Russ Andrews have launched Evolution PowerKords, featuring a radical new earth geometry and purer copper construction for “greatly enhanced audio playback, with a considerably lower noise floor”.
The Evolution cables are the latest models in company’s PowerKord range, the new geometry developed for the Evolution cables concentrates on the role of the earth within the mains cable. The research and development into equipment grounding carried out by technical director Russ Andrews and technology consultant, Dr Craig Sawyers, has shown how important it is to reduce the mains noise induced into the earth. Their efforts resulted in the conclusion that taking the earth out of the centre of a mains cable and moving it to the outside of the braid, significantly reduced the noise picked up by the earth core.
As Russ explains, “Our work has identified that positioning the earth in a helix around the outside of the cable reduces induced noise by a factor of up to 50. Using industry standard tests for measuring induced noise in an earth cable, the first Evolution PowerKord in the range has achieved an improvement of 20x over the PowerKord, with the centrally placed earth, that it replaces. And the top of the range model induces 50x less noise than the PowerKord it replaces.” He continues, “This is a significant improvement and this new design represents a seismic shift in the cleaning up of noise on the earth, resulting in huge audible improvements.”
In parallel with the Russ Andrews development of improved earthing, Kimber Kable has been working on the purity of copper used in the woven cable that forms the basis of the PowerKords. Measured against the globally accepted standard of 100% IACS (international annealed copper standard), which identifies the conductivity of the metal, Kimber’s new ultra-pure copper measures at an industry leading 102%. This is considerably higher than the 99% figure quoted by most audio cable brands and means the cable has “exceptionally high conductivity and is exceptionally pure”.
The PowerKord Evolution range comprises three cables, the Evolution-100, Evolution-300 and Evolution-500, all of which feature the same external earth construction and the new Kimber copper. The 100 uses eight VariStrand copper conductors, a high-performance mains plug with Russ Andrews fuse and the WattGate 320 EVO IEC connector. It is best suited for use with preamplifiers and sources.
The 300 model includes 16 Kimber VariStrand conductors, an audio quality mains plug with Russ Andrews fuse and the WattGate 320 EVO. The 300 is the perfect all-round cable, suitable for use with pre, power and integrated amplifiers, in addition to source components.
The flagship model, the 500, has 24 VariStrand conductors and is fitted with the rhodium plated WattGate 350 RH as standard. The 500 works well with higher end audio equipment and more current hungry components like large power amplifiers. It is also suited for use with the Russ Andrews Balanced Mains Units to connect them to the wall socket.
Evolution-100 PowerKord 1m £216
Evolution-300 PowerKord 1m £366
Evolution-500 PowerKord 1m £650
Other lengths, plug options, built-in spike and surge protection and pre burn-in are available, along with Russ Andrews unique Super Burn-in cable enhancement.
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