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An Abnormally Superior Cable
This 'Double-Star Quad' cable doesn't look normal on the outside, and it isn't normal on the inside, either. AudioQuest Rocket 44 offers amazingly clean and effortless performance, thanks to a combination of extraordinary materials and extremely refined design.
Solid Conductors
All eight of Rocket 44's conductors are solid. Solid conductors prevent strand interaction, a major source of cable distortion. Electrical and magnetic interaction between strands in a conventional cable is the single greatest source of distortion, often causing a somewhat harsh, dirty and confused sound.
Solid conductors are the most important ingredients enabling Rocket 44's very clear sound. Whether a conductor is solid or stranded, skin effect is a prime distortion mechanism in speaker cables. Rocket 44 very simply keeps this effect out of the audio range by using conductor sizes that are below the threshold for audible distortion.
Extreme High-Purity Perfect-Surface Copper
Extreme high-purity Perfect-Surface Copper (PSC) minimizes distortion caused by grain boundaries that exist within any metal conductor, eliminating harshness and greatly increasing clarity compared to all other conducting materials. PSS has an astonishingly smooth and pure surface. Proprietary metal processing technology protects the wire's surface at every stage of drawing and fabrication. When high-purity low-oxide copper is kept as soft, pure and smooth as possible, it becomes the wonderfully low distortion PSC conductor used in many AudioQuest models. PSC's extreme transparency is made possible by applying Perfect Surface Technology to ultra pure solid copper. PSC is the ultimate example of how far this remarkable technology can take us.
Spread Spectrum Technology (SST)
Any single size or shape of conductor has a characteristic distortion profile. Even though radially symmetrical conductors (solid round or tubular) have the fewest discontinuities, each size still has a sonic signature. Rocket 44 uses a precise combination of different size conductors in order to significantly reduce the audibility of these character flaws.
Double Star-Quad Geometry
The relationship between conductors defines a cable's most basic electrical values (capacitance and inductance). However, even when those variables are kept in a reasonable balance, the relationship between conductors can be varied in ways that greatly affect the sound. The Double Star-Quad construction of Rocket 44 allows for significantly better dynamic contrast and information intelligibility than if the same conductors were run in parallel.
The specific 4-cross geometry used in each half of Rocket 44 maximizes this advantage. In addition, Rocket 44 is an exceptional Single-BiWire cable. When the halves are separated at the speaker end, the Double StarQuad design turns Rocket 44 into a true Double-BiWire set thanks to the magnetic autonomy of each star-quad. When separated the Dual Star-Quads let Rocket 44 be a maximum performance Double-BiWire in a single cable.
Cold-Weld Terminations
Superior AudioQuest connectors allow Rocket 44 to be securely attached to any type of equipment. AQ ends are dull looking because there is no harsh sounding shiny nickel layer underneath the silver (or gold). The connection between the plug and conductors is made using AQ's Cold-Weld system which provides a superior connection that ensures that the structural integrity of the conductor is kept completely intact.
A controlled amount of pressure is used to essentially make the conductor and connector mechanically "as one" without the use of heat. The copper bearing paste acts as both a copper oxide retardant, and as well as a very effective contact enhancer. AQ's Cold-Weld system ensures a practically perfect connection.
