AudioQuest Niagara 3000EU User manual

Owner’s Manual
Niagara 3000EU
Low-Z Power
|
Noise-Dissipation System

2
Niagara 3000EU Features 3
Introduction 3
Installation 5
Unpacking 5
Safety Information/Warnings 5
Servicing/Return to AudioQuest 5
Power Source 5
Placement 5
Connection to Audio/Video Components 6
AC Cable Routing 6
High Current/Low-Z Power Banks 6
Level-X Linear Noise-Dissipation System Power Outlets 7
Suggested AC Connections 8
Operation and Continuous Use 9
Power Switch/Circuit Breaker and LED Power Indicator 9
Rear-Panel Power Correction Switch/Niagara 3000EU Current Draw 9
Extreme Voltage Indicator 10
Break-in Time/Continuous Use 10
Specications 11
Trouble-Shooting Guide 12
Warranty 15

3
Niagara 3000EU Features
¡Transient Power Correction provides power ampliers a current reservoir of over 55 amps peak
(up to 25mS), even when plugged into a 15-amp outlet
¡Patented Ground-Noise Dissipation System yields lower distortion and greater resolution from
audio, video, and digital components with grounded AC cords/circuits
¡Level-XLinearNoise-DissipationTechnology:AC dierential-mode ltering with linear response,
optimized for varying line and load impedance, assures superior resolution for audio, video, and
digital signals
¡7 Low-Z NRG Series AC Power outlets: 2 High-Current Low-Z Power; 5 Level-X Linear Filtered
Power (source components) Outlets feature thick direct-silver plating over beryllium copper. This
assures the most ecient dissipation of induced radio frequency noise possible.
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.
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 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…
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 3000EU uses both our patented AC Ground-Noise Dissipation System and the widest bandwidth-
linearized noise-dissipation circuit in its class. Our unique passive/activeTransient Power Correction Circuit features

4
an instantaneous current reservoir of over 55 amps peak, specically designed for modern current-starved power
ampliers. Most AC power products featuring “high-current outlets” merely minimize current compression; the
Niagara 3000EU corrects it.
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 3000EU 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 3000EU, you’ll nd optimized radio-frequency lead directionality; run-in capacitor
forming technologies developed by Jet Propulsion Laboratories and NASA; and AC inlet and outlet contacts with
thick direct silver plating over beryllium copper, assuring superior conductivity and the tightest grip possible.
A great system is built from a solid foundation, and that foundation starts with power. With an AudioQuest Niagara
3000EU, 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 3000EU 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 3000EU, 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 3000EU, these packing materials will ensure the
safest transportation.
The double box set should contain the Niagara 3000EU (220-240V Schuko EU1-16R AC Outlets), two foam inserts,
owner’s manual, Quick-Start Guide, front-panel polishing cloth, rack-mount kit, 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 3000EU, please read and observe all safety and operating instructions (or, at the very
least, the Quick-Start Guide). Retain these instructions for future reference.
¡Do not disassemble or in any way modify the Niagara 3000EU.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.
Servicing | Return to AudioQuest
Servicing of the Niagara 3000EU must be performed by AudioQuest, and is only required when:
¡The Niagara 3000EU has been exposed to rain, ooding, or extreme moisture.
¡The Niagara 3000EU does not appear to operate normally. (See“Trouble-Shooting Guide.”)
¡The Niagara 3000EU has been dropped and sustained considerable physical damage.
If sending the Niagara 3000EU to AudioQuest for servicing (or shipping it for any reason), please use the factory
approved packaging materials. If you have lost any of these (double carton, two foam inserts, one poly bag),
please contact AudioQuest for replacements. 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 thick polybag
is enough to permanently damage the nish during transport. If you have lost the original packaging material,
please request replacement materials from AudioQuest.
Power Source
Ideally, the power source to which the Niagara 3000EU is connected should be adequate for use at 220-240V
single phase nominal voltage, 10 - 16 amps (current capacity RMS or greater).
For proper (best) operation, the Niagara 3000EU requires a safety ground (supplied via the power utility AC wall
outlet).
Placement
The Niagara 3000EU is manufactured with four rubber textured polymer feet for safe, secure placement on any
table, cabinet, shelf, or oor. When rack-mounting is required, these feet may be removed with a standard Phillips
screwdriver. The Niagara 3000EU’s design obviates the need for compliant or high-Q isolation feet. Although
many audio/video products benet greatly from these devices, in most cases, the Niagara 3000EU will not. You
are welcome to experiment.