Kronos AV Welcomes Cardas Cables: A Deep Dive into Their Legendary Copper and Golden Ratio Design
Kronos AV is proud to announce the arrival of Cardas Audio cables. This partnership signifies a commitment to offering audiophiles some of the most meticulously engineered and sonically renowned cabling solutions in the high-end audio market. Cardas Audio, founded by the visionary George Cardas in 1987, is celebrated worldwide for its innovative designs and, particularly, its commitment to crafting truly exceptional copper conductors.
Kronos AV's reputation as a "Global Award Winning Retailer" and "Turntable Specialist of the Year" underscores their dedication to providing top-tier audio equipment and expert advice. The addition of Cardas Cables to their portfolio further solidifies their position as a premier destination for audiophiles seeking to optimize every aspect of their sound system.
The Cardas Philosophy: The Art and Science of Signal Transfer
At the core of every Cardas cable lies a profound understanding of how audio signals behave and how best to preserve their integrity. George Cardas's guiding philosophy revolves around minimizing noise, resonance, and signal degradation to deliver the most natural and uncolored sound possible. This pursuit of purity has led to several patented technologies and manufacturing processes that set Cardas cables apart.
The Magic of Cardas Copper: Purity, Structure, and the Golden Ratio
While many cable manufacturers tout "high-purity copper," Cardas Audio takes this concept to an unparalleled level. George Cardas recognized early on that the quality of the copper itself was paramount, beyond mere purity ratings. He famously stated that he was "forced into the copper business" due to the declining quality of commercially available wire. This led Cardas to develop his proprietary methods for producing what he calls Grade 1 Ultra Pure Copper.
What makes Cardas copper so special?
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Proprietary Drawing and Annealing: Cardas sources raw copper from specific mines in the Southwest USA. This copper then undergoes a slow, methodical drawing and annealing process in the Northeast. This process, often conducted in inert atmospheres (like hydrogen-reducing atmospheres or pure steam), meticulously controls the crystalline structure of the copper, resulting in an incredibly smooth and uniform grain. Unlike conventional drawing processes that can "shred" the crystalline structure and introduce impurities, Cardas's method ensures a continuous and contiguous grain from the surface to the core. This superior grain structure minimizes resistance and allows electrons to flow with minimal impediment, akin to a perfectly paved highway compared to a bumpy road.
- Absence of Impurities and Oxidation: The controlled atmosphere during drawing and annealing prevents the formation of copper oxide and other impurities, which are poor conductors and can degrade signal quality over time. Each individual strand is immediately coated with a single poly-nylon layer after drawing, further preventing oxidation and eliminating crosstalk between strands, a crucial element in Litz wire construction.
- Thermal Conductivity: Cardas copper's superior electrical properties extend to its thermal conductivity, making it highly valued even in scientific laboratories for applications requiring precise temperature control and minimal signal variation.
Beyond the purity of the copper, Cardas employs the Golden Ratio (approximately 1:1.618) in the geometric stranding of their conductors. This principle, found throughout nature (like in the nautilus shell, which is Cardas's logo) and in harmonious artistic creations, is applied to the arrangement of individual Litz strands within the cable.
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Golden Ratio Stranding: In a multi-stranded Litz conductor, the smallest wires are at the center, with each subsequent layer increasing in size at a Golden Ratio step. This innovative technique, known as Golden Section Stranding and patented by George Cardas, is designed to mathematically eliminate resonant multiples and micro-resonances within the cable. By ensuring that individual strands do not share common mathematical nodes or resonant points, they effectively cancel out the noise they generate. This "Constant Q" stranding significantly reduces the inductively stored and reflected energy that can lead to cable resonance, smearing, and coloration of the sound.
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Matched Propagation Technology: Featured prominently in their "Clear" line of cables, Cardas also utilizes patented Matched Propagation Conductors. This technology precisely controls the propagation rate of the conductor to match that of the dielectric material. This addresses issues of time-smear distortion, ensuring the signal remains intact throughout its journey and preserving musical integrity and dynamic range.
The meticulous craftsmanship extends to every aspect of Cardas cables, including their custom-machined connectors from copper or brass billet, plated with silver and a flash of rhodium for optimal conductivity and oxidation resistance.19 The termination process itself is a highly skilled craft, performed by their dedicated team of "Cardas Terminators" using proprietary solder and techniques.
By bringing Cardas Cables to their showrooms and online store, Kronos AV is offering customers a chance to experience the profound impact of cables designed with an unwavering dedication to scientific principles, exceptional materials, and a deep understanding of audio fidelity. For audiophiles looking to unlock the full potential of their system, call in to hear them for yourself
Check out the ranges out here: https://www.kronosav.com/collections/cardas-audio