RIP Gibraltar, long live Castle Rock! Like Gibraltar beforeit, Castle Rock is designed as an extremely high-performance cable whichprovides true Double-BiWire performance in a single attractive cable. OriginalGibraltar’s all important basics – superior geometry, magnetic autonomy of eachquad-conductor section, Perfect-Surface metal technology, conductor-sizeoptimization (AQ’s Spread-Spectrum Technology), etc. – are the fundamentals ofCastle Rock. Castle Rock employs AQ’s best copper conductor metal(Perfect-Surface Copper+), AudioQuest’s DBS (Dielectric-Bias System) and NDS(Noise-Dissipation System). A very recent advancement featured in Castle Rock (and allother Tree and Rock Series speaker cables) is the addition of the sleek newHanging-Silver 1000 Series Multi-Spades and Bananas. Originally developed forthe WEL Signature Series speaker cables, these plugs are made using a hangingsilver over pure red-copper process in which the spades and bananas aresubmerged (hung) into a vat of extreme-purity silver, resulting in a verythick direct-silver plate. No intermediary performance-degrading materials(such as nickel or alloy) are used. Also new to Castle Rock is a more-neatly-sculpted breakout(the covering where the cable separates into red and black legs), which is nowmade of a synthetic non-magnetic polymer, rather than metal. We’re making thisall-models upgrade because speaker cables and AC power cables carry largemagnetic fields which interact with any metal collar around the cable. Eliminating metal in the breakouts is another significant (and clearly audible)step forward in our goal of eliminating distortion and making the cablesonically invisible.   Please note toothat AudioQuest now offers a Single-BiAmp option for any Rocket, Rock or TreeSeries speaker cable, including Castle Rock. Although similar to aSingle-BiWire configuration in which the speaker end has four connectors, theSingle-BiAmp configuration also has four connectors at the amplifier end toaccommodate the growing number of users who wish to take full advantage of allthe amplifier channels in many of today’s AV receivers and multichannel poweramplifiers.   Castle Rock represents the culmination of Gibraltar’slong-term evolution along with performance- enhancing new systems andmaterials. These ingredients add up to important audible improvements and morepleasurable listening! SOLID PERFECT-SURFACE COPPER+ (PSC+) CONDUCTORS:  Solid conductors prevent strand interaction, a major source of cable distortion. Extremely high-purity Perfect-SurfaceCopper+ minimizes distortion caused by grain boundaries that exist within anymetal conductor, nearly eliminating harshness and greatly increasing claritycompared to OFHC, OCC, 8N and other coppers. CARBON-BASED NOISE-DISSIPATION and CROSS-TALK-DISSIPATIONSYSTEMS (INSULATION): The negative conductors in Castle Rock are insulated withpartially conductive Carbon-Loaded Polyethylene. This remarkable material dampsradio-frequency garbage from being fed back into the amplifier. The sonicbenefit is exactly the same reduction in hash and better dimensionality thatcomes whenever RF garbage is reduced in an audio circuit. Castle Rock usesNitrogen-Injected Foamed-Polyethylene Insulation on its positive conductorsbecause air absorbs next to no energy, and Polyethylene is low-loss and has abenign distortion profile. Thanks to all the air in Foamed-PE, it causes muchless of the out-of-focus effect common to other materials. DIELECTRIC-BIAS SYSTEM (DBS, US Pat #s 7,126, 055 &7,872, 195 B1): All insulation slows down the signal on the conductor inside. When insulation is unbiased, it slows down parts of the signal differently, abig problem for very time-sensitive multi-octave audio. AudioQuest’s DBScreates a strong, stable electrostatic field which saturates and polarizes (organizes)the molecules of the insulation. This minimizes both energy storage in theinsulation and the multiple nonlinear time-delays that occur. Sound appearsfrom a surprisingly black background with unexpected detail and dynamiccontrast. The DBS battery packs will last for years. A test button and LEDallow for the occasional battery check. DOUBLE STAR-QUAD GEOMETRY: The relationship betweenconductors defines a cable’s most basic electrical values (capacitance andinductance). However, even when those variables are kept in a reasonablebalance, the relationship between conductors can be varied in ways that greatlyaffect the sound. The Double Star-Quad construction of Castle Rock allows forsignificantly better dynamic contrast and information intelligibility than ifthe same conductors were run in parallel. SPREAD-SPECTRUM TECHNOLOGY (SST): Any single size or shapeof conductor has a specific distortion profile. Even though radiallysymmetrical conductors (solid or tubular) have the fewest discontinuities, anyconductor of a particular size does have a sonic signature. SST is a method forsignificantly reducing the awareness of these character flaws by using aprecise combination of different size conductors. The different SST-determinedconductor sizes used in Castle Rock allow an exceptionally clear, clean anddynamic sound. BIWIRING: Castle Rock is an exceptional Single-BiWire cable. When the halves are separated at the speaker end, the Double Star-Quad Geometryturns Castle Rock into a true Double-BiWire set thanks to the magnetic autonomyof each Quad-conductor section. On its own, one Star-Quad conductor group wouldbe a little lightweight in performance as it is biased towards treble finesse. The other Star-Quad conductor group is biased toward the bass; it’s moreforceful and lacking ultimate resolution. Together they form a completelyoptimized full-range design. When separated, the Double Star-Quad design allowsCastle Rock to be a maximum-performance Double BiWire in a single cable. TERMINATIONS: AudioQuest offers a wide range of high-qualityconnectors that allow Castle Rock to be securely attached to any type ofequipment. Quality is in the low-distortion sound, not necessarily in theeye-candy effect. AQ ends are either dull looking gold or silver because thesemetals are plated directly over the connector. There is no shiny and harshsounding nickel layer underneath. AQ PK-spade lugs are soft because bettermetal is soft, and facilitates a higher quality connection. For piecesrequiring a banana plug or BFA connector the AQ PK-BFA/Banana provides unprecedentedperformance over conventional brass versions. APPLICATION: The ABS breakouts on either end of Castle Rockare marked Speaker End or Amp End. Please use cables in the directionrequired. ]]>

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