STAGE III CONCEPTS A.S.P. Ckahron

The goal of Stage III was to suspend the wires in ‘air’, so that they don’t touch anything. This is unachievable, of course, as the conductor must be supported in a way or another, yet, by using a twisted silver/palladium ribbon the touchpoints are minimized (3% of the wire is in contact with the insulating tube according to the specifications). Stage III claims that palladium possesses low susceptibility to EMI which is one of the main reasons why other interconnects pick up noise. Although palladium is worse conductor than silver or copper and intuition says it cannot work well, the proof of the concept is in how the Ckahron sounds. The Ag/Pd negative and positive ribbons are twisted in a helix, complemented with a silver ground conductor, and sealed in what Stage III calls “a semi-vacuum chamber”. This structure is wrapped in Teflon, shielded by silver braid and protected by several layers of damping and protective materials (Nylon, Tygon, ceramic granulate, and Aspis plated Nylon, used in military tactical vests). So far, I have been describing one cable run; the Ckahron uses three that are loosely twisted and end up in custom-made polymer housings. From the housings only three thinner twisted bundles of conductors, wrapped in a protective mesh, continue into terminations. These are Stage III’s own ‘Hyperion’ low-mass pure silver XLR (or RCA) connectors. The company says the connectors are manufactured in their own facility and use carbon and ceramic infused polymer material and Teflon insulation.

As you can read, the engineering of these cables is a real overkill, and I do like the level of attention that went into both electrical and mechanical parts of the job. The only part of the storytelling that is not sustainable, is the one about the semi-vacuum. Stage III claims that they remove “most of the air”but, technically-speaking, this is nonsense. Either there is no air or there is. Let’s accept the fact that there is no vacuum inside the Ckahron which is good in fact, because I never trusted the stories of Tara Labs about vacuum-filled cables, that would implode or suck the air in use. This way I am not afraid to grab the cable and bend it behind the rack.

The craftsmanship is industrial and American, so don’t expect polished look of European high-end. The Ckahron interconnects are massive and rugged, yet surprisingly lightweight and flexible for how big they are. The Ckahron comes in its own travel case; after installation the case comes in handy for storing nuclear waste, for example.