X-Tube Technology - How It Works

One of the big problems as cable conductor size increases, is how to keep the inductance low. This is vital to reduce cable losses and prevent inaccuracies in the signal transfer process, (i.e. distortion). The normal way to do this is to use a number of individually insulated conductors within the cable construction. This method is utilised to great effect in the design of our Genesis Silver Spiral loudspeaker cables. However, this results in a product that has a very high quality sound performance, but is expensive to manufacture and can be difficult to terminate. To take advantage of this design ethos, but in a more conventional format, X-TUBE forms the conductor in the shape of a tube with an inner Aircore. This has the same effect as using multiple insulated conductors and ensures that high frequencies are transmitted cleanly, with the added benefit of ease of termination. This unique tubular conductor geometry also provides lower flux density within the conductors, which gives improved transparency to the sound.

X-Tube - The Signal

At low frequencies both X-TUBE and conventional stranded/solid core speaker cable convey signals in a linear way. This is represented by the uniform green colour of the strands shown in the two diagrams above. At higher frequencies X-TUBE retains a near-linear signal transfer, whereas the conventional stranded/solid core cable fails to efficiently conduct higher frequencies uniformly across the entire conductor area. The diagram shows excess current density at the periphery (designated in red) and rapidly deteriorating current density (green through to white) towards the centre of the conductor. The effect of this is to reduce the actual cross-sectional area of the cable at 15kHz to less than 75% of that at low frequencies. The result is induced distortion and a compromise in the performance of the cable.

"Nothing else at this price point sounds as superbly balanced and detailed. This excellent product has been our budget cable benchmark."