Aftermarket power cable on Viera Plasma

Welcome to the AVS forums pulsetsar. What do you mean "upgraded power cable"? What happened to the original cable? Have you searched for a replacement one? ...You might consider removing the rear panel, and then remove that clamp.

Why do you want to use an "upgraded" power cable? If it's because you read somewhere or heard from someone that an upgraded power cable will improve your picture quality or audio quality or cleans up the voltage etc then whatever you read or heard is marketing bullcrap and is not true.

An aftermarket or "upgraded" power cable yields absolutely zero improvement over the original factory cable.

Someone else asked this last year: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1283314

I've had good luck with the stock power cable. I did upgrade my speaker wire, though. I'm using something called L-amp Cord. Found it at Home Depot, of all places.

if you "believe" paragraph 1, then i'm sure that the power cable will make things better for you...

if you live in "the real world", then sell the power cable and buy some more shiny disks... because in "the real world", paragraph 1 is a sign of a healthy imagination....

I can't explain why you see what you think you see, but your wife was just playing along with you to avoid a huge arguement

Seriously, there is no way an "upgraded" power cable or wall receptacle could improve black levels and color representation. The TV doesn't care if it's getting "clean" power or "dirty" power. I've been in the electrical wholesale/technical industry for 35 years and i sell all types of power cable, specification grade wall receptacles, TVSS wall receptacles, and everything else to electricians and home theater contractors and low voltage contractors. Residential, commercial, aerospace, military, airport, radar labs, medical, surgical, industrial, movie studios, etc. I also provide electrical components to DirecTV's engineering division and broadcast centers, and like all my other customers over the years they use regular breakers and cable and wall receptacles at all their facilities.

I would love to be able tell you that this stuff will improve your picture quality, but the fact is that nothing you install in your house can or will improve your TV's black levels and colors. You can run a 100 foot extension cord to your neighbor's 60 year old wall receptacle and your TV will look exactly the same as it does plugged into your "upgraded" power outlet. Voltage is voltage and amperage is amperage. In the other thread linked above one of the top audio/video calibrators in the country has also stated that it has zero effect on picture quality.

Some people have more money than sense. Audio cables may have an audible impact but only in high end systems. "Upgrading" the TV power cable will be a complete waste of time and money but I'm sure you can find someone who would be happy to sell you one.

After reading this post I was really considering taking the advice Thumper's mother gave to him: "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all." But I can't let others infer that it's possible to improve black levels, cure floating blacks, and promote new hair growth by replacing your stock power cords without saying something. Therefore I'll add my personal experiences to what Randy and the others have said

I spent over twenty years repairing all sorts of consumer electronics equipment (now retired). The mid to high-end audio brands we were factory authorized to service included Rotel, Carver, Harman Kardon, Denon, and many others. Although we were not factory authorized for McIntosh, my partner was factory trained by them and we repaired a good amount of their equipment based on his reputation (He had run the service shop for the largest McIntosh dealer in the state before I lured him away). In order to become authorized for many of those brands you had to invest in top notch test equipment - we did. Those are my credentials. Here's my opinion
I have NEVER heard of a reputable blind test where aftermarket AC power cables were demonstrated to make any difference to the sound of an amp. This included tests we conducted ourselves where in addition to not hearing any difference, we were also unable to measure any.

With that said I'll add this: I have a dedicated 20 amp home run' for my plasma and audio equipment. The reason for this can be appreciated by anyone who's ever seen the lights in a room dim when they've turned on the vacuum cleaner. I could even understand someone with a large plasma and a powerful audio amp running each on its own 20 amp circuit. If you must spend money, do that, as there's a SLIGHT chance it might actually make some difference. But an aftermarket power cord will do absolutely nothing for your audio amp or your plasma.

I realize I'll never convince the OP of this but that's not my intent. I'm just trying to prevent anyone else who may be considering this from wasting their money.

I have been lurking the forums for some time now trying to get some valuable feedback on certain types and brands of tv's and have realized that there are many opinions to be found. What one person loves another may hate and vice versa. I have personally found that it best to keep track of what brand and models have high complaints of re-occuring problems and stay clear.

What really bothers me though and has compelled me to not only chime in (albeit in an older post), but to "sign up" in order to chime in, is how the mere mention of upgrading the cables in your system gets extremely bashed here. The place where the viewing experience is often nitpicked to death it seems almost impossible to find anyone that has the eye to spot little improvements. Is the norm to buy a new set or get a replacement every time you want to squeek a bit more performance for your eyes? Seems like it's the same as the audio guys, huh? Bigger dollars for smaller improvements.

Don't get me wrong, I do understand what buying better equipment is all about, but what if you can't afford to drop $2k for a different tv when all you really want is to get the best your stuff has to offer. HDMI cables are all the same according to most of the posts I've read, but these same people can spot a hair out of place that shouldn't be when they purchase a new tv. If the eye is not trained to see the improvements, how can it always see the deficiencies? The same goes for other cables that some people like to upgrade. Yes, there are differences to be had for sure people. If you can't see it or hear it consider yourself lucky believe me. Just quit acting like it doesn't exist.

For those out there that think only in technical terms explain why a BMW is more fun to drive than a Lincoln. To a person who can't drive, there will be minimal differences between the two, so maybe the extra coin is unjustified. Doesn't matter if they wash cars for a living does it? A wine tester can discern all the details between multiple wines, but I can't so I am going to tell every one I know to stay away from the more expensive stuff because I think it tastes the same as the cheap one. Plus, I deliver wine for a living.

It took me a long time to hear differences in audio equipment and it happened because I wanted to hear what all the talk was about and spent time listening for it. Now my ears are trained to hear things I never did when I bought my first stereo. Thankfully there are ways to squeeze out extra performance without resorting to spending huge sums on new equipment. Granted when it comes to cables and other tweaks you may not be getting huge upgrades, but a small percentage here and maybe another small percentage there will add up. My very modest Sharp 46D58UN is using an upgraded ac cord connected to an upgraded ac outlet which is in turn connected with an upgraded ac cord to the wall. Same goes for my cable box as well as $150 HDMI from cable box to tv. That's 5 upgrades added together to give me a viewing experience that is way better than what it should be. Good enough for my video conscious friends to comment on the picture every time they see it which has been a lot over my 2 years of ownership.

Just like adding upgraded parts to a computer or a car engine, tweaking your system, both video and audio, can have a profound result. It may not be equal to buying a newer better model, but it is still worth it to those who want the most from what they already own. My apologies if the results don't match what the science behind the technolgy dictates. If it's hard for someone to see/hear the details that the diehards in the audio/video hobbies frequently mention then maybe they aren't the ones to be giving advice. Ther's always wine testing.

The only thing wrong with your BMW vs. Lincoln analogy is that there are scientific and engineering facts that explain why the two cars provide a very different driving experience. Differences in suspension, engine performance, transmissions, etc. can all be measured and quantified. There are no known valid scientific or engineering explanations that account for the claims made about cables and wires. Until there are such explanations, many of us remain skeptics.