⌈ Stage III Concepts is an American company based in Brooklyn, New York, specializing in audio cables. It was founded by LUIS DE LA FUENTE in 1996 - he is its owner and also its designer. Stage III Concepts gained recognition with its vacuum dielectric cables, and later with the use of rare materials for conductors. It also makes its own plugs. Its cables are heavy and very solid. We test their AC PROTEUS power cable. ⌋

IF I THOUGHT that the AC power cable called Proteus, designed and made by Stage III Concepts, could be the thickest and heaviest cable of its kind I had ever seen - I was not wrong. But only because I didn't have the Leviathan model in my hands at the time. Or maybe they are both just monstrous, like mythical sea creatures? - It could still be so... (Test of Proteus model → HERE ˻PL˺.)

This cable has been in production for many years - I recall its test in “Positive Feedback” from 2015. During that time it underwent only minor modifications. Until 2021, when Stage III Concepts Company celebrated its 25th anniversary. To mark the occasion, it prepared a limited edition of complete cabling - interconnects, speaker cables and AC power cords, and added the note “Limited Edition” to their names.

As we read in the company materials, this was a “cost-neutral” task, in which Luis de la Fuente, the founder and designer, was able to “fully develop all his key concepts and solutions.” We are testing one of those cables.

A DISTINGISHING FEATURE of the company's early designs, from the very beginning, was the use of vacuum as a dielectric. Conductors in the form of flat ribbons made of silver and palladium alloy became the second major distinguishing feature. But equally important was the damping of natural vibrations thanks to properly selected materials and through the topology developed by Luis de la Fuente, owner and designer of Stage III Concepts.

In the company’s hierarchy, Leviathan is the second model from the top and one of seven AC power cables from this manufacturer. Higher is only the Poseidon model, wielding power over all creatures inhabiting the waters of the seas :) Vacuum can now be found only in its top products, in the tested Leviathan it gave way to air, but all other solutions are still used. By the way, let's also clarify that A.S.P. in the name is an abbreviation for Absolute Signal Purity - this slogan is supposed to express the manufacturer's desire for total neutrality of its cables.

▌ Leviathan

ON ITS WEBSITE, the manufacturer notes that it was the first manufacturer offering audio cables using “floating” ribbon conductors for power applications, that is, placed in vacuum or air. This development was used in the design of a power cable called Kraken - Leviathan is simply three (!) Krakens in one braided sleeve.

AS YOU CAN SEE IN THE FIGURE ABOVE, the conductor arrangement of this cable is three completely independent multi-conductor cables. Thanks to their large total cross-section, it can operate at up to 80 amperes. Thus, all powerful amplifiers are welcome. But not just them. In my experience, signal sources also benefit from this type of capability. Although in their case the continuous current consumption is small, but momentary, really very fast waveforms are needed daily, and they can have a large amplitude.

The manufacturer describes Leviathan as follows:

Extreme mechanical damping (all emphasis ed.) in conjunction with impenetrable layers of proprietary shielding and conductor geometry completely eliminate the possibility of any induced microphonics from vibrations or airborne electromagnetic interferences.

Among its many sonic attributes (especially when used with amplifiers) expect to hear a perfect noise floor, smoothness and a relaxed authority that eliminates any compression or strain audible with most other, more restrictive power cable designs.

No high-end amplifier on the planet, regardless of size or power requirements, will be impaired or even present a challenge to the A.S.P. LEVIATHAN.

⸜ Leviathan. Statement Audio Power, → AUDIOIMPORTS.com, accessed: 19.09.2024.

The cable in question is very thick and stiff. In order not to tear out the power socket, either special stands are needed, or you need to set the powered device on the floor or on a large stand. The cable consists of three parts, the outer two of which are slightly thinner and are terminated with plugs. The middle one is thicker and connects to the other two through self-made “couplers”, which play not only an aesthetic role, but also a mechanical one, dampening vibrations.

The manufacturer reports that Leviathan, like its other cables, was 100% made from components custom-made for Stage III Concepts, so there are no high volume components manufactured for other companies, and that it is assembled by the owner by hand. Important in its design, it reads, was “extreme mechanical damping” combined with “impenetrable layers of patented shielding and conductor geometry.” These solutions are said to completely eliminate the possibility of “vibration-induced microphonics” and “electromagnetic interference.”

When we look at Leviathan's cross-section we see three cables in one, twisted around each other. Each of them consists in turn of three runs, also twisted. The “positive” and “negative” runs are made of two silver ribbons each. The manufacturer refers to them as AeroStrandUltra and adds that they have been cryogenically treated and that they are extruded from an alloy of silver and palladium in a slow-running process. The third run, the so-called “ground,” is thick silver wire. As the designer mentioned earlier, shielding is crucial to him, so all the runs feature the silver-plated copper shield as well as each group of three runs.

The ribbon conductors are housed in an air dielectric in FEP tubes, that is, in a tube with a fluoroplastic coating of fluoroethylene and propylene, a version of a polymer. In addition, a layer of silica, ceramic and ferrite was applied to dampen vibrations and further shield the cables. The tubes rest in a thick vibration-damping material and are housed in a silver-plated copper shield.

The company's cables, not only power cables, but also other cables, are terminated with plugs in which the contacts are made of palladium-coated copper-silver alloy, which the manufacturer called Hyperion. The contacts were mounted in a module made of ceramic, onto which a 3D printed body, reinforced with braided carbon fiber, is screwed from the outside. These are some of the largest plugs of this type I've ever seen. However, as the manufacturer says, this is an important part of the mechanical design of these cables. All metal components, including conductors and plugs, undergo thermal treatment - a cryogenic one.

▌ SOUND

⸜ HOW WE LISTENED • The AC Stage III Concepts Leviathan power cable powered the Ayon Audio CD-35 HF Edition player (№ 1/50) during listening tests, and was compared to my reference, the Siltech Triple Crown. This was a AA/BB/A comparison with familiar A and B, using short, two-minute music samples from the album in question.

Both cables were plugged into an Acoustic Revive RPT-4EU Absolute AC power strip, which in turn was fed by a 2.5-meter Acrolink Mexcel 7N-PC9500 AC cable. The Acrolink was connected to a Furutech NCF wall outlet, to which a separate power line with HPA's fuse runs. This line is made from a 6-meter section of Oyaide Tunami Nigo cable.

» RECORDINGS USED FOR THE TEST ⸜ a selection

⸜ DOMINIC MILLER & NEIL STACEY, New Dawn, Naim naimcd066, CD (2002).
⸜ LARS DANIELSSON & LESZEK MOŻDŻER, Pasodoble, ACT Music ACT 9458-2, CD.
⸜ MARK KNOPFLER, One Take Radio Sessions (The Trawlerman's Song EP), Mercury 9870986, Studio Digital Clone CD-R (2005).
⸜ FRANK SINATRA, Come swing with me!, Capitol Records CDP 7 94520 2, CD (1961/1991).
⸜ MILTON NASCIMENTO & ESPERANZA SPALDING, Milton + Esperanza, Concord Records UCCO-1243, SHM-CD (2024).
⸜ KATE BUSH, The Dreaming, EMI Records 7 46361 2, CD (1982) w: tejże, This Woman's Work: Anthology 1978 – 1990, EMI Records CDKBBX, 8 x CD (1990).
⸜ PORTISHEAD, Dummy, Go! Disc Limited/Universal Music Company [Japan], UICY-20164, SHM-CD (1994/2011).

»«

COMPARISON OF ANY AC power cable with a Siltech cable that is part of the HIGH FIDELITY reference system usually goes very similarly. My first thought after switching is how much I've lost. And only the second goes to the question of differences and how the tested cable stands out. With the Stage III Concept's Proteus, the impression was much less obvious than usual. With the Leviathan, on the other hand, there was no question of a clear class difference.

It was a slightly different sound, the accents were distributed in slightly differently, after all these two cables represented different technologies, conductors, topology, and so on. And yet you could hear that the thinking about sound, the understanding of it, was similar in both cases, as if the people who can really hear well - and I'm thinking of the designers and their research departments - were aiming in a similar direction. Sometimes that's exactly what happens.

And it's about depth, it's about silence, it's about darkness. And we get all three of these things with the Leviathan. It's a cable that plays in a very saturated way, presenting also a large volume of sound, Siltech goes even further in this, even stronger, but these are really subtle changes. The American cable, on the other hand, more clearly celebrates the fine details of showing the smoothness of the vinyl guitar strings from DOMINIC MILLER and NEIL STACEY's New Dawn album, in building the smooth tone more strongly.

It is also a cable that is showing sound in the full spectrum. From the top it seems a bit sweetened, creamy, but maybe that's just an impression. Because when at 2:16 of the 4 ˺ La Belle the sound of percussion being struck, I think - by hand - enters, it is clear, strong, full with the tested cable. It has a long reverb, but also excellent definition. Well, and the bass was very low here. It seems even lower than with the Siltech, although with a slightly emphasized fill.

On the referenced disc, the bass is built mainly by a keyboard instrument, a synthesizer, so it's hard to discuss “naturalness” of its sound. But, if someone were to push me on it, I would say that Leviathan shows the bass in an uninhibited way. Yes, that's probably the best term. It is superbly controlled, with the Harbeths momentarily stopping the sound, if that's how it was played, but also giving a long sustain when the musician held down the key a little longer.

This is interesting, because the sound, as such, is not enlarged. I was talking about the silkiness of the top, right? I meant not only the impression of smoothness, but also something like controlled sonority. And that's why, the way I see it, phantom images are not pushed towards us. Rather, they are shown behind the line connecting the speakers, on a pretty wide and very deep stage.

It was confirmed when listening to the Pasodoble by LARS DANIELSSON and LESZEK MOŻDŻER. Both instruments - because it's a duet again - entered gently, if I may say so, with a kind of gentleness, attentiveness. But it was not achieved by softening the attack. It's a very cool album to see how hard the piano can hit, jumping out of near-silence, how clearly the double bass, barely audible a moment ago, hits.

LEVIATHAN IS AN EXTREMELY RESOLVING cable. But also one that is not focused on details. When, at the beginning of the title track ˻ 5 ˺ from the aforementioned album, you hear a pianist's chair creak in the background, when at 0:25 you hear a double bassist humming underneath, Leviathan conveys all that. But it is not particularly “visible” somehow. You can “see” the bodies of the instruments more strongly, and the rhythm and pulse of the recording is more clearly marked.

The idea here is to shape the sound in such a way that the “body” takes precedence. But not by blurring the edges of the sound, but by focusing our attention on its center- these are two different things. Because it's a perfectly differentiating cable. Listen to ˻ 2 ˺ Back To Tupelo, a track from MARK KNOPFLER's The Trawlerman's Song EP, and you'll hear perfectly, really wonderfully, differentiated guitars - rhythmic, acoustic in the left channel and electric, dark, warm, closer to the right. And when the keyboards enter, they create another layer, just as thick and warm as the guitar, yet perfectly separate.

There is everything here that we require from a top cable. There is wonderful timbre, there is differentiation, there is very good range extension. And there is dynamics. When in ˻ 11 ˺ Paper Doll, the penultimate track from FRANK SINATRA's album Come swing with me!, played by me from a fairly early analog remaster, the two brass sections, positioned left and right, dialogue with each other, it's strong, dynamic, but not intrusive.

Because that's also the thing that's important in the context of this test. The sound of the Stage III Concept cable is perfectly smooth. Not because it loses details, because it doesn't, not because it extinguishes fine details, because it is far from that, but because it conducts recordings in such a way that we enjoy listening to them. We can get a similar effect with even an inexpensive turntable or tube amplifier. However, than we are dealing with exactly what I just denied. The Leviathan does it unwillingly and as if “next to” wonderful resolution and selectivity.

Sinatra's vocals were placed a tad further away than with the reference cable, so they were not as tangible. But - as I said - the American power chord leads the presentation a bit differently but it’s highly impressive. Sinatra's singing was silky smooth, while also having a perfect clear texture. Only that it was not bringing out details, but smuggling them “underneath”, under the timbre, under the rhythm. And this could also be heard in the mono recordings, where it was much harder to be showy, for example in the beautiful bonus track ˻ 13 ˺ I Love You from the aforementioned disc.

But it's also the case that the Leviathan has its own “agenda.” It drives the sound towards saturation and density, deepening the bass in the process. It's a cable that delivers a kind of turbocharging to the system. Only not in the form of attack, but mass. Yes, 'mass' is the best term for what I heard with all the previously referenced discs, what I also heard with KATE BUSH's The Dreaming. It gained mass and density, and the sound was just big.

The slightly emphasized sibilants, which sometimes, for example, in 5 ˺ Leave It Open, where we can hear Bush's processed vocals “pop” out of the mix, were clear, but never annoying. This recording was presented in an incredibly dynamic, variable way. It was big, massive playing, but not heavy. The cable doesn't over-saturates everything mindlessly, like in a frenzy - and there are cables that do something like that - but saturates everything without changing how detailed the presentation was or how open was the treble.

So when the first beat from the title track 6 ˺ The Dreaming sounded, it “slammed” really hard and blew out of the Harbeth's bass-reflexes those dust specks I missed during a recent cleaning. And, just for confirmation, because after all I already knew what I was getting, I played ˻ ˻ 4 ˺ It Could Be Sweet from the PORTISHEAD album titled Dummy, the SHM-CD version.

For confirmation, because, as I predicted, the bass extended very low and was just powerful. But also clear. And that rarely goes hand in hand. It is, with the Leviathan, actually soft, but also well-controlled. It also has strong saturation, stronger than with the Siltech Triple Crown. Its texture is slightly less differentiated than with the cable from the Netherlands, but these are minor shifts, not “changes.” The important thing is that it is part of the whole performance, it does not play separately, it does not dominate, yet it gives the whole a “flavor”.

▌ Summary

THE AMERICAN CABLE is one of the best of its kind that I have heard. It plays exactly the same way as the setup I built for myself. It's smooth but resolving, quiet but extremely dynamic, dark but detailed. This cannot be combined in cheap products, or at least I have never heard such a combination. And that's why it's worth paying so much money for.

The Leviathan is also very resolving and selective. Its timbre is slightly skewed toward bass and a strong lower midrange. But there is plenty of treble as well, only that it will be silky rather than “iron” treble. And its greatest virtue, stemming of exactly those qualities I just wrote about, is its ability to play literally any kind of music in the way music lovers dream of. That is, on the one hand, without the a need to worry that something may sound bad, and on the other hand, with the confidence that we will get the fullness of sound, all the details and subtleties we care about.

Fantastic sound that fully justifies our ˻ RED ˺ FINGERPTINT. ●

»«

THIS TEST HAS BEEN DESIGNED ACCORDING TO THE GUIDELINES adopted by the Association of International Audiophile Publications, an international audio press association concerned with ethical and professional standards in our industry, of which HIGH FIDELITY is a founding member. More about the association and its constituent titles → HERE.

→ www.AIAP-online.org