Cardas Audio • Cables • Connectors • Ultra Pure Copper & Silver • Solder & Flux Learn More Team Dedication. Expertise. Passion. This is your Team section. It's a great place to introduce your team and talk about what makes it special, such as your culture or work philosophy. Don't be afraid to illustrate personality and character to help users connect with your team. Cables Ashley Jones info@mysite.com 123-456-7890 Tech Lead Don Francis info@mysite.com 123-456-7890 Product Manager Alexa Young info@mysite.com 123-456-7890 Product Designer Robert Rose info@mysite.com 123-456-7890 Customer Support Lead Kevin Nye info@mysite.com 123-456-7890 HR Lead Lisa Driver info@mysite.com 123-456-7890 HR Lead Lisa Driver info@mysite.com 123-456-7890 HR Lead Lisa Driver info@mysite.com 123-456-7890

Cardas Audio has always supported other manufacturers, from other cable companies, to speaker and electronics. Our bulk cable, chassis wire, solder, flux and connectors are available to manufacturers who want to put Cardas into their products. Manufacturer's Info We produce chassis wire, bulk cable, connectors, and solder that are used in the production of some of the finest equipment in the audio industry. If you're a manufacturer that would like to join the Cardas family, please start by filling out our application form at this link . This page contains an overview of some of the Cardas products available to other manufacturers. Greater detail on Cardas parts & connectors is available at this link . Information about Cardas supplies such as solder & flux is available here . If you have technical questions or need recommendations about the best Cardas products to use in your equipment, please contact Brian Von Bork at 541-347-2484, or send an email to info@cardas.com . Copper & Silver Strand Connectors Cardas Solder& Flux Bulk Cable & Chassis Wire Custom Cables OEM FAQ OEM Application Metals Copper & Silver Strand Cardas Copper & Silver strand is produced using a proprietary method developed by George Cardas prior to the founding of Cardas Audio. Cardas Grade 1 Ultra Pure Copper is used in nearly all of our cables, and also by other cable & equipment manufacturers. In fact, there are laboratories in the US & Europe using our copper for its superior electrical and thermal conductive properties. Cardas Grade 2 Copper is a more affordable variant, but still of extremely high quality, and produced using similar methods. Grade 2 can be found in our own 101 Speaker and Crosslink cables. Grade 2 is also used throughout the audio industry. Cardas Silver is used in Clear Beyond Headphone Cable , and is very popular with other high-end cable and electronics manufacturers. We electrically etched away the outer layer of several copper strands manufactured using differing methods, to demonstrate that the perfect grain structure of Cardas Grade 1 extends below the surface. How to buy: Cardas copper & silver strand is typically sold by the pound, and long lead times may apply. We have a limited variety of gauges in house, If we have the AWG you want in stock, you may purchase as little or as much as you wish. However if you need a gauge of copper or silver that we do not have in stock, the minimum production run is between 200 and 800 pounds, depending on the gauge. For even more reading about Cardas Copper, click here . Bulk Bulk Cable & Chassis Wire Cardas bulk cable & chassis wire is sold by the foot. Or the meter, but you gotta do the math. New manufacturer's accounts must meet a minimum opening order, but subsequent orders are not subject to minimums. Pricing for manufacturers is based on the quantity purchased, with price breaks at 25, 250, and 500 feet. Click here for more information about Cardas bulk cable & chassis wire. To apply for Cardas Audio's OEM program, please fill out the form at this link . Connectors Cardas Connectors Cardas connectors are sold by the unit. New manufacturers must meet a minimum opening order, but subsequent orders are not subject to minimums. Pricing for manufacturers is based on quantity, with price breaks at 25 and 250 units. Binding posts are a common cause of confusion! We often refer to a "unit" as a pair. A pair of binding posts is a positive & a negative post, with a rectangular insulator to hold them together. So it's a "pair" in the same sense that pants are sold as "pairs". For two speakers, you'll need two pairs of posts. Likewise, the back of a stereo amplifier would require two pairs of posts. The parts shown below are all single units. Order a quantity of one (1) of any of them, and you'll receive what you see in the image: Custom Custom Cables Cardas Audio can produce a custom cable for your company. Custom cables have a minimum order quantity of at least 2000 feet, and may take up to 6 months to produce. "Wow, that's a lot of cable and a long time to wait" We agree. Welcome to the cable business. It's slow and expensive. To produce a custom cable, we need a detailed design (an engineering drawing, preferably). We are not able to produce a cable based on a general description or vague specifications. Due to the large minimum order quantity, associated costs, and long lead time, the vast majority of our customers accomplish what they need with our bulk cables or chassis wire . If you have any questions about custom cable production, or how to utilize our bulk cable & chassis wire for your application, please contact Brian in our tech department at 541-347-2484. FAQ OEM FAQ Who qualifies for an OEM account? We're pretty easy in this regard. New manufacturers, established manufacturers, start ups, big companies, small companies.... Moving from the garage to a full fledged facility? Or just a slightly larger garage? As long as you're intending to use our parts and/or materials in your productions, then you probably qualify. Our main requirement is that you meet our minimum opening (first) order of $500 USD or more. What restrictions do you place on OEM customers? Manufacturers may not re-sell Cardas items to retail customers. If you're running a store (online or physical), and want to sell our parts, bulk cables, and chassis wire, please apply as a store owner, not as a manufacturer. You may inform your customers that you are using Cardas products in your designs. We're happy for you to do that. However, please do not claim that your offerings are Cardas products. We have had manufacturers buy our wire & connectors, make their own cables, and sell those cables as Cardas Audio cables. Which is not really honest. That would be like buying a bunch of BMW parts, assembling a car of your own design, and claiming that it's a BMW. Can I buy Cardas retail cables in bulk? For the most part, no. The exceptions being 101 Speaker , and Crosslink Speaker & Crosslink Interconnect . Those are available both as finished, retail cables from Cardas, and also in bulk to OEM & DIY customers. The rest of our retail cables (Iridium, Parsec, Clear, etc.) are not available for purchase in bulk. Can Cardas Audio help me design a custom cable, and then produce it for me? We can provide suggestions, however if you want a bulk cable, but you're not sure how to design a cable, then you're far better off working with our bulk cable & chassis wire offerings. Can Cardas produce custom connectors or other parts for me? Yes. If you want a connector that is similar to one we already produce, we can probably make the changes you require. If you want a custom connector that is nothing like what we already produce, then... maybe? Keep in mind that custom connectors (modifications or completely new designs) face a minimum order in the 1000's. And if it isn't something we can use ourselves, then you're on the hook for all of them. Much like with custom cables, nearly everybody is better off using connectors we already produce. Can I buy non-Cardas connectors, such as Neutrik XLRs? Or Heatshrink? No. We only sell our own parts & supplies. We use Neutrik & Furutech connectors on some of our cables. But we do not sell these items separately. By the same token, we use Heatshrink tubing on our cables, but we do not sell shrink tubing. And before you ask, we absolutely do not sell Cardas logo heat shrink. Does (some company) use Cardas (parts/wire/stuff) in their products? That's up to them to reveal that information. If they claim it, and you're not sure that they actually do, ask us and we'll let you know. But we do not provide the names of our customers to other customers. Why did you stop making (some part)? Demand, or lack thereof. We manufacture parts 1000 to 2000 units at a time. For some, such as our SRCA male RCA connector, we do that two or three times a year. For others, 1000 units might be a ten year supply. When we're nearing the end of a batch of parts that took 10 years to sell, we have to ask ourselves if it makes sense to do it again. And sometimes the answer is "nope". What happened to lead-free Cardas roll solder? Nobody wanted it so we stopped making it. Lead is deadly, but.... wow does it make good solder. Is Cardas Quad Eutectic Solder considered a "silver" solder? While it contains silver, we don't promote it as a silver solder. In fact, it was developed when we realized that silver solders weren't up to the task of terminating Cardas cables. Cardas Quad Eutectic outperforms silver-heavy solder, as it is a proprietary blend of silver, copper, tin, and lead. The four elements are in specific proportion to melt and solidify uniformly, cooling to a clean and shiny connection that lasts.

Contact Cardas Audio. Find the right person to talk to, by phone or email. Contact Make Contact With Cardas Audio How can we help? Select an option below to email Cardas Audio, or call 541-347-2484, 9-4pm Pacific. Contact Category

101 Speaker 101 Speaker (Terminated) Where To Buy 101 Speaker (Bulk) Choosing A Cable FAQ << Crosslink Back to Cables menu Smooth, non-fatiguing, and musical. Cardas101 sets the standard for high value speaker cables, and it’s made in the USA! Standard Terminations: Cardas CABE bananas or GRS spades. Hand soldered in Bandon Oregon. Design/Construction: Conductors: Air-tube core, Cardas OFHC bare copper. Gauge sizes scaled to Golden Ratio proportions. Cross-field layer geometry, insulated in a poly jacket. Geometry: Twisted pair two conductor with natural cotton filler bound together with PFA tape. Super flexible TPR outer jacket. Gauge: 2x14 AWG Outside Diameter: 0.365”/9.27mm Terminated 101 Speaker (Terminated) Bulk 101 Speaker (Bulk) 101 Speaker Cable can be purchased in bulk, and prepared for use by your Cardas dealer, or you can even do it yourself. Many Cardas dealers have a spool of 101 at their shop, and if not, you can order as much or as little as you need. There is no more economical way of putting Cardas in your system than 101 Speaker! Preparing 101 is simple: 1. Cut back a couple inches of the grey outer jacket, and you'll find two 14 AWG conductors, surrounded by white cotton dielectric. 2. Cut away the dielectric, and strip about an inch of the red & black jackets from the conductor. 3. Untwist the copper wires, and you'll find a non-conductive core filament. Snip that away, and re-twist the conductor. 4. At this point, you can use it as a bare-wire cable, and insert the twisted copper into your binding posts. Or solder spades or bananas onto the ends. You can also use crimping spades with 101 Speaker.

Cardas bi-wire jumpers offer several options for bridging your speaker's high & low frequency binding posts. Bi-Wire Jumpers Clear Bi-Wire Jumpers 9 AWG Bi-Wire Jumpers 11 AWG Bi-Wire Jumpers Stamped Bi-Wire Jumpers Clear Bi-Wire Jumpers Clear Jumpers Our flagship bi-wire jumpers. Clear Bi-wire Jumpers use Clear speaker conductor, arranged like a very short Clear speaker cable. As with Clear speaker cable, Clear Bi-wire jumpers use multi-stranded concentric conductors. The outside of one concentric conductor is tied to the inside of the other for each lead (positive & negative). This is why the positive and negative leads are bundled together and can not be separated. As Clear Speaker Cable can't be bi-wired, these are ideal for using Clear with bi-wire speakers. However they are excellent bi-wire jumpers for any situation, regardless of the speaker cable you're using, Cardas or otherwise. Sold in pairs, as pictured above. Clear Jumpers measure 10” (25.4cm). Standard Termination: Cardas spades or bananas forged using 10,000psi in Bandon Oregon. 9 AWG Jumpers 9.5 AWG Bi-Wire Jumpers Bi-wire jumpers made with our 9.5 AWG chassis wire. 6”/15.24cm long Conductors: Grade 1, 99.9999% pure oxygen free copper with SPN clear coat (Litz), gauge sizes scaled to Golden Ratio proportions. Crossfield layer geometry, insulated in a PTFE jacket. Sold in sets of four (two red, two black), as pictured above. Standard Terminations: Cardas CGMS spades or CABD bananas. Hand soldered in Bandon Oregon. Sold in sets of 4. 11 AWG Jumpers 11.5 AWG Bi-Wire Jumpers Bi-wire jumpers made with our 11.5 AWG chassis wire. 6”/15.24cm long Conductors: Grade 1, 99.9999% pure oxygen free copper with SPN clear coat (Litz), gauge sizes scaled to Golden Ratio proportions. Crossfield layer geometry, insulated in a PTFE jacket. Sold in sets of four (two red, two black), as pictured above. Standard Terminations: Cardas CGMS spades or CABD bananas. Hand soldered in Bandon Oregon. Sold in sets of 4. Stamped Jumpers Bi-Wire Jumper Plates Our most economical bi-wire jumpers. Stamped from solid Grade 1, 99.9999% pure oxygen free copper. Designed to fit 1.5” (38.1mm) binding post spacing. Dual spade size can fit standard 6.3mm or larger 9mm binding posts. Can be carefully bent to fit application if needed. Available in bare copper (CJP C) or silver/rhodium plate (CJP R). Sold in sets of 4.

How-to videos about soldering, including tinning Litz wire, and soldering to Cardas connectors featuring our head terminator Jesus Ornelas. How-To Videos Making Popcorn at Cardas Stripping & Tinning Litz Wire Soldering Cardas Connectors Soldering Spades CAB & CABD Bananas Soldering To A CABE Preparing 34 AWG Tonearm Wire Making Popcorn at Cardas Audio With Cardas Terminator Jeff Jenson Popcorn Stripping Soldering With Jesus, Episode 1 Stripping & Tinning Cardas Litz Wire Soldering With Jesus, Episode 2 Soldering to Cardas Connectors Connectors Soldering With Jesus, Episode 3 Soldering a Cardas Spade Spades CAB & CABD Bananas Our Premium Bananas Bananas Soldering To A CABE Banana Our Economy Banana CABE Bananas Preparing 34 AWG Clear Tonearm Wire 34 AWG

Frequently asked questions about Cardas products. Are spades better than bananas? Is XLR better than RCA? Does cable length matter? Do we make custom cables? Why do we use rhodium over silver plating? How long do Cardas cables last? What kind of copper does Cardas use? All of these & more are addressed. Frequently Asked Questions We field questions over the phone and via email all day long. This page contains an amalgam of some of the questions we get. Spades vs Bananas ? Spades provide a superior electrical & physical connection. Bananas making changing cables easier. And some plastic-encased binding posts make using spades difficult to impossible. Bananas wear out, especially when they’re plugged & unplugged a lot. Spades basically last forever. Bananas may be preferable to HiFi dealers, as they make cable comparison demos easier. End-users are better off using spades whenever possible. RCA vs XL R? If you’re connecting two components that both have both choices, go with XLR. It can be sonically advantageous sometimes , and rarely if ever detrimental. If you're connecting components in which one has RCA only, and the other has both XLR and RCA, use RCA. Don't use an adapter just so you can take advantage of the XLR jacks on one piece of gear. You can only get the (possible) benefits of a balanced (XLR) output with a pure XLR to XLR connection. What does single-wire, bi-wire, and shotgun bi-wire mean? These are all speaker-cable terms. A single wire speaker cable has a positive & negative connector (spade or banana) on each end of the cable. A bi-wire speaker cable has a positive & negative connector on the amp-end, and on the speaker end, two positives, and two negatives. One set goes to the low-frequency binding posts on the speaker, and the other pair goes to the high-frequency posts. A shotgun bi-wire is actually two cables, which are joined on the amp end. So that you have entirely separate speaker cables going to the lows and highs on the speaker. I've heard the above terms used differently. So have we. But if you're inquiring about Cardas speaker cables, that's how we use the terms. Do you make custom cables? In short, yes. But that can mean many different things. In order of the simplest meaning, to the most complicated: 1. An unusually terminated cable can be considered custom. Such as an interconnect that goes from XLR to RCA. Or a power cable that uses a Neutrik Speakon connector instead of a typical wall plug. 2. A cable for a very specific application, such as a power umbilical that goes from an outboard power supply to a tube-preamp, using proprietary multi-pin connectors, and a bulk cable that we already make. 3. A cable of your own design, using Cardas copper, manufactured by Cardas to your specifications, with a minimum order of 2000 feet. All of these are possible. Just let us know what you need. Contact Brian Von Bork at 541-347-2484 to discuss. Should I go with l ong speaker cables, or long interconnects? If you have the option, go with long interconnects instead of long speaker cables. Interconnects cost less per foot (or per meter, if you're in the civilized world). And a really long interconnect will affect system performance less than a really long speaker cable. But sometimes you don't have the option, and you just gotta go with a long speaker cable. And that's fine. Do some cables need to be a specific, or minimum length? Some people argue that power and/or digital cables need to be a specific length, or a minimum length. We've read the forums in which these arguments are put forth. We're unpersuaded. The perfect length for any cable is long enough to comfortably span between components, but not so long that you buy more cable than you need. NOTE: Be caution about buying a cable that's just long enough. A cable that's just long enough usually turns out to be just not long enough. Does a pair of cables need to be the same length? Ideally, yes. We will make you an uneven pair if you want it, but you're always better off - in terms of sonic performance - with a matched pair. We strongly recommend avoiding wildly disparate lengths, such as a 1-meter left channel cable, and a 5-meter right channel cable. We'll do it, but we don't think it's a good idea. And if the length difference is minor, just get the matched length pair. Can I buy just a single cable, such as a single interconnect or speaker c able. Yes. But my d ealer says you only sell interconnects & speaker cables in pairs. They're wrong. Our price book does only list typically paired cables, such as speaker & interconnect cables, as pairs. But we'll gladly sell you a single interconnect or speaker cable. I can't find the cable I want , or the specific length or termination I want on my dealer's website. We offer more options than any dealer can be expected to show, or have in stock. If your online dealer's site doesn't show a particular option, you'll probably have to call or email them. All Cardas cable dealers have access to our entire product line. The fancy boutique HiFi shop in the rich part of town that sells Clear Beyond Speaker cable can order a Cardas female RCA jack for you. The online dealer that only shows standard lengths & terminations on their website can also get you an unusual length & termination. What is the capacitance (o r inductance, resistance, etc.) per foot of a specific cable? Contact us by email with the model of cable you're curious about, and the length you need to know the measurement for. We'll measure a cable of that length here at the shop, and let you know. How do measurements (capacitance, etc.) affect a cable’s sound? Minimally, if at all. There are a variety of values that can be measured using a multi-meter, an oscilloscope, and various other devices. But none of them will tell you anything about how the cable is going to sound. And a lot of the conventional wisdom touted on audio forums is inaccurate - we know, you’re shocked 😂. There are neutral, extremely accurate cables with high capacitance values. There are cables that measure nearly identically, and sound nothing alike. Our most accurate interconnect, Clear Beyond , has twice the capacitance of our second most accurate interconnect. We’re happy to provide measurements if you're curious. But understand that buying a cable based on capacitance (or any other value) is like choosing a meal at a restaurant based on weight. A steak and a salad can weigh the same. Weight alone tells you nothing about what you'll get. And there is no way to measure or quantify the taste of food. Why are your cables blue ? My wife says it clashes with the decor and won't let me have them in the house. That sounds controlling and manipulative. Blink three times if you need help. Can I mi x & match within the Cardas product lines? Yes. You can use a Clear Sky speaker cable with Parsec or Clear Cygnus interconnects, and a Clear Beyond power cable. Or whatever. People do that all the time. There is no need to stay within a specific product line. Can I use a Cardas cable in a system that already has non-Cardas cables. Such as a Cardas speaker cable with (other brand) interconnects. Of course. Our cables play well with each other, and with other brands. As a general rule, If it sounds good and nothing breaks, go with it. How does a Cardas cable compare to another brand's cable? That's really a question for your dealer. When posed with such a question, we're faced with a quandary. Do we go for the low hanging fruit, and tell you that obviously our cable is better? Or do we decline to answer? There are a lot of other cables out there. We haven't tried them all. We're kinda focused on our own thing. It would be like asking the Beatles if their music was better than The Rolling Stones. Asking BMW if they make better cars than Mercedes. Asking Rolex if they make better watches than Omega. The answer you get will tell you more about the graciousness of the answerer than anything else. And we're obviously biased. We think there are a lot of good reasons to buy a Cardas cable. Sound being the main one. But there are many other reasons, which you can read about all over this site. When we have compared our cables to other brands, we've never felt that ours lost the shootout. And that's all we'll say on the matter. What is meant by "musicality"? For us, musicality is a spectrum that spans from "barely listenable" to "I can't stop listening". As an example of the former, your smart phone has speakers. You can pull up Spotify, and play a low bitrate MP3 of your favorite song on your phone's speakers. You'll recognize the song. But will it move you? Will you feel it? If you're into high performance audio, the answer is "no". Because the tiny speakers built into your phone aren't capable of sounding musical. On the other hand, a decent stereo system, properly set up in the room, playing your favorite song from a high quality digital file or an analog source will move you. You'll connect with it. You'll feel it. You'll experience the emotional message contained within. You might even tap your feet, or get up and dance. You might shed a tear. This is because a nice stereo system is musical. That's what we mean by "musical" and "musicality". And the right cables - Cardas or otherwise - will improve upon the musicality of a system. What will I experience with Cardas (or any decent) cables? A good cable will not fix a bad system. And never build a system based on the cables. Work the other way around. Curate the best gear you can. Set it up properly . And then chose the appropriate cables for the system, based on the gear you have, and considering that gear's strengths and shortcomings - as well as the room in which it is placed. A good cable, like the rest of the components, makes the system sound better. You'll get deeper, tighter bass. Stronger mid-range. More high frequency extension without harshness. Spatial imaging - the sense that the music extends beyond the speakers - improves. A bad cable will make the system sound thin and brittle. Bass is muddy. The midrange is lifeless. The high frequencies are either lacking, or overly accentuated and unpleasant. Your wife tells you that something doesn't sound right. Because she has better hearing than you. #truth. Unless you are the wife. In which case, did you realize your husband doesn't have the same ability to hear high frequencies as you? W hy are all of your con nectors plated with rhodium over silver? This is a tried and true plating method that results in a beautiful finish that is durable, highly conductive, and sounds great in audio applications. There are thousands of Cardas connectors plated this way going back over 35 years, that still sound & look as good as new today. Bare copper is a great contact material, but is oxidizes quickly. And copper oxide is not a good conductor. We do sell some bare copper parts, but we generally suggest plated parts unless you enjoy spending quality time with steel wool on a regular basis. Gold plated parts seem like a great idea. Unfortunately, the vast majority of gold plated parts (like 99.9999% of them) have a magnetic nickel under-plate, to add shine to the gold, and to prevent the base metal from leeching through the gold plate. This results in a connector that is inferior to both rhodium/silver and bare copper. A true hard/thick gold plate, without nickel underneath, is extremely expensive - we just received a quote for pure/thick gold plate on some parts and it was $900 per connector. NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS EACH. **OUR COST**. So yeah, your gold plated connectors have nickel underneath, and that's not so great. Did we mention that we suggest rhodium over silver? What kind of copper is in Cardas Cables. We use our own Cardas Copper, produced using our own proprietary method developed by George Cardas over 35 years ago. Crosslink & 101 speaker use Cardas Grade 2 copper. All of our other cables use Cardas Ultra Pure Grade 1. Many other high-end manufacturers, and scientists at laboratories around the world also use Ultra Pure Cardas Grade 1 for its superior electrical and thermal conductivity. Read more about Cardas Copper here. Is Cardas copper Oxy gen free (OFHC)? We're pretty sure all copper in the audio industry is OFHC. There was a time when Oxygen free copper was cutting edge, but now it's all OFHC. The $20 interconnects at Best Buy are probably OFHC. Seeking out OFHC copper cables is like seeking out a car that's been NHTSA certified, or meat that's USDA certified. It's a bare minimum, and a given, that audio grade copper is OFHC.. Is Cardas copper OCC? Our nearest equivalent is Grade 2, found in 101 Speaker & Crosslink. Our higher end cables (from Iridium to Clear Beyond) all use Cardas Grade 1 Ultra Pure copper. On many occasions, our copper has been compared to OCC by manufacturers and laboratories seeking the best quality copper, and to the best of our knowledge, Cardas Grade 1 has never failed to win out. Click here to see photomicrography images of standard copper, OCC copper, and Cardas Copper. Do you make silver cables? We made a silver speaker cable once and we didn't like how it sounded. It now collects dust in storage. Eventually we'll strip out & sell the silver, and send somebody's kid to an Ivy League university with the proceeds. We do make silver wire for other manufactures but we barely use it ourselves. We have found that with a sophisticated design, a copper cable will match or even outperform a silver cable, at a fraction of the cost. Our Clear Beyond Headphone Cable incorporates a single strand of Cardas Silver in each conductor, with multiple strands of Cardas Copper. What is "Matched Propagation"? The subject of George's US Patent 7,674,973, Matched Propagation solves an age old problem with transmission line conductors dating to the early days of the telephone. You can read more here , but here's a summary: The audio signal travels through a cable at basically the speed of light. The dielectric (surrounding) materials charge and discharge at about 70% the speed of light. This mismatch in speed results in a loss of intelligibility. In a Matched Propagation conductor, each strand of wire is exactly the same length, and twisted at a pitch that makes each strand 30% longer than the cable itself. We're slowing down the signal to match that of the dielectrics. This solves the intelligibility issues that early telephone engineers faced, and that causes a degradation in sound in otherwise highly articulate audio systems. The telephone companies installed coil boxes on the cables to address the issue, but the was an after-the-fact solution. The Cardas Matched Propagation solution solves the problem within the cable, every inch of the way. Such that the loss of intelligibility never happens in the first place. Should I use a cable burn-in or break-in device? In our experience, these are ineffective at best. We can't speak for other brands. Perhaps there are cables that respond well to the sine waves & square waves being run through them for hours. We have found that Cardas cables break in faster - and better - by playing music through them. If you have a cable burner at home, you might be able to use it to expedite break-in. But you'll have to be extremely quick about transferring the cables from the burner to the system. Like, superhuman quick. If the break-in device is elsewhere, such as your dealer, by the time your get the broken-in cables home, they're not anymore. There are two primary aspects to cable break-in. One is the building of a uniform charge in the conductors and dielectrics. This charge is almost entirely lost the moment a cable is remove from the system (or break-in device). The other is physical, as the internal components in the cable relax from being coiled for packaging and shipping. Cable burners can do nothing to speed up the process of physically relaxing the internal components, and the charge they build up in the cable doesn't last when going from the burner to the stereo. There really isn't any need to fret over cable break-in time. It takes, at the most 200 hours. Usually half that. That's just a few days. Days go by fast, and they never top coming. Just hook up your cables, leave the stereo running, and enjoy. What if I buy a Cardas cable, but eventually I ch ange my system and I need different connectors. We can re-terminate your Cardas cables with the connectors you need. Learn more here . What is the warranty on Cardas cables? Lifetime. How long does a Cardas cable last? Forever. Litz conductors have a protective enamel coating on every strand of copper. Among other benefits, this prevents the copper from degrading due to oxidation. Since Cardas cables will never oxidize, they last forever. And if they don't for some reason, we have a lifetime warranty. So bam, you're back to it lasting forever. Put it in your will. How do I solder to your connectors? Click here How do I work with your chassis wire or bulk cable? Click here How do I get an update on my order statu s? 1. Dealers & distributors, please contact info@cardas.com . 2. If you placed an order through a dealer or distributor, please contact them for a status update. We aren't able to cross reference the end-user's name with the dealer through whom the product was ordered. In other words, if John Smith orders a Cardas cable from Big City Hifi Shop, and then he calls us to ask for an update, we have to contact Big City Hifi Shop and ask them which of their recent orders are intended for John Smith. You'll get an update a lot faster by going direct to your dealer. Why are you located in Bandon, Oregon Because it never gets hot here, and bad traffic is a tourist slowing down to take in the view. Back in 1992, the lease on the facility that housed Cardas Audio in Upland, California (near Los Angeles) was up for renewal. before signing a new lease, George & Darcy Cardas took a drive north along the California and Oregon coast, seeking out a new home for the company. When they arrived in Bandon, they knew they had found it. So they moved the company and most of the staff to Oregon. What's George up to these days? World travel. Golf. Bicycling. Driving electric cars. George does what he wants. Have a question you don't see answe red above? Send us an email

Cardas Audio offers a simple and generous path towards upgrading to the next level of performance. Trade-in your current Cardas cables, and get trade-credit towards your upgraded cables! Trade-in / Upgrade Program The Cardas Upgrade program provides a simple path to moving up the Cardas product line. To participate, simply trade in your qualifying Cardas cable towards the purchase of a new, higher performance Cardas cable. The higher up the Cardas product line you go, the more value you'll receive for your trade. Qualifying cables The following cables can be traded in towards an upgrade: Parsec, Sky X4, Cygnus, Reflection, and Clear. The following cables can be upgraded to with your trade: Sky X4, Cygnus, Reflection, Clear, and Clear Beyond. Getting Started The trade-in and purchase of your new Cardas Cables will go through a Cardas dealer. To get started either contact your dealer, or click this button to complete the upgrade form: Cardas Upgrade Application Trade-in credit table Restrictions & Fine Details Offer limited to Cardas Cables in our current product line. Legacy cables are not eligible to be traded in, or traded up to. See above for the list of eligible cables. Trade-in credit must be applied to the purchase of a new Cardas cable from an authorized dealer. Trade in value can only be applied to cables of the same type. For example, a pair of interconnects can be traded in on another pair of interconnects. But not a power cable or a speaker cable. A Speaker cable can be traded towards another speaker cable, etc. Traded-in cables must be in reasonably good shape. Even a cable that's been in your system for years should still appear basically brand new. Cables live an easy life. We're not taking cables with inexplicable wear & tear on trade. At least one photo will be required. You can upload a photo using the form above. If that isn't possible, you can email one later in the process. But we do require at least one photo (and we may ask for more) to complete the trade. Traded-in cables must be applied towards the immediate purchase of new Cardas cables. The Cardas orders department must receive a P.O. for the new cables associated with the trade. Trade-ins must be of equal or shorter length than the new cable being purchased. For example, you can trade in a 1 meter cable towards the purchase of a 2 meter. But you can't trade a 2 meter towards the purchase of a 1 meter. RCA interconnects can be traded in for XLR interconnects of a higher-end product. And vice versa. Same with speaker cables with spades vs bananas. Power cables can only be traded in for power cables with the same plug. For example, we're not taking a Euro (Schuko) power cable in on trade for a US cable, nor the other way around. Cardas Upgrade Application

Cardas Audio produces copper using a proprietary process that results in copper that exceeds the electrical and thermal conductivity of anything else on the market, including OFHC copper and OCC copper. Cardas copper is used by other manufacturers, and in laboratories worldwide. We also produce ultra pure silver wire. Top Cardas Copper Cardas Copper A Look Below The Surface We eletrically etched three copper strands, and placed them under the microscope (standard OFC copper, Continuous Cast Copper, and our own Grade 1 C opper), to demonstrate that the perfect structure of Cardas copper continues below the surface, which leads to its superior electrical and thermal conductivity. The Story of Cardas Copper, by George Cardas. I was forced into the copper business, when a combination of recycling laws and new "improved" drawing techniques, flooded the market with cheap low grade copper. This began to force traditional plants out of business. I found an "old fashioned" plant that was closing and we began slow drawing and annealing pure copper rod in inert atmospheres. Soon we were supplying most of the specialty drawn high purity metals used in high-end audio. This formula endured for two decades. Recently a series of events lead us to the ultimate knowledge and development of our most amazing metal. Most of our metals are being sold to audio related consumers, however, several non audio customers purchased them for their own unique reasons. My relationship with two of these customers and a boost from Joe Harley (AQ) led to this break through. The first clue came from a customer who we make a custom cable for. He named it Low Thermal because it was used in accurately measuring minute DC variations without temperature induced variation. At the time, we gave little thought to metal, thinking the reason for it's superior performance was low dielectric involvement. In retrospect it is clear that the conductor was a big part of the equation. We had spent considerable time working on eddy currents in the connections, this should have been a clue. The second clue was from a customer that was using miles of fine copper strand to cool micro chips in a detector used in a cyclotron. He didn't even care if it conducted electricity! We shared the most interesting set of information. He had discovered that detectors quite removed from the collider itself were responding at distance to collisions occurring in the device. To reduce the noise in detector chips they were bonding fine copper strands to the chip substrates and immersing the strands in liquid helium to cool them. But commercial copper was loosing its thermo conductivity around 40 degrees kelvin (-387.67° F / -233.15° C). He was interested in our metal for its thermal properties! As it happens, I had just developed a very cool way of looking at strand grain structure under high magnification. I thought I could see his problem in the grain pictures. After viewing them, he agreed and was willing to help me take the next step. I had discovered by ear, that short cuts in the refining and drawing of metals degraded their audio performance. I knew that pure soft metals and meticulous attention to drawing techniques yeilded a quieter strand. For decades we have produced the lion’s share of the copper and silver for high-end audio. I now had the opportunity to better understand the problem. It seemed both our concerns related to grain structure. I had developed methods for viewing grain structure and measuring eddy currents in conductors and now I had a new perspective from a different world and everything was pointing in the same direction. There was a correlation between low temperature thermal conductivity and inter transient noise in room temperature conductors! I was pumped. I asked my customer why he thought the thermo conductivity of some copper was superior to others. He said that thermo conductivity in metals was in free electrons predominantly until about 40degrees Kelvin. At this point the free electron supply dried up and conductivity was phonetic (vibrations directly through the contiguous crystalline structure). This made sense in many ways. What we had discovered in commercial copper was a severe shredding of the crystalline structure. Basically, charges and heat flow are scattered by impurities, imperfections, and inhomogeneous metal structure. The shredding of the crystalline structure was from drawing the strand too fast and the interleaving of impurities (predominantly copper oxide). We saw that casting or extruding pure copper could change that structure. We learned that slowly drawing and annealing very pure copper resulted in less shredding and melded the metal even better. Carrying the process further, we found that using a pure steam or an inert nitrogen atmosphere, help the metal to bond during the processing. It seemed that eliminating oxygen while slow drawing and annealing produced a better structure. Once formed it seemed to self heal as long as there was no oxygen present. I decided to try somthing. We would draw and anneal even slower in a reducing (oxygen scavenging) atmosphere(hydrogen H+) to completely eliminate every trace of oxygen to allow the drawn metal to reform continuously as it was drawn and annealed. The results were beautiful! The new metal was more contiguous in the interior than on the surface. This conductor is the most grain free copper ever produced for audio purposes.

Cardas female RCAs are machine from brass, with silver and rhodium plating. They're used by DIY enthusiasts, upgrade specialists, and on some of the finest components in the world. RCA Females GRFA Short GRFA Long GFRA PRT Where To Buy GRFA PSR2 M GRFA DBL PRT G CTFA Back To Parts List How To Use Cardas Connectors GRFA Short GRFA Short Chassis mount solderable female RCA. Mounts to chassis thickness of 0.125”/3.18mm or less. Comes with red and white 0.625”/15.87mm outside diameter shoulder washers for channel identification. Standard mounting nut is gold plated brass 0.138”/3.51mm thick. Ideal mounting hole diameter 0.455”/11.55mm. Base metal: High copper content, non-magnetic brass. Plating: Silver/rhodium Termination: Solder cup for positive, chassis/notch for negative. This part requires solder. Click here to learn about Cardas Quad Eutectic Solder & Cardas Rosin Flux. Click here for our soldering how-to videos. Part number: P36.16 grfa_short_drawing grfa_short_drawing 1/1 GRFA Long GRFA Long Chassis mount solderable female RCA. Mounts to chassis thickness of 0.342”/8.70mm or less. Comes with red and white 0.625”/15.87mm outside diameter shoulder washers for channel identification. Standard mounting nut is gold plated brass 0.138”/3.51mm thick. Ideal mounting hole diameter 0.455”/11.55mm. Base metal: High copper content, non-magnetic brass. Plating: Silver/rhodium Termination: Solder cup for positive, chassis/notch for negative. This part requires solder. Click here to learn about Cardas Quad Eutectic Solder & Cardas Rosin Flux. Click here for our soldering how-to videos. Part number: P36.6 grfa_long_drawing grfa_long_drawing 1/1 GRFA PRT GRFA PRT PCB female RCA. Mounts to chassis thickness of 0.170”/4.32mm or less. Comes with red and white 0.625”/15.87mm outside diameter shoulder washers for channel identification. Standard mounting nut is gold plated brass 0.138”/3.51mm thick. Ideal mounting hole diameter 0.455”/11.55mm. Base metal: High copper content, non-magnetic brass. Plating: Silver/rhodium Termination: PCB This part requires solder. Click here to learn about Cardas Quad Eutectic Solder & Cardas Rosin Flux. Click here for our soldering how-to videos. Part number: P36.14 "The GRFA PRT kinda looks like a tardigrade. " - Marketing Director Josh Meredith grfa_prt_drawing Tardigrade grfa_prt_drawing 1/2 GRFA PSR2 M GRFA PSR2 M PCB female RCA. Mounts to chassis thickness of 0.5”/12.72mm or less. Comes with red and white 0.625”/15.87mm outside diameter shoulder washers for channel identification. Detachable metal washer for backing plate. Standard mounting nut is gold plated brass 0.188”/4.8mm thick. Ideal mounting hole diameter 0.455”/11.55mm. Base metal: High copper content, non-magnetic brass. Plating: Silver/rhodium Termination: PCB This part requires solder. Click here to learn about Cardas Quad Eutectic Solder & Cardas Rosin Flux. Click here for our soldering how-to videos. Part number: P36.20 grfa_psr2m_drawing grfa_psr2m_drawing 1/1 GRFA DBL PRT G GRFA DBL PRT G PCB double female RCA. Mounts to chassis thickness of 0.228”/5.80mm or less. Comes with red and white 0.625”/15.87mm outside diameter shoulder washers for channel identification. Standard mounting nut is gold plated brass 0.138”/3.51mm thick. Ideal mounting hole diameter 0.455”/11.55mm. Base metal: High copper content, non-magnetic brass. Plating: Gold Termination: PCB This part requires solder. Click here to learn about Cardas Quad Eutectic Solder & Cardas Rosin Flux. Click here for our soldering how-to videos. Part number: P36.3 grfa_dbl_prt_drawing grfa_dbl_prt_drawing 1/1 CTFA CTFA Description: Chassis mount solderable female RCA. Mounts to chassis thickness of 0.225”/5.73mm or less. Comes with red or white 0.590”/15.0mm outside diameter shoulder washers. Ideal mounting hole diameter 0.37”/9.50mm. Comes with a gold plated solderable ground tab. Base metal: Brass. Plating: Gold Termination: Solder cup for positive, tab for ground This part requires solder. Click here to learn about Cardas Quad Eutectic Solder & Cardas Rosin Flux. Click here for our soldering how-to videos. Part numbers: P36.1 for CTFA with red washer P36.2 for CTFA with white washer ctfa_drawing ctfa_drawing 1/1

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Cardas Audio at AXPONA Cardas Cables are featured in: Upscale Audio - Schaumburg H Acora / VAC - Euphoria room MoFi Schaumburg B MoFi 334 Harmonia 402 Harmonia 404 Zesto 418 ø Audio 490 Audio Research / Acora - 534 Dynaudio 660 Gresham 1521 Decible Plus 1109