Some things to ponder while wondering..."how could it make a difference"??
Maybe it's not the 60hz signal that's being effected by the power cord of a different construction. If what came in on the wire was only pure 60hz then maybe life would be simple. Try listening during the middle of the night with all the other breakers in your house turned off, temporarily, and see how your systems sounds. Would you be surprised if the sonics were a bit different?
Ever read/thought about the fact that the rectifier diodes sharp on and off spikes make a difference? This is why they are addressed in our equipment with soft recovery diodes, right? Problem solved then? Well, what about all the other stuff in your system, not to mention in the house? A few $30 power cords might be a lot cheaper than FRED diodes in everything...though maybe not quite as effective.
Ever looked at how many diodes are in the high voltage strings of the electrostat bias supply? Wonder if this means the B+ supply is pretty high impedance and therefore more susceptible to radiated or received power line noise??
Also....a power supply rectifier stage is followed by a filter stage, right? How good is your filter? How good are those filter caps at a mhz or two??
OldMonolith