Ultralink/XLO Products are now shipping their updated Signature 3™ and Reference 3™ interconnects and cables.
The original XLO™ Reference™ and Signature™ Series provided a new frame of reference for high end audio and A/V systems; reviewers and enthusiasts loved them! Version 3 cables are significantly better sounding across the board, the new price/performance overachievers in their class — and above.
The latest upgrades improve signal transmission and sound in a number of ways:
- Reference 3™ cables: 99.99998% pure laboratory-grade copper
- Signature 3™ cables: UPOCC-6N copper
- Advanced chemical treatment improves ultra-high-frequency pulse response
- Design minimizes dielectric capacitive discharge effects
- Features XLO’s proprietary Field-Balanced™ Cable Geometry
- Virtually eliminates cable-generated spurious signals
- Always the best materials, dielectrics and processes available
Everything You Wanted To Know…
Every conductor in Reference 3™ or Signature 3™ interconnects and speaker cable is custom-drawn 99.99998% (“Six Nines”) pure Laboratory Grade copper. Signature 3’s even higher specification calls for UPOCC 6N copper (Ultra Pure Ohno Continuous Casting process), a material so expensive it’s sold by the gram!
An entirely new chemical treatment in both Reference 3™ and Signature 3™ construction improves the ultra-high frequency pulse response for a cleaner, more detailed very natural and open sound. Then each conductor in both 3 series is insulated with a very thin (.076 mm) layer of a carefully-selected high-performance non-fluorinated polymer. In Signature 3™ cables the layer is a specially-processed Dupont™ Teflon-variant.
Proprietary Field-Balanced™ winding geometry was behind XLO’s original instant popularity, and it’s still among XLO’s most significant core technologies. The braiding and winding geometries — how each signal-bearing conductor is arrayed relative to the others — for Reference 3™ and Signature 3™ optimizes and balances the relationship between current-controlled electromagnetic fields formed around a cable’s conductors, and the electrostatic fields formed around its insulation when an audio or digital/video signal passes through.
The Reference 3™ and Signature 3™ feature the latest approach to minimizing capacitive discharge effects. As signal (current) passes through insulated conductors, capacitance effects store signal energy in the surrounding dielectric material that’s either turned into heat or quickly released out of phase back into the signal path as soon as the polarity changes leading to signal cancellations, reduced low-level detail, smearing, and out-of-phase artifacts causing spurious sound or picture distortions!
XLO deals with this obstacle to good sound by reducing stored energy with low-mass dielectrics and always using materials with the minimum dielectric constant and the fastest “dump rate” — the faster the energy returns or dumps from the dielectric, the less distortion you hear.
Going even farther, XLO eliminates the outer jacket from Reference 3™ and Signature 3™ interconnects, leaving the insulated conductors and their forming members with no other dielectric element between themselves and the outside air! And there’s no finer dielectric than air. As speaker cables are more likely to be abused in the typical household environment, their open-weave mesh jacket produces the same result.
The tightly-woven construction of Reference 3™ and Signature 3™ effectively damps vibration-sympathetic resonances in the cables’ internal elements and eliminate cable-generated spurious signals (CGSS).
All XLO Reference 3™ and Signature 3™ cables are hand-terminated with XLO’s own proprietary connectors, direct-plated 24k gold with no poor-sounding nickel substrate. Cables are made from the very best materials, dielectrics and processes available.
For more than 15 years, XLO has designed, engineered, manufactured and sold high-performance specialty cables to the global audio and home entertainment market. Unique in the industry, XLO manufacturers their own products for 100 percent quality control backed with a lifetime warranty.
The new Reference 3™ and Signature 3™ cable lines are now shipping! Retail prices start at $290 for Reference3 .5m audio pair and $590 for Signature 3 .5m audio pair.
About Ultralink/XLO Products Inc.
Ultralink Products Inc., headquartered in Toronto, Canada is an industry-leading manufacturer of high-performance audio and video cables, interconnects and UltraPower AC accessories. Marketed around the world, the Ultralink brand is Canada’s market share leader. Much of the corporation’s growth and significant product innovations are devoted to the world’s transition to DTV (digital television), the popularity of home DVD and multichannel audio applications. In early 2002 Ultralink Products Inc. acquired XLO Electric Co., Inc. a highly regarded professional and audiophile reference brand of cables and interconnects. US manufacturing and operations are under the Ultralink/XLO Products, Inc. banner, and Argentum Acoustics is one of Ultralink/XLO’s brands. Ultralink is a member of PARA, CEDIA and the CEA. For more information on Ultralink/XLO and their product brands call 909-947-6960 or find them at www.ultralinkproducts.com.
