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This is not a reason to return the Niagara 5000AP or abandon the use of such an AC plug! Typically, the outlet
in question can be slightly opened up by gradually exercising it with an AC plug. For this, we actually do not
recommend an AudioQuest or any other premium brand of AC cord or male plug. For exercising the outlet, obtain
from an electrical supply house or hardware store a generic three-prong 15-amp-rated AC cord or plug that aords
a generous and secure area to handle. Any will work, but the best will be those with three brass (un-plated) prongs
so that if multiple insertions are required, no nickel plating from the generic AC plug will nd its way into the
AudioQuest NRG Edison outlet.
High-Current | Low-Z Power Banks
There are two High-Current/Low-Z Power outlets (labeled“1” and “2”). These outlets feature our Transient Power
Correction Technology (90 amps peak - up to 25 mS duration) and are designed to enhance the performance
of power ampliers via our circuit’s low-impedance transient current reservoir. Power ampliers, monoblock
ampliers, integrated ampliers, powered receivers, or powered subwoofers should be connected to these
four outlets. The primary mono, stereo, or multi-channel power amplier(s) should be connected to Bank 1.
This enables the standby sense circuit, which requires the current draw of a power amplier connected to (and
only to) outlet Bank 1. In terms of sonic performance, there is no dierence between outlet Banks 1 and 2. If the
standby sense circuit is not utilized, and the sense circuit bypass switch is set to“Enabled,” any outlet on the two
banks may be utilized.
For systems with only one or two power ampliers, the two uppermost outlets of Banks 1 and 2 will provide
slightly superior performance due to their closer proximity to the AC outlets’ radio frequency noise-dissipation
circuit. However, the outlets located directly below will certainly aord exemplary performance!
Regardless of class of operation or circuit topology (valve, solid-state, digital, or otherwise), the Transient Power
Correction Circuit will not compress the current of any power amplier. Quite to the contrary, it will improve the
amplier’s performance by supplying the low-impedance current source that the amplier’s power supply so
desperately needs.
However, the other four AC outlet banks (Level-X Ultra-Linear Noise-Dissipation System), are not appropriate
for power ampliers. They have been optimized for line-level audio preampliers, DACs, universal players,
turntables, and video products that utilize constant current voltage amplier circuits. These circuits never suer
from current compression, but their lower input level and higher gain require a more robust means of noise
dissipation. This is key to the Niagara 5000AP’s discrete AC power banks, in that not every circuit is treated the
same, but rather isolated bank by bank and optimized for best performance.
Level-X Ultra-Linear Noise-Dissipation System Power Outlets
There are four banks that utilize this technology within the Niagara 5000AP. All four of these are in turn isolated
from the High-Current/Low-Z banks 1 and 2. This oers a great advantage in controlling the complex interactions
of RF (radio frequency) and other induced noises present in the AC power supplied from your utility, the noise
that will be present on and in every AC cord, and the noise that is produced within your system’s components
and that “backwashes” into the Niagara 5000AP’s output circuits.
Though it would be simple to recommend putting the digital or video components into banks 3 and 4, and
the line-level audio components and turntables into banks 5 and 6, the quest for optimal performance is more
complex. This scenario will work, and likely work well, but a certain amount of experimentation is best given
the fact that no lter can eliminate 100% of all noise. The size of many of these RF-induced waveforms possess
sinewaves as small as the edge of a piece of paper, and the interactions are complex. So long as the power
ampliers are in their appropriate banks (Outlets 1-4), and the other components are in the remaining four outlet
banks (Outlets 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12), you should experience exemplary performance. Still, for the audiophile with
patience, the reward will be system performance with the highest possible resolution and lowest possible noise.
