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Recommend cotton.

Posted by Al Sekela (A) on January 21, 2011 at 12:30:34

In Reply to: Ping: Al Sekela: Highwire Audio Power Wrap slipped into Techflex sleeving. posted by Duster on January 20, 2011 at 18:57:19:

Techflex and the like are made of nasty dielectrics and degrade the performance of anything they come near, IMO.

I agree that the jacket color of Power Wraps is unfortunate, to put it politely.

It will help the performance to apply acoustic damping materials to Power Wraps. While they are effective dampers for RF electromagnetic energy, they also have strong acoustic resonances. Acoustic vibration causes the Power Wrap to interact with the audio band signal.

The material that I've found that gives acoustic damping without injecting nasty dielectric effects is pure (not blended with polyester) cotton batting. I wrap the cable with enough batting to cause the Power Wrap to be a tight fit, then overwrap the Power Wrap tightly with more batting. Cut the batting into convenient strips for wrapping.

You can leave it the natural color or cover with appropriate cotton fabric for a designer finish.

Further tweaks depend on the extent to which you desire to modify the cord. Power Wrap performance can also be improved by making electrical connection to the AC safety-earth at the load end of the cord. It may be necessary to use something like a 100 ohm, half-watt, PRP resistor in series.

Multiple Power Wraps to cover more of the cord also help. These should be joined electrically end-to-end. The Power Wraps are made of Teflon and the proprietary damping wire. It is easy to solder to the exposed wire with a beefy iron, say 40 watts or more. Heat shrink tubing should be used sparingly if at all. I don't like the sonic effects of even the more expensive polyolefin heat shrink tubing.

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