More Information about KLE Innovations Harmony RCA
KLE Innovations Harmony - silver plated copper RCA set of 4
A New Revolution By Keith Louis Eichmann (aka KL)
The Harmony®Plug is a new revolutionary approach to Keith Louis Eichmann's (aka KL) previous Bullet Plug design, which itself was a revolutionary approach to Phono/RCA connection. It represents a wholesale rethinking of something as basic as the venerable Phono/RCA plug; a connector designed over Sixty years ago by The Radio Corporation of America (RCA). It is KL's contention that the Phono/RCA plug in its current configuration is the standard connector in the audio/video industry not because it is the best possible choice for its intended use, but more by reason of default and its ultimate potential.
Realizing this to be the case KL decided to undertake a project of major significance: the wholesale redesign of this critically important but very compromised connector, with the objective being improved conductivity, enhanced signal integrity, higher resolution, and improved connection. Since the Phono/RCA plug is so widely used, connecting virtually every component in an audio/video chain, linking a multitude of components through a network of interfaces, any improvement in its performance in the critical areas of electron flow and signal integrity would be significant and particularly important in high resolution applications.
A first evaluation of the Phono/RCA plug pointed to obvious metallurgical shortcomings. Most connectors, even those marketed as "deluxe" upmarket Phono/RCA plugs, are made from nickel and gold plated brass or phosphor bronze with a conductivity rating typically less than 28% IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard). As a comparison, the high purity copper used in the vast majority of interconnect cables has a conductivity rating of 100% IACS. Because of this low conductivity and the use of three disparate metals, it is KL's contention that standard Phono/RCA plugs, even very expensive Phono/RCA plugs marketed as "High-End", compromise electron flow and diminish the performance of the components they connect.
Nickel is added solely to provide the jewel like appearance that makes expensive connectors look expensive. While achieving the desired appearance, it comes at a cost, which is degraded sound or poorer picture quality, as electrons flow through three disshttp://kleinnovations.com/wp-admin/media-upload.php?post_id=60&type=image&TB_iframe=1imilar metals with differing electrical and conductive properties.
The conductive surfaces of the Harmony®Plug in contrast are formed from 99.999% pure copper (having over 101% IACS) with a dense proprietary high purity silver plating (>106% IACS) or formed from pure silver (having over >106% IACS), to ensure maximum conductivity. This provides >320% greater conductivity than the gold plated brass connectors used in the vast majority of deluxe Phono/RCA plugs. Proven metallurgical choices result in better signal transfer, and electron flow that is consistent with the highest quality interconnect cables.
Using a direct dense proprietary high purity hard silver plating on the conducting surfaces of the pure copper Harmony®Plug pins allows the elimination of the nickel/gold plating typically used as the third metals in a confusing composite on standard Phono/RCA plugs. The dense proprietary high purity hard silver plating (> 106% IACS) produces the performance/sound characteristics of 4-nines pure silver (>106% IACS) and no additional plating is required to preserve signal quality.
While the metallurgical understandings are significant, the second observation regarding the Phono/RCA plug turned out to be ground breaking. It related to a problem, overlooked for decades, that is intrinsic to the Phono/RCA plug's design, and something as fundamental as the architecture of the RCA Socket itself. That is Phono/RCA ground collar, acting as a conductor that transfers electrons from multiple directions between the centre pin and its surface, are prone to electron turbulence called eddy currents. These turbulences are nothing less than electron chaos, exacerbated by the nonspecific point of ground in the Phono/RCA plug's design, as an entire surface encircling the centre pin forms the electrical ground. Capacitive reactance and micro-arcing are additional artifacts of this architecture.
The Harmony®Plug addresses these issues and offers an elegant and arguably major solution to the Phono/RCA plug that is so fundamental and so extensive that we have been granted a patent. The solution being, rather than encircle the centre conductor pin with a formed metal collar as ground, KL opted for a single point ground contact similar to star earthing/ground in high-end electronics. KL's Harmony design features a redesigned single point ground connection, which has an optimised shape, mass and thickness of the conductive elements, eliminates every vestige of eddy current turbulence, capacitive reactance, and micro-arcing.
KL believes he has, with this new Phono/RCA blueprint, solved a series of problems that collectively degrade audio/video performance and that do so in an additive manner. The importance of this innovation and redesign cannot be overstated. Its ramifications extend to every Phono/RCA interface in which high quality signal transfer is an issue. Extensive listening and critical comparisons played a major role in the evolution of the design, confirming at every juncture the audibility of properly applied science in even the area of Phono/RCA connection.
In summary the Harmony®Phono/RCA plug is a further innovation and totally new approach to Phono/RCA connection.
The Harmony®Phono/RCA plug innovations and refinements include:
Signal/Ground pins are constructed of either a direct dense proprietary high purity hard 99.999% pure Silver plated Copper or 99.999% pure Silver as follows...
Copper/Silver/Pure®Harmony specifications/comparisons...
Copper®Harmony... GROUND and SIGNAL pins have a Silver plating over PURE COPPERbase material...
The Silver plating protects the Copper pins from oxidization and improves conductivity to>101% IACS
Signal/Ground pins are pure Copper and >101% IACS (not Tellurium Copper (95% IACS) or Brass (28% IACS).
Signal/Ground pin optimization to enhance electron flow, in accordance with KL's Copper Signal/Ground formula.