Technically speaking, fire is not an object, but an event: the rapid oxidation of a material in the chemical process of combustion by which heat and light are released into the surrounding environment. What we typically think of as “fire”—the often mysteriously beautiful and strangely hypnotic fireplace flicker of white, yellow, or red-orange glow—is actually just the visible part of the fire’s flame, containing the superheated byproducts of the fire’s incomplete exothermic reaction giving off visible light as excess energy is released. Interestingly, the cherry-red flame of a smoldering campfire measures somewhere around 700˚ Celsius; the deep orange flame of a candle, lit at a bedside or suffusing a living room with gentle aroma, typically burns at around 1000˚ Celsius; and the dazzling white flame created by a meteor as it enters Earth’s atmosphere can often exceed 1500˚ Celsius! While fire is commonly considered to be a destructive event, it can also be a very effective tool for managing and enhancing fields, forests, and wetlands: Native Americans discovered that while fire killed woody plants, it encouraged the growth of fruit-bearing shrubs and forage-producing grasslands. Of course, fire’s unique potential has been known for some time: It’s likely that humans began using fire to heat food approximately 1 million years ago. Among the classical elements, fire is commonly associated with energy, assertiveness, and passion. In Greek Mythology, the cult hero Prometheus defied the gods by providing humanity the gift of fire, thereby enabling progress and civilization. People born under the astrological signs of Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius are thought to have fire personalities: They are enthusiastic, extroverted, and, like our good friend Prometheus, they are rebellious, passionate, brave, and valiant. It’s no wonder that we have for so long been drawn to fire. A thing to be feared, respected, and loved, fire is that which drives us into the unknown, lights our way through darkness, and signals our way back home.

Solid Perfect-Surface Silver (PSS) Conductors
Perfect-Surface Technology applied to extreme-purity silver provides unprecedented clarity and dynamic contrast. Perfect-Surface Silver (PSS) is AudioQuest's highest-quality metal. Solid conductors prevent strand interaction, a major source of cable distortion. Extremely high-purity Perfect-Surface Silver minimizes distortion caused by the grain boundaries that exist within any metal conductor, nearly eliminating harshness and greatly increasing clarity compared to OFHC, OCC, 8N and other coppers.

FEP Air-Tube Insulation (FEP Is a Fluoro-Polymer)
Any solid material adjacent to a conductor is actually part of an imperfect circuit. Wire insulation and circuit board materials all absorb energy (loss). Some of this energy is stored and then later released as distortion. Air, however, absorbs next to no energy, and FEP is the best extrudable solid insulation, absorbing less energy than other materials. The use of FEP Air-Tube insulation, with almost nothing but air around the solid conductors, improves the sound of an audio system's focus and dynamics.

Triple-Balanced Geometry (Separate Ground-Reference Conductor)
Our Triple-Balanced Geometry uses a separate ground-reference conductor, so the cable's shield is never used as an inferior conductor. Whether prepared with RCA or XLR plugs, the cable's three conductors ensure that the positive and negative signals have equally superior, low-distortion conducting paths.

Dielectric-Bias System with Radio Frequency Trap
All insulation between two or more conductors is also a dielectric whose properties will affect the integrity of the signal. When the dielectric is unbiased, dielectric-involvement (absorption and non-linear release of energy) causes different amounts of time delay (phase shift) for different frequencies and energy levels, which is a real problem for very time-sensitive multi-octave audio. The inclusion of an RF Trap (developed for AudioQuest’s Niagara Series of power products), ensures that radio-frequency noise will not be induced into the signal conductors from the DBS field elements. (DBS, US Pat #s 7,126,055 & 7,872,195 B1)

Carbon-Based 8-Layer Noise-Dissipation System (NDS)
It's easy to accomplish 100% shield coverage. Preventing captured Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) from modulating the equipment's ground reference requires AQ's Noise-Dissipation System (NDS). Traditional shield systems typically absorb and then drain noise/RF energy to component ground, modulating and distorting the critical "reference" ground plane, which in turn causes a distortion of the signal. NDS's alternating layers of metal and carbon-loaded synthetics "shield the shield," absorbing and reflecting most of this noise/RF energy before it reaches the layer attached to ground.

WEL-Type Double-Contact Cold-Welded Reusable plugs, Hanging-Silver Plating Directly Over Machined Solid Extreme-Purity Red Copper
This plug design enables a perfect heat-free connection between cable and plug. The connection between the plug and conductors is made using AQ’s Cold-Welded System, which provides a superior connection that ensures that the structural integrity of the conductor is kept completely intact. The Cold-Welded System refers to a combination of high pressure at the point of contact and the use of copper- or silver-impregnated paste. (Wild Blue Yonder’s silver conductors get silver paste.) XLR plugs are also available.