Cardas Audio Clear Cygnus Tonearm Cable

Cardas Clear Cygnus — Air-Tube Suspension, Built More Economically

A tonearm cable that takes the air-tube suspension from Cardas Clear Beyond and builds it at a more attainable price. Available in several lengths, with RCA at the arm end or a straight DIN for arms that take one.

The suspension is what distinguishes it from everything below it in the range. Most cables press a shield hard against the conductors; Cygnus holds it away from them, and that gap of air is essentially the product you are buying.

Design and Materials

The Conductors

Grade 1 copper at 99.9999% purity, OFHC, with an SPN clear coat, in Litz construction on a matched-propagation Kevlar core. The gauges are scaled to Golden Ratio proportions, as across the Cardas range.

Litz construction insulates each strand individually, which stops current crowding to the outside of the bundle at high frequencies. On a phono cable, where the signal is tiny and the frequency range wide, that is not a marginal consideration.

The Air-Tube Suspension

Four conductors in star quad sit inside anti-static LDPE air-tubes bound with carbon-impregnated PTFE tape. Air is the best dielectric available short of a vacuum, and suspending a conductor in it rather than encasing it in plastic is the point of the design.

An outer layer of PTFE tubes, scaled 1.618 times larger, holds the composite shield of tinned copper and magnet wire away from the signal rather than pressed against it. That ratio is not decorative — it is the Golden Ratio the rest of the cable is proportioned to.

Choosing Length and Termination

Cygnus is offered in a range of lengths, and at the arm end with RCA or a straight DIN. Which of those you need is decided by your tonearm rather than by preference, and the termination is fixed when the cable is built.

Measure round the back of the rack rather than across the front of it, then round up. On a cable suspending its conductors in air, mechanical strain at either end is exactly what the construction is trying to avoid.

Who Is It Best For?

• You want Clear Beyond construction at a lower price — the air-tube suspension is the part that carried over
• Your arm takes a straight DIN — Cardas builds Cygnus that way as well as with RCA
• You run a low-output moving coil — the lowest-level signal in audio benefits most from shield distance
• You have already improved cartridge and phono stage — a cable of this class is a late upgrade, not an early one
• You need the terminations changed later — they are fixed at manufacture, so choose from tonearm cables carefully now

How Does It Connect?

Everything off before you begin. Arm end first, then the phono stage, then the ground wire onto the phono stage's ground post. Route it so it hangs loose — this cable is built around air gaps, and pressing it flat against a shelf works against that.

Pairs Well With

What most owners fit alongside a cable at this level.

• Phono cartridges — the source of the signal this cable carries
• Phono preamplifiers — where the cable ends up
• Tonearms — the other end of the connection
• Cartridge alignment tools — worth a check whenever the arm is disturbed

Frequently Asked Questions

Which length should I choose?

Measure the path the cable actually takes rather than the gap between the boxes, and round up rather than down.

Can I get it with a DIN connector?

Cardas builds Cygnus with a straight DIN at the arm end for arms that take one, as well as with RCA. Check what your arm presents before choosing.

What does the air-tube suspension do?

It holds the conductors in air rather than encasing them in plastic, and holds the shield away from the signal rather than against it. Air is a better dielectric than any solid.

What is Litz construction?

Each strand is individually insulated, which stops current crowding to the outside of the bundle as frequency rises.

How does it sit in the Cardas range?

Between the entry cables and the flagship, taking the flagship's suspension idea and building it more affordably. The range is in tonearm cables.

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