⌈ BASE is a brand owned by NAUTILUS, an audio distributor based in Krakow. Established in 2007, it offers mechanically complex anti-vibration racks and platforms, as well as power strips, belonging to the Power Base sub-brand. This is a PREMIERE test of their top AC power strip. ⌋

| WORLD PREMIERE |

N MAY 2009, WE RECEIVED A PRESS RELEASE regarding the first BASE product related to power supply. The information about the AC Power Base, read:

The Power Base power strip was developed in response to the needs of customers looking for the best sound at the most affordable price. Although not the cheapest, it offers significantly better performance than other products of this type. When designing it, the sound quality, aesthetics and user convenience were taken into account. Due to the latter, the product has a form of a full-size device. To increase the convenience of connecting power cables, the rear wall has been tilted at an optimal angle.

⸜ www.HIGHFIDELITY.pl; accessed: 23.02.2022

The designers intended this strip to be different from other products of this type available on the market, it was to "adapt" to the user's needs. So we had a choice of Oyaide or Furutech sockets with gold-plated or rhodium-plated contacts. The internal wiring of the strip could feature Oyaide or Acrolink cables.

In the Power Base High-End, another strip from this manufacturer, back then the top model, one solution was chosen: the Oyaide sockets, and the whole was wired with expensive Acrolink cables bought by the meter. The strip itself took the form of an elongated cuboid, referring to the shape of the Acoustic Revive strip. Interestingly, the cost of the components used in it, purchased separately, was so high that one could wonder how it is even profitable for the company.

It was possible only because the owner of the Base brand is also the Polish distributor of all three of the above-mentioned Japanese brands - we are talking about the Krakow-based NAUTILUS. Thanks to very good contacts both with the manufacturers themselves and with Mr. Yoshi Hontai's MUSON PROJECT company representing them outside of Japan, they received a "blessing" to prepare her own anti-vibration products and AC power strips, using some of the Japanese solutions.

This is not the first, nor the last case that a distributor becomes a manufacturer. Let us remind you that this is how the HEINZ LICHTENEGGER’S Audio Tuning Vertriebs GmbH, a distributor in Austria of many high-end brands, who at one point dreamed of a company producing turntables, entered the world market. The result of the realization of this dream is the Pro-Ject company.

It was similar with GERHARD HIRT, previously a distributor, also in Austria, of American products, today realized in Ayon Audio and Lumen White. And recently we talked about Vibex Granada Platinum, a very expensive AC power strip from Spain, the designer and manufacturer of which is CLIFF ORMAN, the owner of the Cosmos HiFi distribution company (review HERE) .

As you can see, the path from distributor to manufacturer is not unusual. This is an interesting phenomenon, because people working in the trade business have direct contact with both audio addicts and many various products that they can compare and whose advantages and disadvantages they know well. This gives you a mix of first-hand expertise, practical knowledge that money cannot buy. If we add an interesting idea and its execution, we can get something like POWER BASE HIGH-END 6.

▌ POWER BASE HIGH-END 6

THE STRIP TESTED BY US is the newest "flagship" product of the separate Power Base line. It is a long, heavy, extremely solid product, in which we can find an accumulation of ideas developed under this brand for over a dozen years. From the outside, it resembles the Acoustic Revive RTP-4EU Absolute power strip, which I use as a reference point, but it offers six, not four sockets. Besides, it has two things that allow you to "tune" the sound of both, the strip itself and the audio system.

The housing of the distributor is made of two elements: a milled aluminum body and an aluminum plate closing the interior. A heavy weight is a means to minimize vibrations - the enemy's number one in audio, also in power systems. This is just one of the elements of the entire system to dampen vibrations. The next one is a 15 mm thick layer of bituminous material poured on the bottom of the housing.

There are also quartz elements glued to the bottom of each socket as well as to the IEC power socket. This is the RQ-8 by Acoustic Revive. It seems like an element of no importance, but after a few attempts "with" and "without" it I glued the RQ8 myself in many places in my system, even on the fuse in the electrical switchboard of my apartment. This trick was shown to us by KEN ISHIGURO, the owner of Acoustic Revive when he was visiting the KRAKOW SONIC SOCIETY.

Inside the strip we can find one more element of this philosophy, because this is how this approach should be read, used by Mr. Ishiguro in his own strip. We are talking about a cotton-like material, called PSA-100 in the company’s terminology.

Among the many materials selected by the head of Acoustic Revive at the University of Tokyo and by top Japanese manufacturers, and later adapted by him to audio requirements, this one is the least "intuitive". Ultimately, it resembles, as I say, a piece of cotton that is wrapped around audio outputs and electrical wires. It is made of natural silk fibers and is designed to minimize electrostatic charges accumulated on materials with which it comes into contact. There are many local small high-end cable manufacturers in Japan that use silk as a dielectric.

This way, we come to the core of the description of the tested strip, i.e. the sockets and cables. They build up a given structure and they "set" the basic sonic features. The remaining elements, although also important, are to refine and integrate these basic "blocks". The Base strip uses top Oyaide sockets and Acoustic Revive cables.

The metal parts of the Oyaide sockets are made of anaerobic phosphor bronze, and their body of PBT (Polybutylene Terephthalate) with 30% addition of glass beads. The contacts are designed in the "dual-spring" configuration, developed especially for the SWO-E series. As we read in the manufacturer's press materials, "thanks to the strong pressure and large contact area (9 mm wide), contact with the pins of the plugs is excellent and, in addition, vibrations are reduced". Additional metal elements located on the back side of the socket help to dissipate heat from the pins. All elements, including the fixing screws, are made of non-magnetic metals.

And now - the strip prepared by Nautilus offers the user the possibility to choose the type of Shuko sockets. Three of the six sockets mounted in it are covered with palladium, and three are gold-plated. These are the SWD-XXX-e and SWD-GX-e models, respectively. The former have hand-polished contacts to which a layer of 24 carat gold is applied, followed by palladium; the latter are also polished, but later only gold-plated.

Earlier versions of AC Power Base power strips used Oyaide cabling, and later Acrolink, from the top Mexcel series. The High-End 6 uses another cable, the excellent ACOUSTIC REVIVE POWER REFERENCE TRIPLE-C with a rectangular cross-section of 2.8 x 2.4 mm wires. Let me remind you that Triple-C copper is made in the forging process, which reduces the contamination of the material. This guide is used to build the AC ACOUSTIC REVIVE ABSOLUTE POWER CORE power cable, for which you have to pay PLN 39,900 (2 m).

Cables are routed in this strip atypically. The voltage enters the IEC socket - this is Furutech's excellent FI-09 NFC model - and goes to the terminals of the first socket, and then to the others, one by one. But in addition, a cable is routed to the last socket. This creates a kind of circular connection. As the manufacturer says, it was selected in a series of listening tests as the best for this project.

⸜ PLATFORM Optionally, you can buy a custom anti-vibration platform for the tested strip. It was custom-made for this model, so it has the right dimensions, and even cutouts for the feet of the strip. It was inspired by the design of the Acoustic Revive platforms, i.e. the upper part is a cutter made of Finnish birch, and the bottom part is made of an HDF board. The filling, i.e. amorphous glass granules, is purchased from the Japanese manufacturer.

Both the strip and the base come in aesthetic plywood boxes. They include a tester to determine the phase of the supply voltage and pairs of gloves. There is something like a nameplate on the strip, or rather a list of components used. Well, that's important information. However, the nameplate looks like it was added post factum.

In my opinion, it would look better engraved or silk-screened. It would also be appropriate to make a new logo for the strip, because - apart from the aforementioned plate - there was no information on it that it was a new version. For purists, you should also replace the feet later, for example with the Pro Audio Bono - but you need to check if they fit into the cutouts.

In addition, these are extremely carefully designed, very well-made products in which we can find the best, rare components that other manufacturers do not have access to. The strip on the platform looks very serious and will look great in any audio system.

▌ SOUND

⸤ HOW WE LISTENED POWER BASE HIGH-END 6 is a long strip with six sockets, so it did not fit on the Acoustic Revive RST-38H anti-vibration platform next to the RTP-4EU ABSOLUTE strip of the same manufacturer, to which it was compared.

Normally I would use two platforms, placed in such a way that the feet on one side stand on one and the other on the other. In this case, however, the company offers a dedicated platform, which is a variation of Acoustic Revive products. So I tested the set: strip + platform. To prevent the platform from sliding on the floor, I placed it on four Acoustic Revive RKI-5005 discs.

Both power strips were powered interchangeably by the same cable, the Acrolink Mexcel AC-PC9500 (2.5 m long) with the passive Acoustic Revive RAS-14 Triple-C filter. I also powered my entire system interchangeably using both strips. As it takes time to warm up the tubes in the SACD player and preamplifier, two minutes had to pass between each series of comparisons. These were A/B and B/A comparisons, with A and B known.

Recordings used for the test | a selection

⸜ PINK FLOYD, Pulse, EMI United Kingdom 7243 8 32700 2 6, 2 x CD (1995).
⸜ SANTANA, Supernatural, Arista | BMG ‎07822 19080 2, CD (1999).
⸜ MADONNA, Music, Maverick | Warner Bros. Records 9362-47865-2, CD (2000).
⸜ ELVIS PRESLEY, Elvis is Back!, RCA/BMG Japan BVCM-37088, seria „Living Stereo”, CD (1960/2002).
⸜ ART BLAKEY & THE JAZZ MESSENGERS, Just Coolin', Blue Note/Universal Music LLC (Japan) UCGQ-9027, SHM-SACD ([1959] 2020)
⸜ CHARLES MINGUS, Mingus Ah Um, Columbia CS 8171 | Sony Music Commercial Music Group/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, UDSACD 2208, SACD/CD (1959/2019).
⸜ GARY BURTON & MAKOTO OZONE, Face to Face, GRP/Universal Music LLC UCCU-6195, „Jazz The Best | № 192”, SHM-CD (1995/2012).
⸜ THE EAGLES, Hotel California, Asylum Records/Warner Music Japan WPCR-11936, CD (1976/2004).

I AM „ATTACHED” TO THE SOUND OF my reference strip, the Acoustic Revive RTP-4EU ABSOLUTE (speaking of the "sound" of the components, I mean the corrections they introduce to the sound). You could even say very attached. In fact, I think that it is one of the best power components I have heard - not flawless, but natural and neutral enough to be a good a reference for all other products of this type.

So switching the system to the Base strip caused a stir in me. Because here I got almost the same as with Acoustic Revive, only "more", "more" and stronger. Yes, the Polish power strip seems to me to be an even more natural-sounding product. And although I listened to many albums, many tracks with it, the first impression came back to me after the test, one when I heard the huge space of the stadiums where in March and April 1994 the PINK FLOYD performed live recording the Pulse.

It has recently been re-released, with a new mix and mastering, but I still reach for the original release from 1995. Although the light emitting diode (LED) has been dead for many, many years, the sound is still really good (for a concert situation). James Guthree, the Floyd's court sound engineer is responsible for the recording and mixing, and the mastering was done by one of the best-hearing sound engineers, who, unfortunately, is no longer with us, Doug Sax. The icing on the cake is that the material was mixed in an analog Q-Sound system.

Anyway, the very first seconds, when people screamed around me, as the synthesizers slowly entered, gave me an idea of what the Polish power strip is. It delivers the sound in a dense way, that's probably the most important thing. It is a compact, concise and well-balanced presentation. The bass seems to hit harder with it, which I heard in the What Do You Want From Me, but it's not that the point is that something is underlined. There was simply "more sound", as if there was more information in the same space.

I had a similar impression when I listened to the last song on SANTANA's Supernatural, The Calling, with Eric Clapton accompanying the leader. The first minutes - until 2:32 - are a slow dialogue of the masters, with the rolling sound of the timpani - between one channel and the other. Both guitars were deeper and more "present" with the Base strip. They were thus brought slightly closer to me - in showing the depth of the stage, the Acoustic Revive power strip is still my choice. But, as before, there was more information about the recording, because the slight shout in 1:20 was clearer and stronger with the Base.

It also seems that the Polish strip slightly smooths the attack of the sound. The slightly bright sound of the "cymbals" in the drum machine, opening the Music track from the MADONNA’s album of the same title, was softer with it. The bass attack was also slightly rounded and emphasized. It was a kind of "remaster", small, but still - "remaster" going towards richness and warmth. This "warming up" was relative and it was more audible with gold-plated sockets. But even with them, it was not a goal, but an effect of what I would describe as adding more vividness to the sound. Yes, this is probably the best description of what the Base strip did with this recording.

| Our albums

⸜ PINK FLOYD Pulse

EMI United Kingdom 7243 8 32700 2 6
2 x CD ⸜ 1995

PULSE, ALSO WRITTEN P • U • L • S • E is an album by Pink Floyd with a recording of the concerts that took place in October 1994 at Earls Court, London. The tour, these performances were a part of, promoted the studio album titled The Division Bell. This concert album was released in 1995 in many countries, on various carriers, including VHS cassette, but also on double CD, cassette tape, vinyl, and even on Mini Disc and Laser Disc (in Japan); a year later, the DVD version was released. The remastered and re-edited Blu-ray version is now in our hands.

The special feature of this particular concert is that the group consisting of David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Rick Wright performed the entire album The Dark Side of the Moon and this is the only such documentary; this material was included on disc no. 2. The second distinguishing feature of this release was the uniformly flashing red LED diode, placed on the spine of the "box" edition.


The sound side of this album is very interesting. The material was recorded using the Le Voyageur mobile studio of the French company ZAC du Moulin. Built on a TIR trailer, it contained a complete analog recording studio with Studer reel-to-reel multi-track tape recorders. JAMES GUTHRIE was responsible for the sound production, and also mixed the material. The phenomenal sound engineer DOUG SAX, co-founder of Sheffield Lab, who mastered three albums by The Doors, including their 1967 debut, and six Pink Floyd albums, including The Wall, took care of mastering.

This is an album that was mixed using the Q-Sound system, in which we get a real spatial sound through two channels. In the same studio, the album The Soul Cages by Sting was recorded, also in Q-Sound. This makes the sound big and expansive and it seems to come from all directions. ♦

→ www.LEVOYAGEUR.com

LISTENING TO THE FEVER FROM ELVIS PRESLEY's Elvis is Back! I was able to form my first general conclusions. The vocal of the "king" was large, dense and saturated. This is something that we often do not get, and that I have heard before only with the VIBEX GRANADA PLATINUM power strip. The Spanish product, however, did it more forcefully and more clearly. Base is more subtle in it.

But you can hear that the sound is „shaped” so that it is similar to the "analog" sound and that it resembles the sound of "tubes". It means perfect bodies and fantastic colors. The foreground is quite close to the listening position, which makes it tangible and impressive. The reverbs are slightly shortened, which was audible with Elvis' voice, on which a lot of effect is superimposed. But if the sound is spatial, as with the previously mentioned Floyd, we get a huge stage in every direction.

This does not prevent the precise positioning of the musicians on the stage. I would even say it helps. The strip tested earlier meant that Clapton's and Santana's guitars had a better defined body, mainly because it was more "full-bodied". On the later album ART BLAKEY & THE JAZZ MESSENGERS’ Just Coolin' it gave a denser and more powerful sound sources. It was still less saturated sound than from the CHARLES MINGUS’ Mingus Ah Um, released on SACD by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, but it was not such a clear change as with the Acoustic Revive strip.

It's not that the Base blurs the differences, not at all. The sound is perfectly differentiated with it. Only that everything is more "here and now", which makes us react more emotionally to music, and this in turn means that even slightly worse produced or released recordings have more "music" for us. Despite this, the presentation seems more delicate and smoother with it. The joyful, emotional jazz from the Better Git It In Your Soul, which opened the aforementioned Mingus album, had more "nerve" with the Polish power strip.

Because it is a product that also beautifully shows dynamic changes. It delivers a strong and low bass, but not a boomy or exaggerated one. It lowers the treble a bit, but only to make the whole thing more vivid and denser. There is no lack of illumination or vibrancy with it - these are elements perfectly rendered by the Base. It does not matter what we listen to, because both the highly compressed recordings from Madonna and Santana's albums, and the brilliant GRP production, the GARY BURTON & MAKOTO OZONE’s Face to Face, released in Japan on the SHM-CD, had the same qualities and I enjoyed them just the same.

▌ SUMMARY

The POWER BASE HIGH-END 6 from BASE is one of the best AC power strips I have heard so far. In many ways - the best. The sound with it has depth, vividness, vibrancy and dynamics. It makes everything more tangible, fuller, bigger. The Base does it, however, without exaggerating the volume, without deepening the bass and without adding an unnecessary weight - this is not a "slow" sound!

The Acoustic Revive strip is a hair more neutral, the Vibex strip is more "romantic" and the KBL Sound REFERENCE POWER DISTRIBUTOR RPD-6 Mk3 NCF strip |PL| more open and more vibrant. Nothing is free, that’s just life. However, neither of them has it all together, and the Power Base - to a large extent, does. We will get a musical, smooth and very pleasant presentation with it, which is well differentiated.

This is not the only option, each of the above-mentioned designs will give you something different, also great and necessary in many systems. Here and now, however, it is real, true high-end product, hence our distinction ˻ RED Fingerprint ˺. ■