CONDUCTORS: All eight of Gibraltar’s conductors are solid. Electrical and magnetic interaction between strands in a conventional cable is the
single greatest source of distortion, often causing a somewhat harsh, dirty and confused sound. Solid conductors are the most important
ingredients enabling Gibraltar’s very clear sound. Whether a conductor is solid or stranded, skin-effect is a prime distortion mechanism in
speaker cables.Gibraltar very simply keeps this effect out of the audio range by using conductor sizes that are below the threshold for
audible distortion.
PERFECT-SURFACE COPPER+: Gibraltar uses extremely high purity Perfect-Surface Copper+ (PSC+) conductors. All conductors are solid,
which prevents strand interaction, a major source of distortion. Surface quality is critical because a conductor can be considered as a rail-guide
for both the electric fields within a conductor, and for the magnetic fields outside the conductor. The astonishingly smooth and pure
Perfect-Surface eliminates harshness and greatly increases clarity compared to OFHC, OCC, 8N and other coppers. The superior purity of
PSC+ further minimizes distortion caused by grain boundaries, which exist within any metal conductor.
DIELECTRIC-BIAS SYSTEM (patent pending): Unfortunately, because insulation stores and releases energy, it is also a “dielectric.” In a cable
application, all released energy is distortion. The misnomer “break-in” is often used to describe the pronounced improvement in performance as
the dielectric adapts to a charged state as the cable is used. Whenever a cable does not have a charge on it, it is re-adapting to an uncharged
state; it is becoming new again.
By maintaining a 36 volt dielectric-bias, far above the voltage of delicate audio signals, the DBS system provides considerably better
transparency and dynamics than is possible even from a cable in continuous use. It takes a couple of weeks for the DBS system to reach
maximum performance. Since DBS battery packs are attached when Gibraltar cables are first terminated, Gibraltar will be approaching or at
peak performance by the time it is installed in your system. Since there is no “load” on the two standard hardware-store batteries, they will last
for years. A test button and LED allow for occasional verification of battery performance.
GEOMETRY: The relationship between conductors defines a cable’s most basic electrical values (capacitance and inductance). However, even
when those variables are kept in a reasonable balance, the relationship between conductors can be varied in ways that greatly effect the sound.
The dual spiral construction of Gibraltar allows for significantly better dynamic contrast and information intelligibility than if the same conductors
were run in parallel. The specific 4-cross geometry used in each half of Gibraltar maximizes this advantage.
SST (Spread Spectrum Technology): Any single size or shape of conductor has a specific distortion profile. Even though radially symmetrical
conductors (solid round or tubular) have the fewest discontinuities, any particular size does have a sonic signature. SST is a method for
significantly reducing the awareness of these character flaws by using a precise combination of different size conductors. The four different
SST-determined conductor sizes used in Gibraltar allow an exceptionally clear, clean and dynamic sound.
CONDUCTIVE INSULATION: The four negative conductors in Gibraltar are insulated with partially conductive carbon-loaded polyethylene. This
remarkable material damps radio-frequency garbage from being fed back into the amplifier. The sonic benefit is exactly the same reduction in
hash and better dimensionality that comes whenever RF garbage is reduced in an audio circuit.
BIWIRING: Gibraltar is an exceptional Single-Biwire cable. When the halves are separated at the speaker end, the double quad-helix design
turns Gibraltar into a true double-biwire set thanks to the magnetic autonomy of each quad-helix. On it’s own; one quad would be a little
light-weight in performance as it is biased towards treble finesse. The other quad is biased toward the bass; it’s more forceful and lacking
ultimate resolution. Together they form a completely optimized full range design, which was the first priority; but when separated the dual star
quads let Gibraltar be a maximum performance double-biwire in a single cable.
TERMINATIONS: AudioQuest offers a wide range of high quality connectors that allow Slate to be securely attached to any type of equipment.
“Quality” is in the low distortion sound, not necessarily in the eye-candy effect. AQ ends are either a dull looking gold or silver because these
metals are plated directly over the connector. There is no shiny and harsh sounding nickel layer underneath. AQ PK-spade lugs are soft
because better metal is soft, and facilitates a higher quality connection. For pieces requiring a banana plug or BFA connector the AQ
PK-BFA/Banana provides unprecedented performance over conventional brass versions.