you for your helpful video. Actually I have 2 conductors like your (in this vid) and a power cable that has 7 wires as identical and equal and All 7 wires are all transparent and without color. How can I select and connect them to connectors? Thanks

Thanks for this. I look forward to making mine. A question. Is there no corrosion protection oil on the connectors that needs to be cleaned off?

Actually gold isn't such a good conductor like copper and silver silver is the number one conductor followed by copper the reason why people use gold is because it doesn't corrode and therefore it protects the connections but it's definitely not the number one conductor

I see it like this. The mains supply to your house has travelled hundreds of miles from the power station to your local sub-station. From there, it's probably gone to a ring main in your street then into your mains box where it's split into spurs such as downstairs power, upstairs lights etc. You're saying that changing the last metre of your electricity's journey has changed the sound ? Your new cable certainly isn't acting as a filter. If so, then I can only suggest that what's happened is either: 1. your old cable was somehow faulty possibly picking up RF interference, or, more likely.. 2. the placebo effect. There's no such thing as audiophile electricity. What's most important is that your system doesn't share its mains spur with appliances such as fridges, washing machines, vacuum cleaners etc. Nice looking cable though.

I don’t know much about it but, if the electricity coming out of the wall socket has noise, does a good power cable minimize the noise? Also ideally should every component have a power cable? I appreciate your time in responding not just for me, perhaps other people have the same questions. Thank you!!’

Don't forgot to add the quarts crystals ! They must surround the conductors all the way through from one end to another for truly improved dynamics and depth.

Hello there, thank you for the great video, I want to ask though Looking on the video, you are using a "3 * 1.5mm with stranded shielding" as the base, but only using the 3 cable with no shield. What I want to ask, can I use standard NYY cable with only 3 * 2.5mm cable with exact plug type in this video? iec+...sucko? And no braided shield too within the cable Thanks in advance

Hi there, probably i will make a cable like yours, but do you know / recomend something diferent and more flexible? i dont have much space between my system and my wall, so i need a cable who can bend more easly. thanks a lot :)

Will check out the Meze’s👌

Hi many thanks for sharing! Which European country are you from? And where do you source the cables as often shipping and handling is more costly tuant thé câble itself. Thank you for reading

I was interested until the cost. I am trying to AVOID spending 100+ for a power cable upgrade. Psaudio has a badass one for the same cost as you have here and no work plus resale.... but I love the video and it looks fun and satisfying to make.

Where can I find cable and plugs to make these? I am in the US. Also I have a two prong Pioneer SC-81 AV receiver that I want a cable upgrade for. How should I deal with that?

Hey Guido! Please forgive me for bothering you about a video you shot 5 years ago 😊 but I do not believe that you can get this Oyaide OCC cable anymore to make your DIY power cord. I need to make one now primarily to reach a longer distance (about 2M) to the wall, but I cannot find this OCC wire. May I ask, please if you have any other suggestions for where I can get comparable wire now? Thank you Sir!

I'm curious, did you have any problems with the iec connector gripping the solid core wire ? it seems every time I use solid core the wire will pull out with just a slight tug.

hello, pardon my ignorance but how do you guys deal with equipment without an IEC inlet ? like my receiver for example, the only way for me to make this happen would be to open up said receiver and solder the power cable.... any ideas ?

nice, but if you don't connect the shield to the ground (do it in one end) then it will actually work as an antenna causing more interference :/ maybe not a big problem with the short lenght of cable you have there

Good isolation from the wall socket to the amplifier. But how about the rest of the wiring? As far as I know the rest is just 2.5mm² Copper wire with basic isolation, picking up noise just as well. How does this small length of 'hi-end' wire help you?

Hi thanks a lot for the very valuable advice. In your experience which type of components can benefit more from a better power cord ? my feeling is the digital ones, i.e. cd players and dacs. I guess the cable acts as a filter and suppress some mains noise. But i do not have equipment to verify this feeling. Regards, gino

You should run the cable through the acrylic back piece of the connector before you strip off any insulation. Easier that way. Also, what you call Hot, Neutral, Ground we call Line, Neutral, and Ground in the US.

Dynamics may seem better when not shielded, but the fact is that is effect may be artificial. Noise below audible level may be giving this feeling of added dynamics but in the long term it is making the sound more fatiguing. I prefer the relaxed sound a shielded cable brings. There is no problem with the dynamics. Do you honestly think if you measure dynamics, peak vs min dB level with a shielded vs non shielded cable that you will see any measurable difference? You most certainly will not. The unshielded cable simply sounds more superficially dynamic and this will come to the detriment of long term listening pleasure and a natural sound.

Very cool Sr, what is the max length that you would make a power cable.

Electrical insulation Test Must do! The cable you used does it meet electrical safety standards for your country? This may be nit picky but SAFETY FIRST. What about your house electrical system, So in your house there may be up to 100M+ of cable from the fuse box which will be made of ordinary materials for a normal house in your country Not to mention the cables from the street and so forth,. So what difference would the last meter do? I have seen house earth connection replaced/repaired in a older house to fix a safty issue and the end user said there AV systems worked so much better...

any ideas were to get the plug for the revox b77 as it is non standard and those offered on ebay as revox are standard 2pin flat plugs

I tried to make a power cable with some heavy solid gauge cable Oyaide Tsunami and it was very difficult (impossible) to attach the UK plug or my right angled Furutech IEC. Do not go too low on the AWG as will cause my issues.

hey bro try duelund tinned copper cotton sleeving as a power cable 12 awg for power amp 16 awg for pre cd and st...you will be amazed.....

hi the power lead is over kill now powerull is the amp i keep the sig away from a 240v ac you got to amp up the sig a lot to hear the mains power to hear the mains i would have to turn up the amp to 75% to hear any mains i would have her next door pissed of i can't go over 40watt before someone gets on at me a about the level it's not safe to go over 80DB in the uk in studio's where i was working they checked the levels all the time i do love your video's i would help to have more tec info about the levels you run at and the power of your gear and how high you have it when playing we would know

You need to connect the shielding leeds to grond on the wall connector!

Hi, I want to replace my ac power cord. I find the current power cord that comes with technics 1200G is too long. I wonder if the specs of this material below is safe to use. This has 10AWG. I found this specs: Cable diameter: 3 x 4mm2 125V, 15A Max input: 5500W Please advise. Thanks

Nice shielded cable. Just too bad that the version you make doesn't use the shielding at all. As you clearly state, you're not a tech. Also the magic cable you have must really work wonders, since your electrical wires in your building probably isn't more that ordinary electricity house wiring. From your circuit breaker to the wall socket, there might be 10 meters or more. The wall socket is by chance not gold plated. So that nice cable doesn't do anything to the sound quality. And the mains filters you talk about in your first video doesn't do much to your sound either. If your hifi equipment is of a decent quality there will already be build in mains filters. So the what you might hear as better sound quality is based on the psycological effect of the price you have paid for the piece of expensive cable. Next time you make a cable and want to shield it, try to use the shield and connect that to the ground connection in one end of the connector, and only one end, as you might get a groundloop if you connect it to both ends. By the way, try to unscrew the lid of your amplifier and take a look at the wiring inside it. Then you might get an idea that all those thick expensive cables aren't that important, at least not the mains cables.

I wonder if in the standard power cables that come with audio devices (amplifiers, etc) have the shield and ground wire joined on BOTH ends?

can i use this type of cable to be used with a CPU power supply?

They sound great! They have no sound it's a power cable, great video may try it myself

Nice video and explanation. You are correct in not connecting the screen at the IEC end., But you didn't as you should only the mains plug end, this would have provided screening of the cable, would have ensured low noise screening. As you have done, it there is no shielding! I would have also use heatshrink instead of insulation tape. Solid core cable does deliver better power than stranded but it's very inflexible.

Would it make sense to change out a 2 prong power cord for a 3 prong with ground, on my pioneer vsx-d1s receiver? And how easy would it be?

What make of cable do you use brand etc including plugs and connecting

So did you substitute the cable from the wall plug to the power station as well? This is a terrible load of crap.

Is it worth the extra cost on audio power cords if we opt for cryogenically treated connectors? Thank you very much.

Du hast die Stecker verkehrt herum angeschlossen. Stromfluss,wenn nicht anders markiert,immer gleich Schriftrichtung des Kabels. Abschirmung nur am Schuko anschließen. Ansonsten schönes video.

Can you suggest some other cables that might offer a bit more flexility? The stiffness of that one would be problematic for my setup.

I’m new to this and I wanted to ask for your opinion, would adding hi end Power Cables to Yorkville NX750 active speakers for a live/Dj set?

I really am interested if you could compare this cable that has solid conductors with some version of the same quality from Oyaide, but the not solid core, multi litz wire, to compare the dynamics, the speed, and the richness of the sound. I've only used litz power cables and I am curious what is your take on this matter. I believe that you have realized by now that I am another compulsively obsessed music lover and audio gear lover.

For peak voltage just use a (in paralle with the living and neutral wire) Zener diode of the maximum voltage you want and AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT the Zener will protect you're gear from 5KV voltage peak ;)

Hey bro let’s make this easy and simple give us a list of all the component parts you need for the cable where to buy them and contact information then you’re really doing us a service thank you keep up the Giving us good info and I am a believer in cables and I spent a ton of money on them not 3000 6000 but the right amount and you were right on an SKW great cables and there’s one other company to look at better cables both available on Amazon check it out I

Hi and thanks OCD HiFi guy Mike a pro hi end cable manufacturer also on RU-vid fills the terminals with a mineral mix and removes all the inner screws. Is this unnecessary?

I wonder if you could give me your opinion on this cable: I understand most likely you have not tried it. WAudio Hi-End Hifi Audio AC Power Cable Power Cord US Plug - 3.3FT (1M) I found it on Amazon. I don't know of the quality of this company, or how to tell. If I were to buy those cables I could save some money. Thank you for your input. PS audio also makes some decent power cables.

What is the difference in sound if you invert you're neutral and living wire on the power cord (since AC current don't care about this and ALSO in my power amp how to tell the hot and cool wire on the transformer should be connected since is a single coil so they usually use the same wire so they are the same color ??

Just a little heads up in terms of country specific regulations: here in Germany it is not allowed to use rigid cables for connecting electric devices to the wall plug. Rigid cables are only allowed to be used for permanent installation...

So, this cable can handle how many watts? I have a 300 watt amp. Thank you

This improvement makes sense only for connection between power filter (e.g. Black Noise) and an end equipment. It's useless between ac mains outlet and filter, just waste. Even if we consider 1st case - will 1-2 m of super cable sensibly improve quality of sound? Maybe, if you are in the noisy environment with 20hz-20khz creeping into ac mains. So, where to plug this cable? As mentioned before -A/B test would be a great argument. Thank you. P.S. Your videos are very interesting especially about analog sound. Thanks for sharing your decades long experience. We learn.

Nice instructional. Anyone who has tried a better quality power cable knows it does make a difference by lowering the noise floor and rejecting interference. Cheers!

Grazie innazitutto per l'ottimo tutorial. Da poco mi sono iscritto e guardo alcuni dei tuoi video. Vorrei porti due quesiti, dato che ultimamente sto "giocando" con un Purist Audio Musaeus, un Kubala Sosna Fascination (circa 600€) e ho inoltre letto molto bene del Black Sand Violet (colore viola, acquistabile nuovo per 400€ sul sito ufficiale) : 1. Che tipo di miglioramenti ha portato questo cavo nella tua catena? In che direzione? Miglior Nero/Contrasto? caratteristica in particolare o è equilibrato "top to bottom"? Miglior Velocità e PRat? L'estensione in alto ha subuto un roll-off? E' un cavo che predilige una gamma di frequenze o qualche 2. Conosci i cavi che ho citato sopra? Potresti descrivermi se il tuo cavo autoscostruito si pone in confronto a questi? E' all'altezza? 3. Cosa ne pensi riguardo il cavo del progetto TNT Audio acquistabile su Ebay per circa 36€ rispetto al tuo cavo? Hai avuto modo di provarlo?

Ciao! Mi hai convinto a costruirmi da solo il mio cavo, ho ordinato i componenti identici a quelli di questo video. Ho anche recuperato il video di Paul McGowan che dicevi. Lui dice di collegare la schermatura alla terra solo dal lato del connettore maschio, come mai tu non lo hai fatto per nessuno dei due connettori? Ho capito male il video di psaudio? Grazie, i tuoi video sono sempre molto interessanti.

that iec connector is generally known as a kettle plug

I upgraded to Nordost Valhalla 2 power cables and new power distribution and Nordost Frey 2 speaker cables. I will try to make an updated recording of the new cables...My partner is into high end cables and Hifi and listening to Madness or Depech Mode, the extra 3D dimensions were produced, more details were apparent, sounds of individual instruments were separated very easyily to hear the difference. I purchase Nordost Sort Kones an placed these under cd Central area, one other under the power inlet, another under the output side. Definitely more defined and clearer sound. Where do you stop? Enjoy the music. The purer the copper, the less the neutrons have stopping the transmission. Dirty copper or cheap copper is no good. Also termination to stop eddy currents , make asymmetrical at degree angles. Tuned lengths for the 50/60 Herz cycles. You need to know where to cut the cable.

What gauge of cable is used for 1 meter (3.28) ft.

got any tips for people that cant change power cables not all vintage u can change the power cables becuse its built into it

Ciao Guido, ma il cavo Yarbo che vorrei prendere per il mio Amplificatore valvolare (2 mt), può andar bene anche per il prephono (black cube) e il giradischi sl 1210 GR? Così ne ordinerei 4 metri (2+1+1)...

Don't quite understand these thick copper cables - what cable is in your walls - do you have this kind (gage) cable all the way to the fuse table of the house? And what type of cable (gage) is the service provider providing to your fuse table? Or am I missing something here? Do you really ear a difference in your audio equipment? One would assume that it would not benefit to go any higher (gage vise) than the smallest one on your way to the "source" of the electricity .... Just asking. Thanks for great, entertaining episodes!!

You buy an expensive SHIELDED cable, then cut the drain wire at both ends??? The shield will be doing nothing . You are supposed to connect the drain to the earth wire connection at both ends. What do you think the drain wire is there for? Using the automatic wire stripper is also bad practice - you can see how it damages the insulation just where the cables are near each other in the plug.

You can get even better sound by change a few of your steps. The change are wary great. I think that the improvement will be the same as you already have experienced on top of what you have now! There are two shielding, that you just removed, try this instead. 1) connect the outer most shield to the earth, but only at the amplifier side. 2) the inner most shield. In both ends, du you solder a 0.1uF capacitor and solder it to ground.

what are the US version of the connectors? or use adapters?

Hello bro. Can you please give me or do a run down on Nura Headphones. Heard a lot of hype. Any deapth;and a price comparison please. I have faith in your ears.

I am trying to find this Oyaide mono crystal copper cable, but I can’t find it. Where did you get it from? I can easily find Black Mamba V2. Would that be a good option?

A year later, how is it going with you snakeoil cable?

I see a bit of a stir-up about the shielding of the power-cable. Yes, if you use the cable to power a power amplifier, the shielding is not necessary and indeed it lowers the dynamic of music. If, on the other hand, you use the power cord to power a preamplifier or a cd-player or DAC, I recommend to you a shielded cable. Also, a shielded power cable is necessary to power the turntable. I am not an advocate of power-conditioners because they too lower the dynamic of the music and they also have a negative effect on transients and harmonics, on the richness of the sound, it makes the sound dry. I have tested some P.S. Audio power conditioner in the past with some Naim gear and it was not good, not good at all. A power conditioner may do a good job on audio gear that has lower current consumption, like preamplifiers, DACs, cd-players.

Ciao, quel connettore IEC riesce a stare dietro al Technics 1200 GR? Tu hai il 1200 G e sai come è l'attacco della IEC, angolato e nascosto dietro-sotto il giradischi.

Ok great, you have an awesome 2 ft power cable. But what are you going to do about the 25 ft of cheap copper 14/2 in your walls or the miles of power lines that aren't super duper aligned power crystal copper?

What about the wiring from the breaker panel to the receptacle?

What is the equivalent AWG guage of the wires? Doesn't look that thick - maybe 12 or 10? What guage woud you use for an amp? What Is the theory behind needing such cable? How does it make any difference?

You should connect the shielding to the ground, if not the shielding does not work

Snake oil anyone ? Now for just £899 pr. ml.

lol, that cable with shielding is not a power cable > it is call instrumentation cable. Instrumentation Cables are designed to meet the highest electrical, mechanical & physical requirements and hassle free installation which are required in today’s fast growing verticals such as : · Oil & Gas ((Upstream, Midstream & Downstream) · Power (Generation, Transmission & Distribution) · Petrochemical Complex

How many hours need cable for warm Up? 100 hours or less? Thanks

I want the A/B test. Where is it? Just so you know, I pay my power company extra to send me super clean, noiseless, audiophile AC right through the public power grid. It makes my stereo sound fantastic, superior toast, and my blender makes tastier margaritas!

There is a lot of misinformation on this topic, some of which can result in dangerous situations. I would like to offer a brief summary of the role of power cables in audio equipment. Firstly, in my country, the alternating mains voltage is 240 volts, but the same principles apply for countries using 110 volts. The power wires that supply energy to an amplifier consist of an active, a neutral and in some countries an earth wire. The earth wire is usually bonded to the neutral wire at the switchboard for a Main Earth Neutral design. Earthing designs in audio equipment can be an issue in the audio signal path when multiple components are used, because multiple paths to earth can cause nasty earth loops. But that is another story. Here we are talking about mains alternating current which at no time comes into direct contact with the audio signal. That is why the quality of a mains cable cannot possibly have any effect on the quality of the audio signal. The only quality a mains cable needs is to be of adequate cross section to easily carry the current required by your amplifier without producing heat. ALTERNATING current at mains voltage is connected to the primary winding of a power transformer, whose task is to provide whatever voltage and current is required by the amplifier design. The output of the mains transformer is STILL ALTERNATING current. For the purpose of illustration, let's say that the secondary winding produces +/- 15 volts, thus making the transformer a STEP DOWN TRANSFORMER. The secondary winding can be tapped at the electrical centre, thus producing a reference zero volts that will be used for the amplifier section. Now, audio signals from, say a magnetic cartridge on a record player, output a tiny and very complex alternating current. The function of an audio amplifier is to raise the level of that tiny signal so that it is strong enough to drive a loudspeaker. In order to do this, we can make use of a very wide variety of designs. For simplicity, we are trying to achieve this without adding or subtracting anything, as far as the sound is concerned. The perfect amplifier behaves like a simple pair of wires, with gain. Amplifier designs that do this require a reliable, clean consistent DIRECT CURRENT supply to provide the power for the circuits. SO, the alternating current from the mains power transformer must be RECTIFIED into DC. This can be achieved, for example, by using a BRIDGE RECTIFIER connected to the secondary winding of the transformer. Then, and ONLY THEN, we have direct current that can provide the energy required for the amplifier design. There is NO SUCH THING as positive and negative wires comong from a mains supply, because a mains supply is an ALTERNATING CURRENT. It has two wires which are called the ACTIVE wire and the NEUTRAL wire. The neutral wire should be at zero volts with respect to the ACTIVE wire, but for complex reasons to do with power distribution design across three phases, this is not always true. (Another story). If you swap the ACTIVE wire with the NEUTRAL wire in a power cable from the mains outlet to the audio equipment, the amplifier can see NO difference, because the first thing that happens inside the amplifier is that the power supply is RECTIFIED into DC. However, depending on your country, you could produce a very dangerous situation by doing that. In Australia, our mains supply ( I will only speak of SINGLE PHASE) is 240 volts, or thereabouts. Each wall outlet has an isolating switch on the ACTIVE wire. If you switch the active and neutral wires in the power cable, the ON/OFF switch inside your amplifier will switch the NEUTRAL instead of the ACTIVE, leaving hot voltage inside the amplifier. If a fault develops inside the amplifier, you could end up with a dangerous situation, even when you think you have turned your amplifier off (at the amp switch). As far as filtering and power conditioning is concerned, this is the job of the electrolytic capacitors and voltage regulators inside the amplifier. The only piece of equipment I use to protect my precious audio equipment is a surge protector and an isolating transformer. I have always used isolating transformers in recording and post production studio design for safety reasons as well as earth loop reasons. I am sorry that my post was long, but perhaps it has been of some interest. I am happy to answer questions to the best of my knowledge.