From Our Lead Designer Ted Denney III
I was looking for a new way of designing cables that did not rely on the old model of increased distance between conductors, and the unfortunate side effect of large cable size and stiffness. My breakthrough came when researching the writings of Nikola Tesla, a man whose work and creativity has inspired me for years. What I found was a radical concept that suggested a cable could be designed that would function as an electromagnetic “lens” to concentrate fluctuating alternating current, and its subsequent electromagnetic fields, for perfect transfer without distortion or loss of signal. Just as a lens focuses light by concentrating or dispersing rays of light, this new geometry, if it could be developed, would concentrate and focus the sonic signal not by separating conductors, but by strategically aligning conductors in a symmetrical geometry that manages electromagnetic fields as a lens precisely focuses light. Rather than increasing the distance between conductors, the TESLA Tricon Lens geometry places the conductors in close symmetrical proximity that can only work when a precise relationship is maintained between the separate conductors, and when the materials are held to ultra high tolerances for exact levels of resistance, capacitance, and inductance, in a symmetrical conductor array. After two years of research, trial and error, and an evolution of prototypes, the revolutionary TESLA Tricon cable geometry was born.
TESLA Cable Technologies: TESLA Vortex, Acoustic and Tricon Geometries
Along the path to discovering the TESLA Tricon Lens, I made significant improvements to existing designs that had been evolving for 15 years. I found I could take existing geometries and re-work them to include precise reformulations of conductor spacing based on the TESLA Tricon Lens formula, for a significant improvement in overall performance. This would later prove invaluable when finalizing the new TESLA Line of cables, and gave birth to two new cable building blocks: the TESLA Vortex geometry and the TESLA Acoustic geometry. Together, the Vortex, Acoustic, and Tricon cables form the TESLA Triad of geometries that are the building blocks for the revolutionary new TESLA Series.
The Project Goals of TESLA
On the dawn of discovery I was hoping to develop cables that would be small, light, and flexible, while maintaining the same levels of performance obtained in our X2 Series cables. What I was not prepared for was the breakthrough that would become the TESLA Series. After a long trial and error process in developing an electromagnetic lens geometry, we arrived at what would become the TESLA Tricon in the summer of 2006. I remember in vivid detail that afternoon when I first connected two interconnects comprised of two TESLA Tricon geometries in parallel (now the Precision Reference), and listened to a recording I’ve been using since 1995. Fifteen seconds into the first track, I shot up and ran from my listening chair to find Eliott (my co-developer in the TESLA Series). I could not believe my ears, and wanted to find out if something had been changed in our system that I was not aware of (we love to tweak our system, and I needed to know if he had changed something). What I heard was unbelievable! The soundstage had moved out so far past the boundaries of our listening room, that I suspected a major change had been made to our listening room’s acoustics. Furthermore, I was hearing subtle and not so subtle details and frequency extension, from bottom to top, that I’ve never before heard from this recording. The truly amazing thing was that this detail and signal speed was presented in a way that was also much more musical than it had been before. By comparison, the sound we had been making was grainy, opaque, spatially compressed, and slow, with ill-defined bass. Now the sound was HUGE, with amazing air that seemed to decay into infinity. The sound had a transparent “see through” quality and was absolutely effortless and grain free. The soundstage had also moved back several feet, except when instruments were recorded front and center, and these were presented further forward than before. I was beginning to realize that every cable I or anyone else had ever developed was spatially compressed- vertically, laterally, and horizontally. I was also hearing images in a near 360-degree sound field that “wrapped” around my listening chair. Before the Tricon, we had hints of this envelopment, but never to such an extent. Lastly, low frequencies (a long time virtue of Synergistic Research cables), were now tighter, and went deeper with amazing power and control. This was major improvement in an area that I did not think could be improved upon.
Combining Vortex, Acoustic, and Tricon Geometries
Later listening with different combinations of components and speakers revealed this original prototype interconnect was not for every system. Then I began combining it with two geometries we had developed during the TESLA program- the TESLA Acoustic and the TESLA Vortex. By combining different ratios of Tricon, Acoustic, and Vortex geometries, I found we could match an infinite range of components, from tube to solid state. For example: combining one Tricon with one Acoustic creates a cable with a tube like mid-range and wonderful layering that is a perfect match for tube based systems or sold state systems looking for a tube like sound; the Acoustic Reference. Or combine one Vortex with one Tricon creates an amazingly dynamic cable that’s fast and transparent, with a forgiving character that’s perfect for many mid-level high end systems, tube or solid state, and as a state-of-the-art cable for home theater systems; the TESLA Accelerator. The original TESLA cable, now called the Precision Reference, is extremely fast with an ultra dynamic presentation of low frequencies and seeming limitless air. This cable is perfect for components whose strengths are speed, dynamics, transparency and as a pre-amplifier to power amplifier interconnect in upper end systems. It can be further applied to systems by combining it with either Acoustic Reference, Apex, or Accelerator interconnects between a source component and pre-amp, with the Precision Reference interconnect running from pre-amp to power amp. Our flagship interconnect, the TESLA Apex, combines dual Tricon geometries with dual Acoustic geometries, to deliver sound with the remarkable speed, detail, and air of Precision Reference and the mid-range layering and bloom of Acoustic Reference. If ever a Holy Grail existed in cable technology, the TESLA Apex is it.
Zero Capacitance Active Shielding
Further research in the TESLA Series yielded improved Active Shielding, with a new Zero Capacitance Active Shielding circuitry that significantly improves cable bandwidth, especially in the areas of low frequency extension and control, and high frequency air and transparency, with improvements in soundstage depth and width. Compared to previous incarnations of Active Shielding, now in its fourth generation of development, TESLA Series cables unplugged and non-active now outperform older Synergistic Research cables that were plugged in and Active. Turning on Zero Capacitance Active Shielding elevates TESLA Series cables further still.
TESLA Series Speaker Cable
Speaker cable development came fast on the heels of my TESLA Tricon and Zero Capacitance break-throughs. By combining the TESLA Tricon with special high current versions of Vortex and Acoustic geometries, we were able to match speaker cables to amplifiers and speakers, with perfect integration, with our new interconnect designs ,since speaker wire and interconnects are voiced in virtually the same manner. What really surprised me was how small and flexible we could now make our speaker cables. Take the Vortex and Accelerator cables for example. They are no bigger around then your little finger, and yet they out perform our old speaker wire designs that were as big around as your wrist, at a fraction of the cost, with improvements in every aspect, including low frequency control and extension.
Quantum Tunneling
Our last breakthrough in the TESLA Series is perhaps the most startling, and came at great cost in terms of trial and error. We literally fried a mountain of cable before the exact formula could be worked out. This process has led to several patents pending, both domestic and international. Soon we’ll provide dramatic pictures and video footage here on our web site showing cables being treated by a process we call Quantum Tunneling. Quantum Tunneling is a process that changes the way a cable conducts signal ,at the subatomic level, affecting the entire cable assembly; connectors (RCA, XLR, spade, or banana), solder joints, dielectric, and signal and ground conductors are all transformed and integrated as a single unit. By applying a two million volt extreme high frequency signal to a cable at a specific pulse modulation and frequency, for an exact duration of time, we alter the entire cable at molecular level through a phenomenon called “Quantum Tunneling.” This process is performed on all TESLA Series cables, from Accelerator to Apex, and can be applied to models below Accelerator for an additional charge. The before and after is startling, with a lower noise floor and improvements in inner detail, air, low frequency extension, and overall transparency and signal speed. This formula was not perfected until February 2007, however any TESLA cables , Accelerator through Apex, purchased before February 2007, can be returned to our factory for a free treatment. Early adaptors of the TESLA Series will be in for a treat, as they will hear their system take a major step forward from what must have been a major improvement in the first place.