If you are using an ordinary or hospital grade power strip—or any power conditioner, no matter how expensive—replacing it with our power strip is likely to be your system’s biggest sonic upgrade so far. We have hundreds of customers who’ve bought the strip, tested it, sold their $1500-$3000 conditioner, and pocketed the difference. The Clearview Strip has smoked every famous power conditioner it’s been up against: PS Audio 600, Shunyatta Hydra, MIT, Richard Grey, Chang, Tice, Power Wedge, Monster, Tripplite, Audio Prism, Adcom.
Our Power Conditioning Strip grew out of the Clearview Power Cord. After introducing the Power Cords, we kept getting calls from enthusiastic users who wanted multiple outlets. We tested all kinds of multiple outlet receptacles. They all sounded horrible, especially the pro and hospital-grade ones. After a bushel of bad apples, we finally found the peach—a receptacle made of the same superb polymer used in the very best audiophile caps. This multiple outlet—attached to our proprietary Double Helix wires—made any music immediately sound cleaner and punchier. I was particularly dumbfounded by how good it sounded compared to all the second-mortgage line conditioners.
As with our power cords, the MK2 version of our Power Conditioning Strip adds a pair of “outrigger” ground wires that run parallel to the Double Helix power conductors. The MK2 has noticeably better dynamics, more bass weight, more warmth, and even cleaner treble than the standard MK1 strip.
Surge Protection Option:
Today’s standard surge protection technologies really degrade good sound—and are too slow to protect well against lightning-associated transients. After years of looking and testing, Pierre finally found a gas plasma technology that verges on inaudibility, no more than 1% to 2% loss in sound quality. And its 8 to 20 nanosecond response time is actually fast enough to protect adequately.
Additional Info:
• The recommended break-in period for standard Clearview power cords and power strips is 50-100 hours; 150-300 hours for cords and strip with PLUS Upgrade. Feel free to install and listen to our cables immediately, they'll sound really good after about an hour. But you won't hear their full potential until they have been broken-in thoroughly.
• DO NOT USE ANY BREAK-IN DEVICES OF ANY KIND ON OUR WIRES!! Doing so will degrade the sound of our cables. Use only music to break in our wires, preferably music with strong transients (i.e. music with lots of percussion and/or plucked instruments).
• Novices sometimes think our wires are uninsulated because they don't see thick plastic insulation on our cables. In fact, part of the large sonic advantage of Clearview power wires is the very low dielectric (that is, insulation) mass we insist on. Our design provides for low dielectric mass, low dielectric absorption to avoid interfering with good sound, and excellent protection by using two redundant layers of insulation. The first is a thin, highly durable proprietary coating directly on each power conductor, tested to over 300 volts. The second layer is a loose-fitting sleeve of very low dielectric absorbtion polymer plus air dielectric; this second layer has been tested to over 250 volts.
THE PLUS OPTION
Another Step Up
All Clearview wires are available in a PLUS version, using conductors with our new stress-relieved metallurgy. The PLUS Option yields two primary upgrades:
• Decreases brightness and grain in high frequencies, reducing edginess in the upper treble without sacrificing detail; this is particularly noticeable with music coming from a digital source (i.e. CD players, computers, and iPods). The breathiness of singers and flutes, the metallic ring of cymbals is better articulated and less abrasive. PLUS is especially
beneficial for digital interconnects sources, significantly reducing listening fatigue.
• PLUS lowers the soundstage noise floor, resulting in a quieter, more blacker background. This makes the most difference in quiet passages: held guitar or piano chords sustain longer and resonate more clearly as they fade into silence. Newly discovered details and nuances emerge from the negative space of the music on good recordings.
For fans of well-recorded acoustic music, small group jazz, or chamber music, we recommend PLUS without hesitation. Listening to typically over-processed commercial studio recording, the improvements will be audible but much more subtle.
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