FAQ

Usually, the problem isn’t the power cord. Rather, the wall outlet is not properly installed. Install the outlet with the ground contact on top at the 12 o’clock position, so the ground pin of the AC plug will firmly hold the weight of the power cord and not pull out of the socket. The National Electrical Code stipulates that in hospitals and factories AC outlets must be installed with the ground contact on top for this reason. So it’s odd that household electrical wall sockets are usually installed upside down. And no electrician we’ve asked has ever been able to explain why.

There are some cable manufacturers who tell their customers that a thick, heavy gauge power cord is unnecessary. And some cable manufacturers even espouse that an audio-grade power cord should not have any effect on the sound of a component. How strange! At VooDoo Cable, our priority is to design and build power cords with the best sonic performance possible at that price point. We believe the power cord is the foundation of the cable network in any system.

Power cord design is a complex balance of conductor line capacitance and inductance using all the dielectric materials and conductor alloys available to achieve the desired dynamic control and tonal balance. Most importantly, a well designed audio-grade power cord should act as a filter to suppress unwanted line noise without constricting the flow of AC to the component. The larger gauge conductor will provide ample amount of line capacitance to the component, which allows the transformer inside the component to operate efficiently and quietly, without interference from eddy currents, and other forms of line noise. When plugged into a high-current power amplifier, a well-designed power cord will allow the transformer to operate at a cooler temperature. Over the years, we have heard from many customers who told us their amps seem to run cooler after they upgraded to one of our power cords.

Some high-end cable manufacturers make skinny light gauge power cords, while others make thick heavier gauge power cords. Some high-end cable manufacturers use copper braid shielding to protect the conductors from EMI and RFI, while others don’t. Some high-end cable manufacturers use thicker dielectric insulation that is matched to the charge of the conductor winding, and others don’t. Some high-end cable manufacturers use the minimum cable construction to lower the profile and manufacturing cost of the power cord, while others use a beefier cable construction to maximize the sonic performance of the power cord. These design specs and dielectric materials add to the size and thickness of the power cord. Take a look at the profile of premium, high-performance power cords from the best cable companies, and you will see that thick power cord design trumps thin power cord design when high-end audio performance is the goal.

VooDoo Cable IEC and AC power adapters are completely transparent. There is no ‘loss’ or phase shift. There is no audible or measurable change in the current or sound of the component. The IEC adapters may be used with any 120 or 240 volt component. The IEC standard is universal for all international AC power designations. AC power adapters are recommended for 120 volt systems, or with 240 volt systems at the user’s discretion. Please check your local electrical code for regulations.

Source components that have an IEC connection will benefit immediately from powercords. Start with the CD/DVD player, or the digital-to-analog processor (DAC). Then add powercords to the pre-amp and amplifier(s). If your source components do not have an IEC connection, use power cords on your pre-amp and amplifier(s). A few better-quality receivers require IEC power cords and will audibly benefit from the use of VooDoo Powercords. Powercords will also enhance the transparency of electrostatic speakers and provide more accurate bass response from powered subwoofers.

VooDoo Powercords significantly enhance the electrical power to your audio and video components by adding greater line capacitance and stabilizing the inductance of common-mode 115 volt household electricity. Household electricity is plagued by square-wave noise from lighting dimmers, TVs, computers and other appliances, as well as from electromagnetic (EMI) and radio frequency interference (RFI), which all seriously afflict the performance of any audio component. VooDoo Power Cords suppress nasty electrical “grunge” by stabilizing the voltage and current with increased capacitance and balanced inductance. The result is a cleaner and smoother flow of electricity to the power supplies of each component.

100 hours is the conventional break-in period for most new audio and video cable. But due to the benefits of our cold fusion cryogenic treatment for all VooDoo Cables, the break-in period will be much shorter. Customers often dread the break-in period. In fact, the break-in period with VooDoo Cable is not an unpleasant experience. Even during the initial break-in period, with VooDoo Cable you will immediately hear a palpable improvement in the sonic quality of your system.

VooDoo Cable is not made from a bulk spool of wire that has been extruded and wound in a wire factory somewhere overseas, and then purchased wholesale to be terminated by your local audio/video dealer. First, all the wire, shielding and connectors used to build VooDoo Cable are cryogenically treated in our computer-calibrated cold fusion liquid nitrogen deep-immersion cryogenic process. Then the conductors are custom wound to specific length in our shop with precision craftsmanship and state-of-the-art materials. Each cable is a meticulous assembly of high-purity copper and silver conductor wire, silver-plated copper braid shielding, ISO-grade Teflon®, and other high coefficient dielectric insulation materials. Our cables are terminated with the highest quality connectors made by Cardas, Wattgate, Furutech and Hubbell. Before each cable is shipped, we machine polish and treat the connectors with Caig contact treatment products for optimal performance right out of the box. Due to the overwhelming benefits of cryogenic treatment, VooDoo Cable requires minimal break-in time.

You should hear an immediate improvement in the three-dimensional soundstage, that magical area between, behind, and in front of your loudspeakers. The sound should be significantly more open, transparent and alive. Voices and musical instruments should occupy discrete positions in the depth and width of the soundstage. Also listen for the dramatic increase and precise control of the bass response without any apparent change to the EQ settings. When comparing VooDoo Power Cords with other PCs, listen for the focus and acoustic ambience, or “live” presence in vocals, as well as for cleaner articulation of detail and musical nuance in the mid-range.

We are often asked by customers for recommendations about which cable they should purchase and why. For most audio/video enthusiasts, the question of what wire or cable is usually an afterthought that comes with that feeling of expectation and elation just after the purchase of a newly acquired component or speakers. For others who have established the components and speakers in their system, the search for new cable is an often a random attempt at sonic transcendence; clarity, transparence, imaging, articulation, liquidity, resonance, capacitance, impedance and induction are the vague terms that lure them from website to website, from review to review, in search of something new and scintillating, whether or not they truly understand the meaning of those terms, or what is lacking in the performance of their system. 

Some customers believe the power amplifier is the temple of all sonic revelation, while others feel their towering loudspeakers are beacons of sonic truth and sonority. Home theater aficionados swear by their state-of-the-art DVD players, or the ‘next-gen’ technology in their multi-channel digital processors. And then, there are the guys who are having an extended love affair with vinyl, and the arcane rituals of analog audio. At VooDoo Cable, we know and love them all. And that’s the real reason why we make the finest cable in the industry for value and performance. 

What we have learned from observing how and why customers purchase cable for their systems is this; few realize how important cable is to the sonic performance and integrity of their entire system. And even fewer understand that their investment in cable is as important as their investment in components. The most prevalent error of the novice audio enthusiast is to form an opinion without auditioning the cable in their own system. Relying on the advice of reviewers is also a common mode of self-deception. Audiophile blogs and bulletin boards are filled with laments about how some component, loudspeaker or cable did not live up the hype and fanfare the high-end publications effusively proclaimed.
Experienced audiophiles with established systems know that it ‘s more cost-effective and less risky to upgrade their cable rather than replace components. Regardless of the component, the sonic attributes of speed, imaging, transparence, articulation, clarity and liquidity can only be attained with the right cable. Your $5000 pair of loudspeakers and $3000 amplifier are an utter waste of money unless you connect them with the appropriate speaker cable. Spending $100 on a pair of interconnect cable to link a $2000 pre-amp and a $3000 amplifier is comparable to putting a $100 set of tires on a Porsche Carrara. Conversely, a $1500 amplifier powered by a $400 audio-grade power cord sounds just as good, if not better than a $3500 amp with only a stock AC power cord. And a pair of $2000 loudspeakers connected to a power amplifier with a pair of $800 speaker cables performs better than a set of $5000 loudspeakers connect to the amp with a set of $300 speaker cables.
Our abiding recommendation is this: Take the time to audition cable that matches or exceeds the quality of your loudspeakers and components. Initially, you may protest the cost, but that’s the reason why we have a 30-Day Money Back Trial Policy, and a 60-Day Full Credit Upgrade Policy. Like anything worth having in life – a comfortable home, a cool car, vacation in Europe, or better yet, a great audio or home entertainment system – true audiophiles find a way to transcend mediocrity for a higher level of quality and sensibility that may cost a bit more, but delivers superior performance and listening satisfaction for many years to come. Take the time to audition VooDoo Cable and discover what you’ve been missing.

Cold Fusion is our own proprietary cryogenic process developed specifically for the treatment of the conductive wire, shielding, connectors, and other components used in the manufacture of all VooDoo Cable products. All of the conductive wire, shielding and connectors used to build our products are cryogenically treated in our computer-calibrated liquid nitrogen cryogenic process at -315 degrees Fahrenheit (-192 Celsius) to re-align and fuse the molecular structure of the conductive metals and alloys.
At the molecular level, electrons that make up any electrical pulse jump from one conductive molecule to the next. The more direct the transient path of the signal or current pulse, the less electrical noise will corrupt the signal or current. Cryogenic treatment tightens and aligns the molecular structure of conductive alloys and metals at the molecular level. The result of this metallurgical transformation is significantly lower line resistance in the signal path for significantly less harmonic distortion. The overwhelming benefits of our proprietary cryogenic treatment process for audio cable are dramatically increased harmonic resolution, greater detail and transparence in the soundstage, and more accurate dynamic response throughout the audible range. For video cable, the benefits are significanly less noise in the video signal path for a brighter, sharper picture, and more accurate color rendering, deeper blacks, and quieter scan resolution.
After years of debate by skeptics, cryogenic technology is now widely accepted and used in the manufacture of high-end audio and video products. VooDoo Cable has used cryogenic technology in the manufacture of our products since 1999.

Termination for any cable is extremely important for several reasons. At VooDoo Cable, we carefully select the type of termination for our cable based upon the best sonic, electrical and mechanical performance. We have tested all the available termination on the market and have chosen the termination that suits the engineering and performance parameters of each cable we manufacture. All the termination used in the manufacture of VooDoo Cable is treated in our computer-calibrated cold fusion deep-immersion liquid nitrogen cryogenic process at -315 degrees Fahrenheit (-192 Celsius) for 100+ hours to realign and fuse the molecular structure of the conductive metals and alloys. The over-whelming benefit of this metallurgical trans-formation is significantly less noise caused by line resistance at the molecular level. The most important characteristics are the base metal, dielectric insulation material, quality of the plating, mechanical integrity, and the bond between conductor and connector; i.e., silver solder, crimp, set screw, cold weld, etc. While cost is always a factor in cable manufacturing, we would rather pay the higher price and use the very best quality of termination, because we believe our customers want only the best termination on their cable. But high price is not always an indicator of the best performance. Cardas, WBT, Vampire, Eichmann, Neutrik, Wattgate, Hubbell, Furutech, and others make high-performance cable termination at prices that may or may not make sense in the final analysis. We have learned from years of bench and listening tests that regardless of what brand or type of termination, the most transparent, tonally neutral, and electrically quiet termination is the best. Any connector that alters the delicate balance of signal linearity, capacitance, inductance, and resonance within the conductor winding is unacceptable.

A more than twenty years ago, when our founder Bruce Richardson began building high-end AC power cords, he took his creations to local audio dealers to demonstrate the extraordinary affect they had on the performance of audio components. Most merely scorned the idea and refused to audition the power cords. More than one dealer scoffed at the notion that an AC power cord could affect the audible performance of audio components. One dealer said the power cords were “nothing but voodoo.” From that experience, Bruce decided to name his initial product line VooDoo Powercords. Subsequently, as the popularity of VooDoo products grew, the company was re-named VooDoo Cable.