There's Nothing Else Like It
Quiescent's extraordinary combination of electronic and structural design, materials, electronic noise reduction and acoustic noise reduction puts it in a league of one.
Quiescent Peak and Apex Analogue Interconnects
Two outstanding interconnects of superb quality that include the usual anti-RFI and microphony techniques you would expect from Quiescent.
Peak Interconnects, 1.0m pair, RCA £1,030.00 , XLR £810.00. Apex Interconnects, 1.0m pair, RCA £1,950.00 , XLR £2,250.00. Other lengths – price on application.
About the Peak and Apex Analogue Interconnects
In Quiescent's view, any interconnect should contain a balance of important factors. It's never just about considering what type of conductor is being used, or using the latest connector. How the cable interacts with the system is just as important as getting the signal from one end to the other.
So the Peak and Apex cables stick to common Quiescent theme: conductors, insulation, connectors, RFI reduction and acoustic reduction – all equally considered and engineered. The Peaks employ heavily silver-plated OFC solid core conductors that are sleeved in an 'air dielectric' teflon insulation. This combination delivers a very balanced and un-smeared signal delivery. Equally the connectors are chosen for their build quality and exceptional neutrality. Then proprietary shielding that is designed to absorb EMI rather than screen it, significantly reduces the transmission of parasitic RFI, lowering background noise and reducing intermodulation. And finally, normal outer sleeving can be surprisingly acoustically conductive, so Quiescent employ an acoustically dampening outer sleeving.
The Apex cables replace the silver-plated OFC conductors with solid-core 99.99% silver conductors. And they use higher quality connectors to best match the conductor (see specs). The extra investment delivers an even more open musical performance. Bandwidth top and bottom is more extended, fine detail is more readily apparent, soundstage and image is more accurately rendered. It can be summed up as everything is even more believable (and the Peak's are no slouch).
Tech Insight
The Peak cables employ an oxygen free copper solid core conductor plated with a very thick layer of silver (10%). This 10% silver layer on the conductor provides exceptional signal transmission properties at a great cost sweetspot. The silver plating helps extend the bandwidth of the performance whilst leaving the EMI absorption to completely clean up any stray RFI transmission and delivering great transparency whilst totally avoiding any unwanted harshness.
Specifications
Peak Interconnects
Conductors, RCA – 2 x 1.25mm solid core 10% silver plated oxygen free copper.
Conductors, XLR – 3 x 1.00mm solid core 10% silver plated oxygen free copper.
Connectors – CMC-8236-CUR-RH Rhodium plated RCA or Switchcraft silver plated XLR.
Apex Interconnects
Conductors, RCA – 2 x 1.25mm solid core silver.
Conductors, XLR – 3 x 1.00mm solid core silver.
Connectors – RCA & XLR – ETI Kryo solid silver.
Peak & Apex Interconnects
Shielding – Quiescent proprietary EMI absorption.
Dielectric – Air dieletric in Teflon ™.
Braiding – Acoustically dampened ABS.
Matching & Setup
As with any Quiescent products, both the Peak and Apex analogue interconnects should be approached in terms of their overall system capability. That is, they transmit the signal very effectively from one end to the other, but also start to reduce damaging artefacts such as RFI and microphony. So, matching these cables into a system can become a much more honest and rewarding journey because with their combined attributes, the true capabilities of the main system components can be revealed. Great signal quality, plus a much lower noise and 'intermodulation' background starts to bring gains that are a real revelation.
Component quality in the system needs to be good to match well with the Peak or Apex cables, but not necessarily very expensive components. Some very modest but purist-designed valve amps for example have blossomed with these cables. And room setup and speaker positioning should be considered for adjustment even though that might seem counter-intuative when swapping out interconnects. One important thing to bear in mind however, make sure other elements of your system strategy are dealt with properly before diving in with the Quiescent interconnects – they will for example extend bass drive to such an extent that if equipment supports are not satisfactory, you might trip up your components in that regard.