Cardas Cables
An Overview Of What Goes In To A Cardas Cable
Cardas Cables
The basic building blocks of a Cardas cable have been constant since day one: Our own, Ultra Pure Copper, produced using our proprietary method. Multi-stranded Litz conductors, with strand size varying in Golden Ratio steps. Top quality dielectric materials and innovative air-tube dielectric suspension techniques. Premium connectors machined from copper & brass, plated with silver, and a flash of rhodium. Terminations performed by skilled craftsmen, using Cardas Quad Eutectic Solder and Cardas Rosin Flux Soldering Paste. These design elements were present in the original Cardas cables, like Quadlink & Hexlink, and former flagships such as Golden Cross & Golden Reference.
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Our Clear cable line combines all of this with Matched Propagation Technology, thesubject of George’s most recent patent (US Patent 7,674,973), which matches the propaga- tion rate of the conductor to that of the dielectric, eliminating time-smear distortion, improving musical integrity and dynamic range.
Cardas Copper
At the heart of a Cardas cable is our Ultra Pure Cardas Copper. Mined in the Southwest USA and processed the Northeast, we employ proprietary drawing and annealing techniques to create the highest quality, purest copper strands. A Single Poly-Nylon coating is applied to prevent oxidation, and eliminate crosstalk between strands.
To examine the differences in grain structure between standard copper wire, continuous cast copper wire, and Cardas copper, we took examples of each and electrically etched away the outer skin, revealing what lies beneath. Viewed through a microscope, we can clearly see major differences.
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Standard OFHC copper wire is full of impurities (hence the dull appearance), and has irregular and chaotic grain structure.
Cast copper appears more pure than standard OFHC, and has a more uniform, albeit imperfect grain structure, than standard OFHC copper, which is revealed when you look beneath the surface.
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Cardas Grade 1 Ultra Pure copper is smooth from the surface to the core, owing to our exceedingly slow and methodical drawing process. This is why Cardas copper is featured in many other high-end audio products, and used in laboratories worldwide for its superior electrical and thermal conductive properties.
Standard OFHC copper wire
Continuous cast copper wire
Cardas Grade 1 Ultra Pure copper wire
Golden Ratio Scaled Conductors
As implied by our Nautilus Shell logo, the Golden Ratio is applied to many Cardas products, including our Litz conductor designs. In a Cardas multi-stranded Litz conductor, the smallest wires are at the cen- ter, with each layer increasing in size at a Golden Ratio step (1:1.618). This innovative micro resonance control technique was the subject of one of George Cardas’ first US patents, and is present in all of our cables & chassis wires.
Matched Propagation
The subject of George’s 2008 US Patent (7,674,973), our Clear product line features Matched Propagation Technology, in which the propagation rate of the conductor is controlled through its internal geometry to match that of the dielectric material. These conductors overcome challenges dating back to the early days of the telephone. However, whereas those conductor/dielectric mismatches were dealt with using network boxes,
Matched Propagation Conductors solve the problem within the cable itself - keeping the signal intact the entire way, rather than attempting to fix it after the fact.
Terminations
Terminating, or “putting a connector on” a Cardas multi-stranded Litz conductor requires skill and special equipment. We use our own Cardas Quad Eutectic Solder and Cardas Rosin Flux Soldering Paste, along with 800oF (427oC) irons & 700oF (371oC) solder pots. Our flagship speaker cables are terminated with a solder-less, compression die forging process in which
the copper of the conductor and connector fuse together as one.
These procedures are performed by our talented staff of Cardas Terminators, with decades of combined experience.