Power Cables
How do you address address your cable requirements? Here’s how we approach a cable change.
Headwaters Construction:
- 12 gauge, shielded, PVC jacketed cable
- Wattgate IEC connector
- Pass & Seymour wall plug
- Available in 4 colors shown
- Click the “Technical” link (thumbnail, below) for more details
Upgrade note: for customers who purchased Headwaters power cables before release of the Wind River in April, 2020, we are offering a generous trade-in toward the Wind River cables. Try before you buy … we think you’ll like them! Contact us for details.

Prototyping with the ETI Legato connectors raised the ceiling of our power cable design, and the Wind River cable was born. Contact us for details, and read about our impressions of them here.
Note: introductory pricing won’t last much longer. The US retail price for a pair of these Legato connectors is $458.00 (and about to rise due to speculation on precious metals).
Word of mouth has always been our best advertiser and this “giveaway” pricing is our way of introducing these cables to the audiophile community.
Background
It’s unlikely that we would have developed these cables had we not been working on the NiWatt amplifiers. The NiWatts are truth-tellers, and a perfect platform for evaluating so little as 1″ of wire.
Every new Galibier turntable and pair of NiWatt amplifiers will be delivered with a pair of Wind River cables. The NiWatts and our turntables deserve nothing less.
Perhaps the biggest surprise for us was in powering the Teddy Pardo power supply for our turntables. Hearing is believing! Contact us for details on our satisfaction guarantee.
Safety Note:
This applies to power (mains) cables and interconnects from all manufacturers!! Never remove or otherwise disable the safety/earth ground on the power (mains) cable of any of your electronics!
Many audiophiles will remove the safety/earth ground (the third prong) from their power (mains) cables. They will leave only one mains cable with an active 3rd, ground prong – typically, their line stage.
They do this in an attempt to eliminate ground loops.
This is a violation of safety code and should be avoided at all costs. You do not want to die for your hobby!
Bypassing the mains ground on any of your power cables presents two safety problems:
- It puts the burden on the interconnects to carry the safety ground. A safety ground running through an interconnect can fail when potentially lethal currents are present.
- Some electronics “float” the signal. This means that the “ground” on your RCA/XLR is not not connected to the chassis. With these designs, if the mains cable ground is disabled, the chassis is no longer grounded.
If you have a hum problem (ground loop), contact your component manufacturers for a solution, or alternatively, or implement isolation transformers between the offending components.
In the early days of radio, some chassis had a 50% chance of carrying high voltage! Here’s an interesting read on the All American 5 radio. Scroll to the section: “Potential Hazards of the Design”.