AudioQuest NIAGARA 1200EU User manual

NIAGARA 1200EU
Owner’s Manual
Low-Z Power |Noise-Dissipation System

EN
Instructions in English are available at the link below.
ES
Las instrucciones de instalación en el español se encuentran disponibles en el enlace
que se indica a continuación.
FR
Les instructions d’installation en français sont disponibles au lien suivant.
DE
Anweisungen auf Deutsch erhalten Sie mit dem nachstehenden Link.
RU
Инструкции на русском языке доступны по ссылке ниже
ZH
安裝說明請詳見下列網址連結.
www.audioquest.com

Table of Contents
Niagara 1200EU Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Connection to Audio/Video Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Suggested AC Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Operation and Continuous Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Specications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Troubleshooting Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Warranty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

1
Niagara 1200EU Features
¡Ground Noise-Dissipation System: AQ’s patented technology vastly reduces
ground-borne noise without compromising safety or creating low-level ground loops.
¡Level-X Linear Noise-Dissipation Technology: Ensures the most consistent and
widest bandwidth noise dissipation possible, without the inconsistent results that
typifyminimalist,multi-node resonantpeakingfound in manyACpowerconditioners.
¡Low-Z AC Power Inlets and Outlets: These inlets and outlets not only feature
the superior grip and lower resistance of beryllium copper, but they also include a
heavy Hanging-Silver plating to ensure the lowest impedance at radio frequencies,
enabling superior noise dissipation.
¡Non-Sacricial Surge Suppression: Will accept multiple transient power surges
and spikes up to 6000V or 3000A (the maximum that can make it through a home or
oce electrical panel). Damage from electrical storms or power-line interruptions is
virtually impossible. Set it and forget it.
Introduction
The science of AC power is not simple; it demands focus, and the devil is in the
details. In fact, the mammoth increase in airborne and AC-line-transmitted radio
signals, combined with overtaxed utility lines and the ever-increasing demands from
high-denition audio/video components, has rendered our utilities’ AC power an
antiquated technology.

2
Where Alternating Current (AC) is concerned, we’re relying on a century-old
technology created for incandescent lights and electric motors—technology that
was certainly never meant to power the sophisticated analog and digital circuits used
in premium audio/video systems. To properly accommodate the promise of today’s
ever-increasing bandwidth and dynamic range, we must achieve extraordinarily low
noise across a wide range of frequencies.
Further, today’s power ampliers and receivers are being taxed for instantaneous
peak-current demand, even when they’re driven at modest volumes. Although we
have seen a substantial increase in both dynamics and bass content from our audio
software, the loudspeakers we employ to reproduce them are no more ecient than
they were two to four decades ago. This places great demands on an amplier’s
power supply, as well as the source AC power supplying it.
Our systems’ sensitive components need better alternating current—a fact that has
resulted in a host of AC power conditioning, isolation transformers, regeneration
ampliers, and battery back-up system topologies. Through dierential sample tests
and spectrum analysis, it can be proven that up to a third of a high-resolution (low-
level) audio signal can be lost, masked, or highly distorted by the vast levels of noise
riding along the AC power lines that feed our components. This noise couples into
the signal circuitry as current noise and through AC ground, permanently distorting
and/or masking the source signal.
All sincere attempts to solve this problem must be applauded since once the audio/
video signal is gone, it’s gone forever…

3
For AudioQuest, honoring the source is never a matter of simply using premium
“audiophile-grade parts” or relying on a proprietary technology—common
approaches used within the audiophile market. For years, we have all been witness
to the same, seemingly endless audiophile debates: Valves versus transistors. Analog
versus digital. Can cables really make a dierence? The debates go on and on. While
we, too, can brag about our many unique technologies, we realize that true audio/
video optimization is never a matter of any one secret or exotic circuit. When it
comes to noise dissipation for AC power, many approaches can yield meaningful
results. However, they may also impart ringing, current compression, and non-linear
distortions that are worse than the disease. The Niagara 1200EU uses our patented
AC Ground Noise-Dissipation System, coupled to a sophisticated, directionally
optimized, wide bandwidth-linearized noise-dissipation circuit.
Though it’s easy to boast, it’s quite another thing to create a solution that is consistent,
holistic, functional, and that honors veriable science. It’s not enough to reduce AC
line noise and its associated distortions at just one octave, thus leaving vulnerable
the adjacent octaves and octave partials to noise, resonant peaking, or insucient
noise reduction. Consistency is key. We should never accept superior resolution in one
octave, only to suer from masking eects a half-octave away and ringing artifacts
two octaves from there. This is the principal criterion for AudioQuest’s Low-Z Power
Noise-Dissipation System.
The Niagara 1200EU represents over 20 years of exhaustive research and proven AC
power products designed for audiophiles, broadcast engineers, and professional
audio applications. Every conceivable detail has been addressed: In the Niagara
1200EU, you’ll nd optimized radio-frequency lead directionality; run-in capacitor

4
forming technologies developed by Jet Propulsion Laboratories and NASA; and AC
inlet and outlet contacts
with heavy silver plating over extreme-purity copper and beryllium copper, assuring
a tight grip and high system performance.
A great system is built from a solid foundation, and that foundation starts with
power. With an AudioQuest Niagara 1200EU, you’ll experience for the rst time the
clarity, dimensionality, frequency extension, dynamic contrast, and grip your system
has always been capable of delivering—if only the power had been right!
We welcome you to experience the Niagara 1200EU and hear rsthand the remarkable
results of highly optimized power management: startlingly deep silences, stunning
dynamic freedom, outstanding retrieval of ambience cues, and gorgeous delineation
of instruments and musicians in space. Once you’ve experienced it, it may seem so
elegant, so logical, and so fundamental that you nd yourself wondering why it
hadn’t been done before.
For a comprehensive discussion on AC power technology, including everything that
makes AudioQuest’s Niagara a more eective AC power solution, please download
our “Power Demystied” whitepaper at
https://www.audioquest.com/content/aq/pdf/Power-Demystied-whitepaper-8-23-18.zip
—Garth Powell, Senior Director of Engineering, AudioQuest

5
Installation
Unpacking
Before unpacking your Niagara 1200EU, inspect the carton for any obvious damage
to the boxes and internal protective materials. If internal damage is likely, contact the
carrier who delivered the unit. If shipping damage is evident on the product, then
please contact your shipping carrier. Please save all shipping and packing materials.
Should you move or otherwise need to transport your Niagara 1200EU, these packing
materials will ensure the safest transportation.
The corrugated box should contain the Niagara 1200EU (230V Schuko AC Outlets), two
foam inserts, owner’s manual, four rubber bumpers, and warranty registration card.
Registration is recommended. In the event that your original ownership documents
are lost, your registration can be used to establish whether the unit is within the
warranty period.
Safety Information
|
Warnings
Before operating the Niagara 1200EU, please read and observe all safety and operating
instructions. Retain these instructions for future reference.
¡Do not disassemble or in any way modify the Niagara 1200EU. There are no user-
serviceable parts inside.
¡Keep away from moisture and avoid excessive humidity.
¡Do not allow liquids or foreign objects to enter the unit.

6
Servicing
|
Return to AudioQuest
Servicing of the Niagara 1200EU must be performed by AudioQuest, and is only
required when:
¡The Niagara 1200EU has been exposed to rain, ooding, or extreme moisture.
¡The Niagara 1200EU does not appear to operate normally. (See “Trouble-Shooting
Guide.”)
¡The Niagara 1200EU has been dropped and sustained considerable physical
damage.
If sending the Niagara 1200EU to AudioQuest for servicing (or shipping it for any
reason), please use the factory approved packaging materials. If you have lost any of
these (corrugated carton, foam inserts, one poly bag), please contact AudioQuest for
replacements or advice. We will provide replacement packaging materials for a nominal
charge; shipping costs will be paid by the individual or company requesting the
packaging material. Please do not rely on other methods of packaging, including those
provided or suggested by packaging/mailing stores. These methods and materials
could seriously damage the product, as well as its nish. Even the loss of the polybag
is enough to permanently damage the nish during transport. If you have lost the
original packaging material, please request replacement materials from AudioQuest or
consult us for appropriate options.

7
Power Source
Ideally, the power source to which the Niagara 1200EU is connected should be adequate
for use at 220V to 250V single-phase nominal voltage, 10 amps (current capacity RMS).
However, the Niagara 1200EU will operate very well with a 16-amp service outlet.
For proper operation, the Niagara 1200EU requires a safety ground (supplied via
the power utility AC wall outlet).
Placement
The Niagara 1200EU is manufactured with four rubber feet for safe, secure placement
on any table, cabinet, shelf, or oor. It can also be safely mounted on its edge or side
(for front edge mounting, we have provided four adhesive rubber bumpers to protect
the chassis nish). The Niagara 1200EU’s design obviates the need for compliant or
high-Q isolation feet. Although many audio/video products benet greatly from these
devices, the Niagara 1200EU does not. However, we do not insist they are not to be
used either. Let your ear be your guide.
Placement or proximity to other components is not critical, and, under standard use,
the Niagara 1200EU does not produce any heat.