AUDIOQUEST Aspen

SOLID PERFECT-SURFACE COPPER+/PERFECT-SURFACE COPPER CONDUCTORS (PSC+/PSC).

Solid conductors prevent strand interaction, a major source of distortion. Surface quality is critical because a conductor can be considered a guide rail for both electric fields within a conductor and magnetic fields outside the conductor. The amazingly smooth and pure surface of Perfect-Surface nearly eliminates roughness and greatly increases clarity compared to OFHC, OCC, 8N and other types of copper. The superior purity of PSC+ further minimizes distortion caused by grain boundaries, which exist within any metallic conductor.

DIELECTRIC-BIAS SYSTEM (DBS, US PAT #S 7,126,055 & 7,872,195 B1): The insulation is an electrical barrier, and also a "dielectric" because it is within the magnetic field of the conductor. All insulation slows down and smears the signal inside. When the isolation is unbiased, it causes different amounts of delay for different frequencies and energy levels, a real problem for time-sensitive multi-octave audio. AudioQuest's DBS creates a strong and stable electrostatic field that saturates and polarizes (organizes) the molecules of the insulation. Saturated (full) insulation absorbs less and therefore releases less energy out of phase. Minimizing non-linear time delays results in a clearer sound emerging from a "blacker" background. DBS battery packs will last for years.

DOUBLE SPIRAL COUNTER GEOMETRY: Aspen and the other AQ "Tree" series cables have an internal circular arrangement of positive conductors that spiral in one direction. Around this inner group, the negative leads spiral in the opposite direction, allowing for the significant performance advantage of positive and negative leads crossing each other instead of being parallel. However, the critical need to have an unchanged positive and negative fixed relationship is assured since the negative and positive groups are in fact two tubes with a perfectly consistent relationship. The result is amazing clarity, like bringing a camera lens into focus that you had no idea was so out of focus.

CARBON-BASED NOISE-DISIPATION AND CROSSTALK DISCONNECT SYSTEM (INSULATION): Negative conductors in Aspen are covered with partially conductive carbon-loaded polyethylene. This extraordinary material dampens the radio frequency garbage that is returned to the amplifier. The sonic advantage is exactly the same hash reduction and improved dimensionality that occurs when RF interference in an audio circuit is reduced. Another layer of carbon also dampens the interaction between the positive and negative conductors, and an external 3-layer carbon-based NDS system additionally absorbs external interference.

SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNOLOGY (SST): Any size or shape of conductor has a specific distortion profile. Even though radially symmetrical conductors (solid or tubular) have the fewest discontinuities, any particular size still has a sonic signature. SST is a method of significantly reducing awareness of these character flaws through the use of a precise combination of different sizes of conductors. The different sizes of SST conductors used in Aspen allow for exceptionally clear, clean and dynamic sound.

WIRING: Where possible, running separate conductors or separate cables to the high and low halves of a loudspeaker will greatly reduce distortion. BiWiring helps keep the large magnetic fields associated with bass energy out of the treble wire, allowing delicate upper frequencies to travel down a less disturbed path, like keeping big waves out of the water when you swim. Although Aspen is an ideal full-range cable, it has also been designed to make true Single-BiWire cable possible. Many multi-conductor cables claim to be good at BiWiring, but unless there is true magnetic isolation between the bass and treble groups, splitting such cables into bass and treble may be worse than keeping them together.

FINISHES: Aspen is prepared by AudioQuest's 1000 Series Hanging-Silver Multi-Spades or Bananas. The plugs are plated directly over pure Red Copper, by immersing (hanging) the swords and bananas in a vat of extremely pure silver, resulting in a very thick direct silver plate. There are no intermediate performance degrading materials. Aspen breaks (where the wire splits into positive and negative) are also special: Because a metal break would disrupt the wire's magnetic fields, Aspen breaks are magnetically invisible ABS.

DIRECTIONS: Because all drawn metal is directional, all audio cables are directional. AudioQuest analog and digital audio cables are controlled for correct directionality. The best sound is made possible by the "Amp" and "Speaker" tags on the Aspen outputs.