white_paper

Acoustic Zen Technologies White Paper Introduction Acoustic Zen Technologies was founded to draw upon, and advance, the most sophisticated research in the production of musically accurate sonic transmission. The primary goal of its work is to bring improved cable designs and materials to the commercial audio market. This company has brought to the highest possible point of perfection the refinement and constitution of metals which piloted in a revolutionary design, bringing forth sublime and superior performance. Legendary cable design artist Robert Lee engineers Acoustic Zen cable products. Each is handcrafted in California and built to be an essential and refined addition to any refined audio-video system. Acoustic Zen interconnects, digital and speaker cables, as well as power cords are crafted from the most exquisite materials available (pure silver and pure copper both of 99.99997% purity). They have been designed for precise musicality, extraordinary sonic dynamics, maximum acoustic transparency, and soundstage accuracy. Each Acoustic Zen cable product is designed with a triple-patented fine tuning process that allows any of our cables to be customized to further enhance a superior home theater or sound reproduction system. Without a doubt, promoting to Acoustic Zen wire will enhance the quality of any system, magnifying the listening experience for music lovers. At Acoustic Zen, we have one goal: to enhance our customers' private musical enjoyment. Therefore, at Acoustic Zen we seek, "Music . . .no compromise!" The Art of Cable Design and Fine-Tuning Before any craftsman or artist embarks on a creative journey, he must carefully select the tools and materials through which a masterpiece will finish. The choice of materials and the innovation of the design will greatly affect the outcome of the finished product. In the same way, the design of high quality cables begins with the careful selection of the materials because it will effect the transmission of music from your audio system to your ears. Acoustic Zen Technologies not only chooses the best materials for constructing our cables, but the culmination of years of in depth research, detailed testing, and experience has led us to engineer cables that will truly take your audio system a step closer to perfection.   The purpose of any interconnect or speaker cable is to deliver the most absolutely coherent musical signal possible. That goal is more complex than it may appear because cables literally "read" and transfer delicate musical signals that flow through them with an almost infinite variety of electronic characteristics. A quick look at how central cable-design and cable crafting are to the world of music is revealing. To begin let us first face the simple truth. There are no perfect cables out on the market today. Most cables offered to zealous buyers serve the function similar to a 12dB low-pass filter.   The amplitudes and the phase relationships of voltages and current in a cable are dependent on a combination of the value of resistance, the series inductive reactance, and the parallel capacitive reactance. Such intricate parameters of cable design often result in signal loss, signal distortion and phase shifts in frequency.   Resistance (R) is a variable crucial to the cables' architecture. The formula for R is as follows:
For the cable to transmit sound without diminishing the original signal, the value of R needs to be as small as possible. The purity and type of conductive material determines the conductivity (6). In addition, having a small value of C is essential in reducing the value of R. Consequently, most cable manufacturers utilize the purest metallic elements readily available in the crafting of products. Such metals are silver and copper at normal temperatures (20 degree Celsius).  Conductor Today, the most commonly used metals in the high-end cable industry are copper and silver because they possess the lowest resistance relative to other materials. However, not all copper and silver are equal in quality. The copper and silver chosen by each manufacturer for production differs greatly. In fact, the treatment process of raw metal determines the level of purity of the metal conductor.   Traditional standard copper and silver casting and drawing processes employ cold die molds, which cause the metal to solidify from the outside to the inside, thereby creating layers and layers of crystal barriers. These crystal barriers hamper the flow of electron transmission through the cable, which results in distortion and loss of harmonics in sound.   After years of research and innovation, Acoustic Zen Technologies have discovered a new process of casting and drawing both copper and silver that overcomes traditional complications. Instead of using the cold die mold and following standard processes that generate the crystal barricades in a cable, Acoustic Zen Technologies develops cables using heated die molds and continuous casting of the molten metal. By continuous casting, we slow the speed of cooling the metal, thus eliminating the formation of crystals and other impurities.  This special process dramatically increases the conductor's purity, gravity, and density as compared to the standard oxygen free high conductivity copper (OFHC). In addition, the innovative process significantly reduces the concentration of oxygen inside the conductor so it is almost free of oxygen. The most common OFHC and oxygen free silver (OFS) used in high-end cable have approximately an average of 6000 crystals per meter, whereas Acoustic Zen Technologies conductors have just one crystal in 150 meters. This difference is significant and absolutely improves electron transmission resulting in clarity and smoothness of sound.  To that end, Acoustic Zen Technologies directs all research and production towards the goal of creating cables of superior purity that deliver the most flawlessly accurate musical information. No Compromise! The company founder and chief engineer, Robert Lee, is an innovative cable-design virtuoso with leading expertise in Metallurgy. His incessant research in metallurgy brought forth the breakthrough utility of Zero Crystal wires and cables patented exclusively by Acoustic Zen. The superior signal integrity and transmission characteristics of Zero Crystal wires and cables set a new standard in music performance.  Skin Effect Skin effect is a challenge every cable designer must overcome. When a current flows through a conductor, it creates a magnetic field. A useful parameter used in assessing the degree to which a good conductor is X and the degree to which electromagnetic waves can penetrate into a good conductor is called the skin depth d. This value is defined as the depth in which the wave is attenuated to 1/e or ~36.8% of its original intensity. The value of skin depth is defined as:
 According to the skin depth equation, when the frequency is at 300MHz then the skin depth d = 0.00382 mm. At a frequency of 30kHz, then the skin depth d = 0.382 mm  Time-varying fields and current densities only exist in a thin layer on the surface; thereby increasing frequency (f) will effectively decrease the cross sectional area through which the current flows. Essentially, an average audio cable (20 Hz ~ 20 kHz) transmitting signals at the highest frequency of 20 kHz will have a skin depth at about 30 mils. (One mil is 1/1000th of an inch). A 22 AWG conductor is 25 mils in diameter and in the stranded configuration it is about 30 mils. Therefore, the skin depth at the highest audio frequency is the entire cable.   All Acoustic Zen cables use carefully engineered multi-stranded conductors of less than 22 AWG solid silver and copper conductors with proper individual insulation. They are also arranged to eliminate electromagnetic interference from each other. This achieves an uncompromised delivery of the musical signal spectrum both linearly and neutrally.   Capacitance and Dielectric In designing any cable, one must keep in mind that a cable is fundamentally a capacitor, an electrical device consisting of two conducting surfaces and an insulation material (dielectric) between the surfaces. The dielectric can be any material such as air, rubber, Silicone, Teflon, etc., but each type of material have different qualities. The purpose of a capacitor is to store electrostatic energy. We use the term capacitance to measure how the cable can store the electrical charge of a signal. In audio cables, we want to move electrons from one source to another with minimal inhibition. Therefore, the goal is to keep the capacitance as low as possible, which reduces the possibility of phase shift and frequency distortion of electrical signals. Several factors influence the value of capacitance, such as the distance between a pair of wires, the thickness or size of the dielectric used between the wires, and the specific type of dielectric used as insulation.   As mentioned earlier, dielectrics have different properties, and the dielectric used to insulate a cable has significant effects on the music. The insulating material has the property of absorbing electrostatic energy and releasing the energy. Ideally, we want the insulator to absorb as little electrostatic energy as possible because storage of energy will cause inefficiency in conduction of electrical energy through the wire. Therefore, Acoustic Zen Technologies only use the best dielectric insulation. By choosing Teflon, air injected polyethylene foam, and air as our dielectric, we provide the highest quality insulation unrivaled by competitors. The dielectric insulation materials used in Acoustic Zen cables are carefully chosen for appropriate electrical and mechanical performance to reduce capacitance and changes in frequency and sound.  Inductance Inductance is another property of signal conduction, and is a measure of the ability of a conductor's configuration to store magnetic energy In order to create this electromagnetic field, there must be electricity flowing through the cables. As soon as the electric current stops, the field will collapse and the energy will flow out of the wire. AZT cables are designed with properly selected conductor sizes and precise measurements of distances and twists between pairs of conductors. The overall effects keep the inductance of the cable as low as possible, decreasing magnetic interaction in the cable. This prevents changes in electrical properties and minimizes distortion of sound.  Effects of the Dielectric, Capacitance and Inductance Dielectric, capacitance and inductance are important properties in cable design. These electrical properties must be kept as low as possible, therefore permitting a very wide frequency bandwidth and fast electronic flow. Many other parameters for cable design such as speed of propagation, impedance, and phase velocity depend on the properties of the insulator, size of the conductor, and distance between the two conductors. Acoustic Zen Technologies cables are designed to perform at highest velocity of propagation, thus offering superior performance through the whole frequency spectrum. Our cable designs are free of phase shift distortions and time delay problems, providing you with smooth, dynamic, and true music.   Constant Air-Twisting In addition to using the best insulation for our cables, Acoustic Zen Technologies introduces a breakthrough technology called Constant Air-Twistingä, constructing a new achievement in cable design. Two multi-gauge group (positive and negative group conductor) conductors are in a constant twist on the outside of a twisted air Teflon tubing. Constant Air-Twistingä technology not only has a very high common mode rejection ratio that allows significant reduction in electromagnetic noise, but it also keeps the cable at extremely low capacitance.  Shielding of Interference Acoustic Zen Technologies Constant Air-Twistingä design protects the electrical signal in the cable from outside noise and interference. Interference signals fall into two categories: Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) and Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). Examples of EMI are power lines, lightning, and electric motors. Radio frequency interference can come from many of the same sources in addition to radio waves, televisions, computers and wireless phones. There are a myriad of external interferences, and protection from these interferences is essential in reproducing the highest quality sounds.  Acoustic Zen Technologies include additional double shielding for all low level interconnects cable designs. The use of 100% copper foil shielding and 90% covered braided shielding provides superior high frequency shielding and protection of low frequency interferences. The combined effects of exceptional double shielding and Constant Air-Twistingä dramatically reduces noise interference and signal degradation.   Conclusion The result of all these technical innovations is a carefully crafted cable with superior musical refinement. There is none better than Acoustic Zen cable. That is why we deliver only "music, no compromise.  Acoustic Zen cables extend the range of sonic accuracy and dynamic impact. They are as tonally perfect as analog and digital interconnects can be at present. Each Acoustic Zen cables is assembled by hand. Each pair is aurally inspected, listened to carefully and critically before it goes out into the world. Acoustic Zen cables are handcrafted to be modern instruments for the delivery of music.  Cables, in sum are everywhere music is at stake and that is why research into the design of cables - and into materials that comprise them - is crucial to improving the crea