Shunyata Power Wire Gauges
 

Just an fyi for those interested.

Only power cord 5awg or less than I'm aware of is by First Impression Music (FIM) and it's basically a stiff bar of wire that needs to be bent into the desired shape. Understand it's made up of nine 2.5mm solid core conductors and the only one I've seen has a serial number on it. Sounds excellent, but on a scale of 1 to 10 for usability I'd call it a "1", and they haven't made it for many years (probably takes that long to break it in too).

Thank you for posting it. Are you sure that Alpha HC is 7 gauge. isn't it 10 ga but in dual configuration or something like that?

I think those are "effective" gage numbers. Meaning the sum of the wires used.

How does the new NR / Flexible lines stack up in this list?

Hi,

My apologies for the delay in response but I was traveling overseas and returned to a backlog of communication.

I discussed the new products and the idea of gauge-importance raised here with Caelin --and as many may imagine, came away with more information than a simple answer to a question about aggregate gauge

While gauge is important, it is more important to look at the total “power transfer function” capability in any device, or in power cord being used for dynamic-draw electronics, amps or power conditioners.

Power-Transfer function is determined by wire gauge, inductance of the cable and the contact junctions.

As wire gauge becomes greater, the quality of the contact junctions actually becomes MORE important because all that current must move through a small contact area. This is why we design and manufacture our own massive-contact-area connectors, the CopperConn's. Some manufacturers claim large gauge, then shave the conductors down at both ends to squeeze the wire into the connector because 6 gauge of power-wire won't fit into normal AC connectors. We designed-in massive contact points made of solid copper that accommodates almost any massive gauge wire-set.

It's important to point out that while wire gauge is important-- it is NOT the most important element in power cord performance.

For example, our VTX (virtual-tube) conductors have vanishingly low measured inductance compared to any equivalent sized normal conductor. VTX conductors actually conduct more instantaneous current than any normal or solid-core wire of the same size. This is one of the reasons we use VTX conductors in all of our power products including in our power conditioners.

The NR and EF cables are now made with single-run VTX conductors. That means that there are not multiple wires bundled to create larger gauges.

All that said, the wire gauge of the NR power cords will be:

SIGMA NR/EF: VTX-06 gauge
ALPHA NR/EF: VTX-08 gague
DELTA NR/EF: VTX-10 gauge

Also noteworthy, will be another big increase in flexibility. All the NR/EF power cords will be _extremely_ easy to bend, twist and will be very light-weight compared to existing models. We are still a few weeks away from announcing the newer models.

Hopefully, I will have samples available for Axpona in Chicago in April.

Regards,

Grant

Grant
So in your power cords there are only "3" strands of wire. Are each of those 06, 08 or 10 gage or are the three together 06, 08 10. Just trying to make sure I understand.

power cord gage or size is never rated as a total of three conductors (hot, neutral, gnd.) Each of the conductors is the size noted on the outer jacket.

Correct. If a manufacturer added up the gauges of wires used for different connections as in hot, neutral and ground connections: I would consider that deceptive and misleading.

Using ALPHA NR as an example:

Hot gauge: VTX-08
Neutral gauge: VTX-08
Ground gauge: VTX-08

Thanks for the clarifications.