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  Cable Products > xStream Premier SC Power Cable xStream Premier SC More Info Starting at just $799.00!  We probably shouldn’t blow our horn too loudly, but just as a point of reference, it was PS Audio some number of years ago that pretty much started the high end power cable category. From the original Power Link to the Lab Cable and then to the xStream and SC Series, we’ve led the way in high end AC power delivery. Now, we’re raising the proverbial performance bar once again, with the introduction of the xStream Premier SC. The Premier SC is the ultimate in AC power delivery. It represents our crowning achievement in the art of power cable construction. It’s what’s inside that counts How do we create a new power cable that outperforms the xStream Statement SC? Well, to use a restaurant analogy, if you’re already serving gourmet food cooked by the world’s best chefs, then all that is left for improvement are the ingredients themselves. The Premier power cable was sweated and worked over for a long, long time by PS Engineering. Concocted from a blend of the world’s finest conductors: - PCOCC single crystal copper and solid 99.9% pure silver solid core - it’s surrounded by multiple shields and encased in a luxurious cloth outer jacket. To top it all off, it’s then connected with our hand machined male and female connectors, resulting in the Premier SC - the new standard by which all others will be judged. To build the Premier, we started with a solid silver, solid core 14 gauge power cable. This is the same gauge  power cable as most equipment comes with as standard.We listened to the performance of this solid silver cable and while the top end and soundstaging were breathtaking, the midbass, body and bass response of the power cable were lacking. To build up these areas of the sonic tapestry, we began to add pure, single crystal PCOCC copper in varying strand widths, from fine 36 gauge to heavier solid core until is sounded perfect. What we wound up with is an overall wire gauge of 7, which is huge! 25% of the Premier is solid silver and the balance is PCOCC single crystal copper. But performance is the key We’re convinced that nothing has even come close to the performance levels of great equipment when it is plugged in with the Premier. From power amplifiers, to CD players, preamps and DAC’s, the Premier is the defining connection between the wall socket, Power Plant or power conditioner of any kind. The Premier brings a new level of refined beauty, power and spacious performance to high-end, high-performance systems. It’s a breathtaking openness, with quick and lightning transients and a warmth and richness we’ve never experienced in any system. Those are just a few of the benefits of powering the system with the Premier. Conductors are the key in the Premier Any power cable is only as good as the conductors inside and the level of shielding and connectivity it possesses. The Premier uses the two best conductors in the world, solid pure silver and single crystal PCOCC copper. Silver is the best conductor on the planet When Samuel F. B. Morse tapped out, 'What hath God wrought,' on May 24, 1844, the contact points on his telegraph were silver. The high amperage required to push the signal over iron wires from Baltimore to Washington, D.C., demanded a high capacity, non-corroding make/break contact; only silver could do the job. Silver is used in most expensive switch contacts, but because of its extremely high price, it’s rarely used as  a large electrical conductor for AC power. But that’s a shame, because silver has the lowest resistance and the best conducting properties of any material in the world! And it’s nearly perfect for AC power distribution.In the Premier, we spared no expense to build the world’s best power cable. Solid silver, while the best conductor, isn’t the only ingredient needed. We’ve found that for best AC power delivery, silver must be combined with pure copper in just the right amounts for the highest level of performance. Actually, it’s a bit like a chef refining his recipe. That’s where PCOCC comes in. Almost unobtainium 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 copper and is the second best conductor in the world (next to silver). 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 for both the xStream SC Series of power cables as well as the Premier. So we can build our power and audio cables with only the finest of materials, directly cast out of this single machine in Japan. Putting it together The importance of the conductors cannot be understated. By combining both solid silver and PCOCC copper in just the right proportions, the Premier is able to lay claim to being the best power cable in the world. But shielding these pure conductors from the outside world is important as well. The Premier 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 Premier is one of the quietest power cables in the world.But shielding can only do so much. In the xStream and Premier cables, the AC gets cleaner as it passes through the power cable. The outer jacket of the Premier 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 Premier’s outer jacket. So the cable cleans as it delivers unrestricted power to your equipment. Despite the heavy PCOCC and solid silver content, ferrite jacket and multiple shields, the Premier cable is still flexible enough to be used in any situation. So you can see why this is truly a state of the art power cable by anyone’s standards. The difference is in the details When there’s no room for compromise, you have to choose a PS Power cable 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 Premier simply and effectively delivers AC power in the cleanest most efficient manner of any power cable on the planet. To be able to make that claim, there really cannot be any compromises when it comes to connectivity with  the connectors.Machined from solid blocks of high purity copper/brass materials, the male and female prongs are nickel plated and then polished to a smooth mirror-like finish that increases surface area and resists corrosion for years. Each of the connectors is pressure welded and then soldered with high purity silver solder and placed into a hermetically sealed casing to form the world’s finest male and female AC connections. Even the design itself of 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 Premier 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.Why didn’t I think of that? One of the most useful innovations with the xStream Power series and Premier power cable 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 create a ground loop and cause hum and buzz in your system. To neutralize the ground loop, 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. 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 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 Solution™. 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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