Atlas Asimi Grun Ultra Luxe RCA Cable

Atlas Asimi Grun Ultra Luxe RCA Cable

DESCRIPTION AND FEATURES

The best RCA interconnect cable we know how to make.

The Asimi is the only interconnect cable included in HiFi News magazine’s 2017 annual collection of best-reviewed equipment. They described it as ‘a true flagship cable.’

The Asimi Ultra RCA is a state-of-the-art pure silver interconnect designed to be effectively ‘invisible’ in the replay chain and to reveal the entire content and ambience of the recording without any sense of exaggerated detail or brightness.

The original aim of the Atlas Asimi project was to take a completely fresh look at cable design and, where necessary, to develop new techniques to create a cable which would satisfy the most critical listeners for years to come. For this latest generation version, we again went back to basics, re-assessing our existing design & manufacturing processes, exploring different construction methods and experimenting with new materials.

The Asimi Ultra features pure silver conductors, manufactured using the highest-quality ‘Ohno Continuous Cast’ technique for drawing pure silver. Silver cables have a reputation for poor sound quality in some quarters. We believe the Asimi definitively shows the problem is with low grade materials and poor manufacture, resulting in a cable with a coarse grainy structure which compromises sound quality. By contrast, in the manufacture of Asimi, we maximize the silver’s conductivity by ensuring that there is typically one grain in approximately 125 meters of conductor, allowing the signal a continuous unbroken path, in effect, the signal has a faster, cleaner and more direct path to follow.

The cable consists of a pair of conductors, each made up from six bundles of 12 multi-conductor wires, plus a thicker center wire. This in turn is covered by a continuous copper/Mylar™ electrostatic screen and a silver-plated copper shielding braid, ensuring minimal susceptibility to RF interference and noise.

Theoretically, the best dielectric (insulation layer) is air. Suspending the conductor in free air would be the best method to transfer maximum fidelity, if not very practical. Realistically a dielectric is necessary to protect the conductor, although all conventional dielectric materials impose their own signature distortion and loss on the signal.

We developed a new technique, using a microporous PTFE (Teflon™) tape, which is wound around the core conductors, then covered again and stabilized using a protective FPE (Flexible PolyEthylene) dielectric. Our process allows the required conductor geometry to be maintained and offers greater manufacturing consistency. Termination is with our low mass, high bandwidth, cold-weld XLR or Ultra RCA connectors, both of which have minimal effect on the integrity of the signal.

The result is the best cable we currently know how to make. Asimi, perhaps more than any other product, is responsible for Atlas now being viewed as one of a handful of top manufacturers worldwide.

The Asimi Ultra RCA interconnect. Our analogue masterpiece.

Silver Conductors

Asimi uses very high-purity OCC (Ohno Continuous Casting) silver conductors — the purest conductor available.

Silver cables are occasionally criticized as "bright." This is, in fact, the result of impurities and grain in inferior conductors. The OCC process is named after professor Atsumi Ohno, who in the late 1970s, discovered that by heating the drawing mold to a higher temperature than the molten copper you intend to cast, then cooling it soon after, the result is one long, high purity (99.99997%) metal crystal.

The Asimi’s high-purity monocrystal conductors are arranged in a complex multi-stranded layout, with each cable leg composed of 3 pairs of solid conductors (two pairs plus one pair), totaling 5.5mm² – an unusually high figure, given the cost of this purity of silver.

In most silver cables, the conductor size is compromised to reduce cost – but which explains why some critics suggest silver cables offer the listener very sweet highs but no weight or authority at low frequencies. That’s certainly not true of the Asimi, with several reviewers commenting on the sense of physical presence conveyed.

Atlas Ultra RCA

Less is more. That’s certainly true regarding the design of analogue audio cables, where the goal is to render the cable effectively ‘invisible,’ or more accurately, inaudible, in terms of impact on the signal.

Ideally, cables shouldn’t add or subtract anything, but in reality, numerous factors combine to have an audible and measurable effect — which is a form of distortion.

One of the essential elements in the mix is the connector plug. Atlas recognized over a decade ago that the traditional CNC-machined metal-bodied RCA connector was a weakness, with demonstrably significant performance loss.

Atlas Cables research showed that a Polycarbonate and latterly ABS for the plug body was a superior material, allowing us to create an RCA plug with a low dielectric constant, low-mass, non-conductive body but retaining the physical resilience and stability of a CNC-machined product.

The outcome was our original Integra connector, used in our entry-level Element and Equator cable ranges, but we quickly came to realize the superiority of the approach for all our cables, with further R&D resulting in the development of the Ultra RCA plug for our higher performance ranges.

The original Ultra was constructed from solid PTFE, a more complicated material to work with, but which immediately reduced the dielectric constant further and offered improved bandwidth and fidelity.

Dielectric - Microporous PTFE (Teflon™)

Our focus was also on the coating that insulates and protects the silver. The Asimi has these conductors enveloped in our microporous Teflon dielectric. This new air-spaced material improves on the performance of the best solid Teflon or PTFE (Teflon™) insulators, by providing a 30% greater signal velocity and superior integrity, particularly in high frequency delivery. This is achieved because the new material has a dielectric constant of around 1.5 (the lower the number the better), significantly better than the 2.1 typically achieved by the PTFE (Teflon™) insulators which were previously the best available in these applications.

Grun Coherent Earthing System

Zeno is supplied as standard with a 1m Grun cable and spade tag adapter for connection to the ground post on your amplifier.

The benefit of an independent system ground.

One of the biggest obstacles to achieving the performance levels our equipment is capable of is noise. Low levels of RFI (radio frequency) and EMI (electro-magnetic interference) and noise on the signal ground each subtly modulate and degrade the overall noise levels of the system.

Although our cables are all designed to minimize the invasion of external interference, it’s not possible to completely eliminate it.

But the audible benefits of substantially reducing it via our Grun products are considerable.

And the impact of Grun is cumulative. Adding additional Grun-enabled products reduces the impact of unwanted ‘noise’ still further.

Grounding critical components via the Grun system doesn’t alter the tonal balance or character of the system but audibly removes the effect of noise you probably didn’t realize was there.

The result typically reveals a greater level of fine detail, enhanced stereo soundstage and an improved ‘ease’ and naturalness.

Luxe Finishes

Beauty. Performance. No Compromises.

A distinctive combination of performance, luxury, and pride of ownership.

The Luxe collection features our exclusive combination of precision audio engineering and traditional leather craftsmanship.

To create our hand-made Luxe finishes, we’ve partnered with a world-renowned Scottish specialist in hand-crafted automotive and aerospace interiors.

These cables not only perform superbly but possess visual and tactile qualities that create a durable, distinctive “heritage” product.

For inspiration, we turned to the luxury automobile industry, where the combination of advanced technology, precision engineering and luxury fit and finish have long found expression.

SPECIFICATIONS

Geometry: Twin multicore dual drain

Conductor: OCC pure silver

Dielectric: Microporous PTFE (Teflon™)

Screen: Braid SPC + Mylar™, 100%

Capacitance: 50.17 pF/m

Inductance: 0.7162 µH/m

Resistance: 0.0181 Ohms/m

VOP: 0.81

Outside Diameter: 10mm

Custom Made & Shipped: 14-21 days

These cables are custom made to your specifications. The process takes 14-21 days. The cable is packaged and shipped via UPS Ground from New York. Custom-made cables cannot be returned.

ATLAS CODE, LENGTH

ASI-IC-RCA-0.5, 0.5M

ASI-IC-RCA-0.75, 0.75M

ASI-IC-RCA-1, 1M

ASI-IC-RCA-1.5.5, 1.5M

ASI-IC-RCA-2, 2M

ASI-IC-RCA-3, 3M