NEW: QED XT5 Power Cable

Uncompromised engineering. Unique intelligence. World-class performance.

XT5 utilises the proven and acclaimed X-Tube technology of QED’s award-winning loudspeaker cable ranges, and applies it to the specific requirements of a mains power cable.

By deploying its usual combination of through research and world-class engineering, QED has created a ground-breaking power cable that delivers clean, stable current to audio equipment - so that it can perform to its maximum potential.

Having played a large part in the creation of the very first specialist speaker cables and with over 47 years of unrivalled engineering excellence and expertise in the fields of hi-fi, home cinema cables and connectivity, no other company has demonstrated such relentless dedication to research and development combined with analytical listening tests.

QED knows full well the standard of the mains power that drives hi-fi equipment can have a profound effect on its performance. So, having achieved great and Award-winning results with its most recent speaker cables and analogue interconnects, QED’s engineers have now applied their unique methodology to power cables.

This single-minded determination to liberate the performance of hi-fi electronics of all kinds has resulted in XT5 - a mains cable that spotlights QED’s mastery of cable technology and sets entirely new standards of performance at the price.

As with any QED cable, an enormous amount of attention has been paid to the materials and geometry of XT5. In a drive to minimise the degrading ‘proximity effect’ created as current density accumulates in the conductors nearest to each other, QED has applied the lauded X-Tube technology first developed for its award-winning range of loudspeaker cables. By more effectively regulating current flow to audio equipment, the equipment is free to perform as its designers intended.

This kind of imaginative thinking and rigorous execution is typical of QED, and it means the XT5’s X-Tube configuration is way beyond what any nominal competitor can offer.

FEATURES AND BENEFITS

X-Tube technology
The braided individual cores in the live and neutral conductors are made small enough to resist eddy currents from adjacent cores, and as a consequence do not contribute to the ‘proximity effect’. The carefully calculated twist-rate of the individual strands ensures no two conductors are parallel for more than a few millimetres, furthering promoting even current flow at any and all frequencies. The separate bundles are individually isolated using K130PVC (to stabilise current capacitance and to exceed international safety standards), and cable inductance is controlled by giving the entire arrangement a hollow LDPE core.

Ferrite insulation
To combat the corruption of the domestic mains supply, particularly by radio frequency noise injected into the supply by computer equipment, XT5 uses a ferrite-impregnated inner jacket, effectively wrapping the X-Tube cores in an impenetrable blanket of radio silence. Absorbing high-frequency noise signals in this way has already proved wildly successful in QED’s award-winning Audio 40 range of analogue and digital interconnects (with which XT5 is, of course, completely compatible).

Complete practicality
XT5 is designed to be as thin and flexible, and thus practical, as possible. Only the live and neutral cores have been given the X-Tube treatment described above - the earth core (required only under fault conditions) is left in a conventional geometry. And because X-Tube geometry enables the whole cross-sectional area of the cable to be kept to a tidy 1.5 mm sq, XT5 is supremely flexible and usefully slim despite its audiophile potential.

Just listen
XT5’s numerous technological highlights help it perform brilliantly,, and we’re convinced it represents amazing value for money. The easiest way for you to understand what we mean is to hear it in action for yourself - we’re confident you’ll prefer it to any alternative power cable at anything like the price.


Specifications
Conductor type: X-Tube
Metallurgy: 99.999% oxygen-free copper
Cross-sectional area: 1.5 mm sq
Ferrite jacket: 10% Zn/Mn
Capacitance: 100 pF/m
Inductance: 0.7 μH/m
Loop resistance: 0.026 ohm/m
Dielectric strength: 2 kV (ac for 15 mins)
Complies with: EN50525; EN60320; EN60884
Outer jacket: Black Pearl
Nominal outside diameter: 11 mm
Plugs: UK - MK Tough Plug 655 blk; EU - Martin Kaiser Schuko 516
Connector: Martin Kaiser IEC C13 794

How can power cables make a difference?

With many kilometers of power cables between the power plant (1) and the local distribution sub-station (3) and hundreds of metres between there and the domestic dwelling (5) the obvious question is how can two metres of mains cable make a difference to the sound of hi-fi equipment?

Well, the main reason is that due to its small cross-sectional area the cable forms a bottle neck for the smooth transfer of current to the domestic device in the home. Electrical energy is transferred from the power station to the sub-station at very high voltage and low current so power losses are kept to a minimum.

Once the voltage is stepped down to the low-voltage, high-current domestic supply (4), more power can be lost in the cables over the last few metres than the previous tens of kilometres, so proportionately thicker cables are necessary. Inside the home a typical UK 32 amp ring main uses large cross-section copper cables wired in parallel (equivalent to 5 mm2 ) to achieve a large current carrying capacity. Although successful at reducing losses these would be too bulky and impractical to use with domestic equipment which is typically connected to the mains using thin flexible cables of sometimes no more than 0.5 mm2 cross-sectional area. This is fine for something like a table lamp but it can be problematic for something more complex like an amplifier or CD player.