 |
  Cable Products > Mini Lab Cables Mini Lab Cable More Info Starting at just $149.00!  Following the huge success of the Lab Cable II, we immediately got to work on an affordable version of the big Lab.Introducing, the Mini Lab Cable. It's funny how these names just appear, the Mini Lab was sort of our in-house name for the more affordable version of the Lab Cable, and it just stuck. However, Don't let the name mislead you into thinking, even for a moment, that the 'Mini' is a small cable. It's not! In fact, compare the 10 gauge multi-strand configuration of the Mini Lab to nearly every other aftermarket AC cable available and you'll quickly notice how robust ours is compared to even the heaviest of Audiophile power cords available. And for such a great price!! After finding out that our 'Mini' cable is the same size or bigger then the compititions biggest cables, you will agree that this could possibly be the best value in high end AC cables the world over!! The idea behind the Mini Lab Cable was to use the same technology and the same construction techniques found in the big Lab II Cable, but simply reduce the conductor gauge. But we need to be careful with the  concept of 'reduce'! It is still more copper than almost anyone on the market (except its big brother).And that is what we have done. The major design goals of the Lab II Cable are lots of shielding, and lots of copper. The Mini Lab has this in spades  Let's review what we know about cables. Our philosophy of AC power cords is a simple one: multiple shields, and lots of very fine strands of copper bunched together as a conductor (like the photo on the left). The vast majority of AC power cords available today incorporate relatively small 14 gauge conductors (approximately one quarter of what you see on the left) and only have a single shield around those conductors. Some higher quality power cords have 12 gauge conductors (the lower the number of the gauge, the greater the amount of copper used) but still only one shield. Then the landscape changed The AC power landscape changed dramatically when PS Audio introduced to the world the first full size Lab Cable. With 6 gauge conductors weighing in at over 1 pound per foot, and triple shielding technology, the Lab set a new standard and helped people understand the importance of lots of fine copper and lots of shielding as a way to deliver power properly.  We knew after many years of working with all manner of AC cables that there seemed to be no perfect combination of cable geometry available: some cables offer better highs, or better lows, but almost always at the expense of another parameter. Important to us, was capturing the accurate timbre of each instrument, with the full body of that instrument intact, and located in a perfect acoustic space. To accomplish this, you must first and foremost perfectly reproduce the essential mid bass of the recording. Without this mid bass information or the 'body' of the instrument intact, both ambient acoustical cues and spatial cues will be lost. It is then more difficult to locate a particular instrument in space, and the instrument will sound less than real. Problem solved The big Lab II Cable solves this problem by providing extremely low DC resistance and very high surface area for electron flow. The Lab II Cable works in these areas, perhaps better than any cable, because of its abundant copper to total area equation (over 1 pound per foot does this cable weigh!). The Mini Lab accomplishes this goal in exactly the same way, just to a lesser extent. The copper content in the Mini Lab is approximately half of that found in the big Lab. Incorporating 10 gauge conductors, formed of multiple strands of 36 gauge (very fine) pure copper, the Mini Lab still has ample surface area for electron flow. In fact, compare the 10 gauge multi-strand configuration of the Mini Lab to nearly every other AC cable on  the market, and you'll quickly notice how robust ours is compared to even the heaviest of Audiophile power cords available. Don't think for a moment that the 'Mini' is a small cable. It's not!Lots of copper only half the story But lots of copper is only half the story. As previously mentioned, shielding provides the other half of the Lab Cable features. In fact, the triple shielding used in the Lab II Cable's construction is so important, that we incorporated the same technology into the Mini Lab. Any really good cable is shielded at least once. This single shielding provides 20 dB or so of rejection to external noise interference. But the Aerospace industry has shown us that for truly effective shielding, that approaches an ideal of 60 to 70 dB or rejection, you need a triple shield. Further, you need a combination of both copper mesh braid and aluminum foil shielding to achieve the desired end-result. The Mini Lab Cable, like its big brother the Lab Cable, has a triple shield built into its interior. Shielding from the OUTSIDE is not everything  Shielding from external noise is not the entire story. Important also is shielding from internal noise sources as well. A little known fact is the level of interference caused by your audio and video equipment. Each piece of AV gear in our system is a generator of noise, and this noise is easily transmitted down the unit's AC power cord. So, it should be apparent that the insufficient level of shielding from outside sources, found on the vast majority of AC cables, is equally insufficient for noise generated by the equipment itself. The Lab Cable series of AC power cords solves both the internally radiated noise sources and the externally radiated noise sources by providing a properly designed triple shield. The connectors are first rate Once you design and manufacture a high-end AC cable such as the Mini Lab and Lab series cables, it's critical that the connectors used to attach the power cord to both the wall socket and the equipment be as high quality as the cable itself. PS Audio uses a combination of Marinco male connectors, and Kimber Kable's magnificent Wattagate IEC female connector for our US versions. The Mini Labs are also available with the wonderful Neutrik PowerCon series of connectors as well as either a  high-end UK version or the German standard, the Shuko connector.The Mini Labs are affordable Mini Labs are available in three standard lengths of AC power cords.
Mini Lab Uses Of course we recommend that you use one of the Lab Cable series of AC power delivery cables in every piece of equipment that you care to maximize performance. But budgetary constraints do not always allow us to place the Big Lab Cable in every situation. If you are mixing and matching Big Labs and Mini Labs, we recommend that the Big Labs be used to power the more current hungry of your equipment. This would include:
 Lower power requirement equipment, such as:
Will the Minis be OK with a power amp? Sure. What we are suggesting is that relative to a big Lab, the Minis are not quite as good with higher powered items. However, relative to almost any other power cord on the market, the Minis will most likely outperform them handily (even on a big power amp). Interested in listening to one in your own home? Click here to find out how! |
 |
Product Details
Related Products
Reviews
Interactive
Need Help?