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  Cable Products > xStream Plus SC power cable xStream Plus SC More Info Starting at just $199.00!  About as close as it getsIt’s easy to say a product is state-of-the-art. It’s far more difficult to create a product that actually IS state-of-the-art like the Statement SC and perhaps even tougher to create the next best – the Plus SC. Not really a step-down from the Statement, but more like “about as close as it gets” when compared to our very best. The original PS Audio xStream™ Plus power cables were, in fact, state-of-the-art for their time. The xStream Plus used OFC (oxygen-free copper), along with unique shielding and construction techniques to form a cable so superior in power delivery that it set a new standard in the world for high performance power cables. And it stayed “on top” for a long time. The bad news is that, even at PS Audio, technology moves on, especially in metallurgy. The good news is now we’re able to raise the bar a LOT higher because of new conducting material technology! And boy, howdy, is it audible! The new PS Power SC (single crystal) version of the venerable PS Power Plus uses the same great construction and shielding but adds yet another improvement to the mix. PCOCC. PCOCC – aka PS Power SC - is a rare and unusual material, second only to pure silver in its conductivity. It has just one single crystal that forms the entire length of a conductor! Compare that with TPC copper or even pure OFC copper - which has literally thousands of crystals in the path of the electrons and these crystals form barriers to connectivity and unimpeded power flow. Not so with single crystal. Going against the grain There are two key elements that determine a conductor’s performance: 
What we want is zero boundaries, and only PS Power SC (single crystal) continuous cast copper provides such performance. Even silver, which is recognized as the best conductor of all the metals has a few grain boundaries. Not so with PS Power SC.  Here’s the coolest partIn the past, the only way to get the most bass impact was to go to lower gauge (thicker) conductors. And that worked, but there was always a downside or two. If we went too big, we got bass at the expense of treble extension. So it was always a judgment call to get the best balance. Worldwide sales certainly proved that we “voiced” the cable balance correctly. Big fat cables are a pain in the patootie. They cause components to move around. They come out if you barely touch another nearby component. They add clutter and they definitely are NOT user friendly. Well guess what? SC cables don’t have to be as big as the older technology cables. We wish we could give you the scientific explanation. But we can’t. At least not exactly… What we think is that without all the grain (crystal) boundaries, the current flow is greatly enhanced, kinda like using larger gauge conductors to achieve the same results. Only now, with PS Power SC technology,  we get fluid mids, and delicate highs to go with truly authoritative bass. All this improvement AND with a smaller gauge cable - eight gauge in the Plus SC vs. 6 gauge in the older xStream Plus version. OK, we admit it. We didn’t expect it, but who’s gonna complain? And to top it all off, we ended up with an absolute reference power cable that you can actually bend! What’s the bottom line, you ask? PS Power SC simply lets through more of what we want to feed our equipment than we ever thought possible. The performance benefits are immediately appreciated from the moment you connect a Plus SC to any piece of electronics in your audio video system:
In 1985, a method for the extrusion of a grain free copper wire was developed by Professor Ohno in Japan.  Known as The Ohno Continuous Casting Method, molten copper is forced out of the mold and very slowly draws the grain down the conductor's length, creating a 'single grain structure'. Unfortunately, there’s only one machine in the world that creates single crystal copper. It’s owned by Furukawa metals in Japan. This one machine is so specialized that they can only run it every other day. The casting machine needs an entire day to cool down and be prepared for the next run. This rare single crystal (SC) copper is nearly ten times more expensive than OFC. Not surprisingly, it is difficult to purchase. And, as you might imagine, there are relatively small quantities made at any one time. PS Power has secured futures on this material. So we can build our power and audio cables with only the finest of materials, directly cast out of this single machine in Japan. Here’s the inside story Inside the Plus SC is a wealth of conductors, shields and geometric perfection. The original Plus were 8 gauge OFC copper. The new SC version is 10 gauge PCOCC (ok, that’s the last time you’ll see those initials, promise). This all new metallurgy allows these new SC versions to be lighter, more flexible and sound more powerful, open and alive. Reducing the wire gauge of the Plus was one of our goals  and the use of SC (single crystal) technology made it possible.The Plus SC has multiple shields and each of the shields lowers noise. The individual shields make sure that noise from within the power cable as well as noise from outside the power cable never see each other. The Plus SC is one of the quietest power cables in the world. But shielding can only do so much. In the SC series, the AC gets cleaner as it passes through the power cable. The outer jacket of the PS Power SC acts as a filter to actually clean the AC power as it is delivered to your equipment! Ferrite, a magnetic material that acts as a noise filter, is impregnated in the Plus’s outer jacket. So the cable cleans as it delivers unrestricted power to your equipment. Despite the heavy SC copper content, ferrite jacket and multiple shields, the Plus SC cables are flexible enough to be used in any situation. This is truly a state of the art power cable by anyone’s standards. Making a Plus When there’s little room for compromise you have to choose a PS Power Plus SC to deliver the power your equipment requires. Whether that equipment is a preamplifier, a power amplifier, a DVD player, projector or a surround processor, the Plus SC simply and effectively delivers AC power in the cleanest most efficient manner of any power cable on the planet (with the exception of the Statement SC).  The SC series of power cables is not a step-up from other aftermarket power cables. By raising the bar so high, the SC power cables have created an entirely new class of power delivery. From the connectors to the conductors to the outer jacket to the geometry of the cable itself: every single facet of these power cables represents new thinking and new technologies. From a performance standpoint the Plus SC’s provide a remarkable improvement over any other after-market power cord we have ever auditioned, regardless of price. The difference is in the details To build the world’s best power cables, we started from scratch and worked our way up. What was the first step? Redesign the connectors themselves. PS Power SC power cables use our custom made male and female connectors. In contrast, every aftermarket high-end power cord uses an off-the-shelf male and female AC power connector. These off-the-shelf connectors find their way on cables as low as $50 to as high as many thousands of dollars. Some folks (who don’t yet know better) actually consider these old technology connectors to be state-of-the-art. But, they are not. Here’s why… Take a look at the way the plug and IEC connectors are made in this photo of a 'state-of-the-art' hospital  grade aftermarket connector used on many high end power cords. Note the plug prong is a three-piece affair made from a piece of stamped metal (the IEC is constructed in the same manner). The three parts are the prong, the clamp cover and the screw. The prong and clamp are made from brass and the screw is constructed of steel. To build a high performance power cord with these off-the-shelf connectors, you have to accept a compromised connection scheme: basically you insert the conductor into the clamp and tighten; the steel screw is used to hold the conductor in place. The problems with this style of build:
To solve the problems of longevity, connectivity and loss of surface area, PS engineering went to work designing an entirely new male and female connector from the ground up. To address the issue of multiple pieces of stamped and dissimilar metals in the actual prong itself, we machined our prongs out of a solid block of high copper content brass, and then polished both the female and male prongs – and finally nickel plated all surfaces and polished them again. By machining the new prongs from a solid block of material, we were also able to resolve the dilemma of the unnecessary hole in the mating prong as well as the dissimilar metal problem. Even the female side of the PS power cable is revolutionary as well. So strong is the gripping force of the PS Power IEC female end that you can literally dangle a piece of equipment from the PS power cable without it falling! Try that with another power cable! Hot and Cold Once we had a single piece of machined metal with an appropriately sized hole to receive the cable’s  conductor, it was time to do a better job of attaching the conductor to the connector.Traditional off-the-shelf stock power cords simply squeeze the brass end over the wire. Most “high-end” power cables use a tightened steel screw to hold the conductor against the prong. Both of these methods are prone to oxidation and corrosion AND loss of connectivity due to repeated twisting of the connector. The PS Power Punch and SC series each employs two forms of welding to fuse the conductor to the machined prong: cold and hot. Cold welding exerts thousands of pounds of pressure supplied through the force of a hydraulic press to squeeze the two metals together such that the metal structure of the two pieces actually fuse together. To further insure a perfect connection, we then solder each of the machined prongs with high silver content solder in a hot welding technique that creates the perfect bond. Hermetically sealed for protection To address the issue of long term conductivity and eliminate problems such as oxidation, PS Power engineers designed an outer shell that is molded over the machined, cold and hot welded connectors.  This molding process, which also incorporates a built in strain relief, keeps the outer elements away from the all-important fusion of the prongs to the conductors. The custom connectors on the PS Power Punch and SC alone will revolutionize the category and set new standards for state-of-the-art status in power delivery systems. A shield that cleans? Each SC power cable has multiple shields to keep the noise from the powerline contained and unwanted radiation from entering the power stream. But we didn’t stop at just shielding. PS Power SCs actually clean the noise from the AC line while it is powering your equipment. Every SC power cord employs magnetically active ferrite powder evenly distributed along the entire length of the outer jacket. This produces the world’s first distributed inductive shield that actively cleans some of the high frequency noise on the AC line itself! This is a major achievement in the art of power cable delivery, resulting in the  lowest noise floor of any power cord we know of. And that means a richer listening and/or viewing experience to you!Why didn’t I think of that? One of the most useful innovations with the xStream SC and Power Punch cables is a removable ground pin. The ground pin on a power cable is there to tie the ground of the AC receptacle to your equipment. However, in some cases, this ground pin can cause a ground loop and cause hum and buzz in your system. To neutralize the ground loop that creates hum and buzz in your system, audio and theater enthusiasts have traditionally used what is known as a “cheater plug” . A cheater plug is an inexpensive three-prong to two-prong adapter. Unfortunately, this adapter completely ruins many of the benefits of a high performance power cable like the SC or Power Punch. PS engineers invented a better way: a screw-in ground pin. Instead of using a cheesy cheater plug and running all the benefits of the SC or Power Punch’s machined connectors, you simply unscrew the ground pin and voila! No more buzz. Putting it all together
It's time to get the power delivery system in your home audio/video system right. Remember, if you don't get the power delivered to your equipment properly, then you’ll never take advantage of your investment in fine equipment. It's time to maximize your system and get connected with a Real Power SolutionTM. See your local PS dealer, give us a call or click on the purchase option to try out a PS Power SC Cable in your system today. It might just be the smartest thing you've ever done. |
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