KLE Innovations Ultra Hi-End Audio
Hi-Fi Choice Recommended Award
Verdict… ★★★★☆
AUDIOPHILES WILL BE familiar with the Eichmann Bullet RCA plug with its single-point earth return contact. Now Keith Louis Eichmann, the man behind the original, has launched KLEInnovations to develop some new designs and projects.
The original phono plug was designed over 60 years ago by The Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and has become the standard connector in the audio and video industry, more by default than it being the best choice for its intended use. This led Eichmann to undertake a project to redesign this important connector to improve conductivity, enhance signal integrity and generally provide a superior connection.
The first in the range of these new connectors is the Copper Harmony RCA phono plug. The signal and earth pins are KLEI PureCopper™ and >101 percent IACS (a relative measure of conductivity by the International Annealed Copper Standard) for enhanced electron flow.
The internal connections to these pins are now much stronger and are shaped like a tag to facilitate the soldering of small, large and multiple wire configurations.
Furthermore, these internal connections have been arranged to maximise the distance from each other and have an anti-shorting shield to ensure that capacitive, inductive and EMF effects are minimised.
The head assembly structure has been redesigned to allow an easy snap-like connection to a standard phono socket.
Finally, the housing assembly, which is made from a high melting point thermoplastic polymer, uses two grub screws to retain and secure the cable in place. I can confirm that the internal tags are very easy to solder to and I really like the twin grub screw cable clamp.
A very minor niggle is that there is no suitable Allen key supplied (unlike with some competitors’ products), but I have one in my tool box so it’s not a major concern.
These connectors are an excellent fit into the phono sockets of my amplifier and make an instant perfect connection.
This product is really well made and excellent value for money. NR
Hi-Fi Choice Recommended Award
Verdict… ★★★★☆
Realize the Organic Realness in the Musical experience, with KLEI 🙂