PS AUDIO - PERFECTWAVE AC-3

You Just Can't Find a Better Power Cable Value!

The PS Audio AC-3 is Their Best-Ever Bargain Power Cable

The PS Audio PerfectWave AC-3 is the most affordable power cable in the new series of PS Audio Power Cables. The PerfectWave AC-3 is a 12 gauge cable, with OFC pure copper, multiple shields, multiple gauge geometry, and custom machined connectors. Its absolutely the best value in a high-end power cable PS Audio has ever designed! The PerfectWave AC-3 sets a new standard!

Perfect AC power is a critical requirement for high-performance audio/video systems. Delivering that power to your equipment, without any loss, is the job of the AC power cable. The low noise, high-speed design of the AC-3 is based on 5 patents and years of listening and engineering. The PerfectWave series brings a new level of refined beauty, power and spacious performance to high-end, high-performance systems. It helps connected equipment enjoy a breathtaking openness, with quick transients combined with a warmth and richness that you have never before experienced! All PS Audio power cables are covered by Music Direct's famous 100% Satisfaction Guarantee!

Features: 12 gauge Superior noise reduction Fast transient response Low magnetic properties Multiple gauge conductors Flat and circular conductors OFC pure copper Cold and hot welded construction Nickel over copper prongs Connectors machined from a solid billet Dual shielding Removable ground pin

Benefits: Lowest noise AC cable yet Instant current availability Low dynamic restriction Evenly distributed noise cancellation High surface area conductors Reduced grain boundaries Eliminate ground loops

You Just Can't Find a Better Power Cable Value!

The PS Audio AC-3 is Their Best-Ever Bargain Power Cable

The PS Audio PerfectWave AC-3 is the most affordable power cable in the new series of PS Audio Power Cables. The PerfectWave AC-3 is a 12 gauge cable, with OFC pure copper, multiple shields, multiple gauge geometry, and custom machined connectors. Its absolutely the best value in a high-end power cable PS Audio has ever designed! The PerfectWave AC-3 sets a new standard!

Perfect AC power is a critical requirement for high-performance audio/video systems. Delivering that power to your equipment, without any loss, is the job of the AC power cable. The low noise, high-speed design of the AC-3 is based on 5 patents and years of listening and engineering. The PerfectWave series brings a new level of refined beauty, power and spacious performance to high-end, high-performance systems. It helps connected equipment enjoy a breathtaking openness, with quick transients combined with a warmth and richness that you have never before experienced! All PS Audio power cables are covered by Music Direct's famous 100% Satisfaction Guarantee!

Features: 12 gauge Superior noise reduction Fast transient response Low magnetic properties Multiple gauge conductors Flat and circular conductors OFC pure copper Cold and hot welded construction Nickel over copper prongs Connectors machined from a solid billet Dual shielding Removable ground pin

Benefits: Lowest noise AC cable yet Instant current availability Low dynamic restriction Evenly distributed noise cancellation High surface area conductors Reduced grain boundaries Eliminate ground loops

The PerfectWave AC Series consists of 4 models of AC power cables: AC-3, AC-5, AC-10 and AC-12. The series is based on the work of PS Engineering alongside cable design guru Jay Victor, who has been instrumental in developing audio and power cable breakthroughs for the AV industry.

The Design Philosophy of the AC Series:
The design philosophy behind the PerfectWave AC Series is based on two goals: reduce noise without magnetic restriction and channel the fundamentals through the conductor's core. Both goals have been achieved by leveraging the technology found in 5 patents. All five patents, held by cable designer Jay Victor, use cable geometry as well as conductor shapes and sizes to achieve remarkable results in a power cable.

Noise Reduction without Magnetic Restriction
AC noise, generated by every electrical appliance in your home, audibly degrades your system's performance. To lower this noise you would typically process your AC power through either a power conditioner or a regenerator like the PS Audio Power Plant. The AC power cable itself, if properly designed, can also lower AC noise.

In the PerfectWave AC Series gives a remarkably wide open spacious presentation with an equally low noise floor. To lower the noise without using magnetics, we turned to Jay's US patent 7,476,808. This patent is rather technical but involves using increased surface area of the conductor, in close proximity to a specific dielectric, to maximize capacitance and lower noise. A capacitor restricts the flow of higher frequency energy without a magnetic field and so it is ideal for lowering high frequency noise. Once you hear what a PerfectWave AC power cable does for you in the system you'll understand the benefits of lower noise without magnetic restriction.

Channeling Fundamentals
A perfect power cable would pass only the fundamental frequency of the AC line, either 50Hz or 60Hz and nothing else. But like any wire, most all frequencies are passed down the wire with equal strength, including higher frequency harmonics and noise; unless measures are taken to minimize this. The PerfectWave AC Series minimizes higher frequencies by maximizing conductor surface area in close contact to the dielectric insulators.

PS Audio's goal has always been to produce rich and robust performance from our power cables. Years of listening and experimenting with different cable geometries have taught them that building a great sounding power cable involves a lot of blending and tuning to minimize weak performance and maximize all the rich harmonic content your system is capable of delivering.

The proprietary technology used is the use of both flat as well as circular conductors placed together in close proximity to the dielectric. As simple as it may sound, combining the benefits of a flat conductor with multiple gauges of circular conductors woven together with a PE insulator worked out to be the perfect blend of both surface area and core material. This combination provides the PerfectWave AC Series with both low noise and rich, full and robust performance for any connected equipment.

Conductor Materials
In the PS PerfectWave AC Series, the top two power cable modes, AC-12 and AC-10 are built with the purest copper in the world, Single Crystal PCOCC. PCOCC is one of the more remarkable manmade metals in the world. It is formed as one single long grain or crystal that runs the entire length of the conductor. It is formed by a process known as The Ohno Continuous Casting Method where molten copper is forced out of the mold and very slowly draws the grain down the conductor's length, creating a ‘single grain structure. There's only one machine in the world that creates PCOCC single crystal copper and is one of the reasons it is nearly ten times more expensive than OFC. PS has secured a scheduled allotment of the material to build a limited number per month of the AC-10 and AC-12.

The AC-3 and AC-5 Series of PerfectWave cables are built with extremely Pure Oxygen Free Copper.

Conductor Directionality
Over the years PS Audio has come to agree with a select few cable manufacturers that believe conductor direction is critical to high-performance. The direction each conductor is pulled out of the wire machine determines how it will sound when built into a power or audio cable. Tremendous debate has taken place over these phenomena but from our perspective there can be no doubt about their existence. It did not take multiple listening tests to verify that a spool of wire sounds different when one end or the other is used as the source. All conductors in the PerfectWave AC Series are spool tested at the factory for directionality and then wound into the power cables in the same direction. This attention to detail provides a remarkable coherence and special accuracy to the sound of connected equipment powered by a PerfectWave AC cable.

Connectors Perfected
As early as 2003, PS Engineering realized that even with the best conductor technology in the world, the connectors could be the limiting factor in building a state-of-the-art power cable. While some companies will gold, nickel or Palladium plate these parts to improve their conductivity and enhance their appearance, in the end, no amount of plating can make up for poor build quality.

The PerfectWave AC Series connectors are built out of a solid block of high copper content brass, and then polished to remove any surface irregularities. The AC-10 and AC-12 are gold plated, the AC-3 and AC-5 are nickel plated and polished.

Hot and Cold
Attaching the conductors to the connectors is also a key element in finishing the cable's construction. Traditional off-the-shelf stock power cords use a tightened steel screw to hold the conductor against the prong, which is prone to oxidation and corrosion as well as loss of connectivity due to repeated twisting of the connector.

The PerfectWave AC Series employs two forms of welding to fuse the conductor to the machined prong: cold and hot. Cold welding exerts thousands of pounds of pressure to squeeze the two metals together such that the metal structure of the two pieces actually fuse together. To further insure a perfect connection, we then solder each of the machined prongs with high silver content solder in a hot welding technique that creates the perfect bond.

The PerfectWave AC Series
Ten years of research, listening and development, coupled with technology embodied in 5 separate patents and superior craftsmanship all go into the creation of the PS Audio PerfectWave AC Series. This series is one of the most remarkable products they have ever built and we encourage you to audition any one of the four models of PerfectWave AC power cables in your system at home. As always, music Direct offers a 100% Money Back Guarantee on all PS Audio products, so what do you have to lose?

Audio Review

PerfectWave AC Series White Paper (PDF, 385 KB)

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