Naim Power-Line Reference AC Mains Interconnect—Shipping In April

[The following is a release from Naim]

March 17, 2008

NaimUSA, exclusive U.S. distributors of Naim music and home cinema equipment, are proud to announce the imminent availability of Naim’s new Power-Line reference AC mains interconnect. The Power-Line’s unique design is the result of two years research and development and hundreds of hours of experimentation, research and listening aimed at identifying and optimizing the critical elements of audio mains power cables. The design also follows traditional Naim engineering practices: control and transmission of vibration and resonances; choice of materials to maximize performance, and precision assembly to ensure consistency. It follows from the extremely successful Hi-Line cable that follows similar design principles. Naim carried out extensive experiments on existing IEC connectors and found that some were good, but most were not–and that all could be improved with some original thinking and of course a very significant tooling budget. The Naim IEC connector was designed and tooled to allow some movement in the pins to reduce mechanical stress, and has double wiper blades on contacts to increase contact area. Thermosetting plastics and eddy-current reducing aluminum die-castings deliver significant improvements. The floating rear cable clamping section has significant mass and isolation to reduce transferred energy transmission and resonance. The Naim cable design, which is custom manufactured for the Power-Line, consists of three 4mm2 conductors insulated by a material with excellent dielectric properties. The cable is covered with a rubber outer jacket, providing the perfect combination of mechanical self-damping and stiffness to aid cable dressing. For North America and Japan, the Power-Line is fitted with a Wattgate 5266i AC mains plug, selected after countless hours of listening and experimentation amongst other, significantly more expensive, AC mains plugs which did not provide the same level of musical performance. The plug contacts are cryogenically treated unplated brass, mounted in a glass-filled high-temperature nylon housing with a clear polycarbonate shroud. Careful care has been applied to ensure that the mechanical assembly of the cable / housing interface has been optimized to reduce energy transmission, increasing musical performance. The Power-Line is priced at $795 retail and is available soon.

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