Simply: ACROLINK
„High Fidelity’s” 20th Anniversary

⌈ ACROLINK (proprietary name) is a brand owned by Japan's AcroJapan Corporation. Acro Japan, in turn, is a part of Mitsubishi Cable Corporation, and the latter is owned by the giant Mitsubishi Corporation. So the company has a powerful research department behind it and many of its own developments and patents. What is important, however, is that it is run by passionate audiophile engineers. This is the second time we are celebrating the anniversary of our magazine with it. ⌋

DREAMS DO COME TRUE, though not all of them do. And if they do, they need time to mature. For how else to explain that such a well-known and respected company as Acrolink is preparing a special version of a power cable to be part of the 20th anniversary celebration of "High Fidelity"? After all, it's a Japanese company, which complicates matters because it's an extremely hermetic and hierarchically arranged world. What's more, it's part of a powerful conglomerate, and the "big guys" don't have the capacity to attend to individual cases. And yet - the Acrolink Mexcel 7N-PC9900 HF20 Edizione cable is a fact. And it is not the first such cable.

The time I mentioned above has a concrete dimension - it is nineteen years in the case of the PC9900 model and fourteen when it comes to the Acrolink 8N-PC8100 Performante Nero Edizione cable, which was prepared for the 15th anniversary of our magazine (more → HERE). The starting point for me was meeting Mr. Bé Yamamura, a well-known designer of tube amplifiers and horn loudspeakers, who at the time was the European representative of ACROLINK and OYAIDE.

I remember it well, even though it's been so many years since the 2005 Munich High End Show, where it took place, because at the time Mr. Yamamura-san actively quenched my enthusiasm about Acrolink products, thinking they were too expensive for the Polish market and pointing to Oyaide as the brand for us. Today we know that he was wrong, really wrong about it. In a short period of time, this Acrolink became so popular in our country that many cable models recorded their best sales right here on the banks of Vistula river. Among them were many AC power cables.

Without any false modesty or hiding I will say that I had my share in this success. This is because I was the owner and active user of several successive generations of them, starting still with the model of the series using 6N-purity copper conductors, and then with almost all subsequent 7N models. To this day, the Mexcel 7N-PC9300 cable, 2 meters long, is still in use in the HF system, supplying voltage from a wall outlet to an Acoustic Revive power strip. The other, the aforementioned PC8100, feeds the Leben C-600X amplifier.

In the test of the PC9900 cable that was published in our magazine in April 2020, AcroJapan engineers said:

The main feature of the 7N-PC9000 MEXCEL series, including the latest 7N-PC9900 MEXCEL model, is that it uses 7N Cu MEXCEL cable. MEXCEL is a medical cabling system that uses MEDIS (Mitsubishi Electro Deposition Insulation System) technology developed by our cable supplier, Mitsubishi Cable Industries Ltd. All cables other than MEXCEL use Cu 7N conductors manufactured by Mitsubishi Materials Ltd and Mitsubishi Cable Industries Ltd.

⸜ „High Fidelity” №192, April 16th. 2020, → HIGHFIDELITY.pl, accessed: 29.01.2024

This vertical structure of the company is due to the fact that the Acrolink brand is a tiny splinter of a company that, as part of the Mitsubishi conglomerate, prepares cabling for a wide range of applications - medical, military and even for space industry. As I learned, the cables that end up in the audiophile market are exactly the same models, only that with the appropriate inscriptions applied. And that they are usually cable „leftovers” from subsequent projects prepared for other industries.

And it is the company that has prepared twenty pieces of the PC9900 cable in the HF20 Edizione version. As with the 8N-PC8100 Performante Nero Edizione version, this time the cable is technically identical to the basic version. We spoke with the company's engineers about it and they told me openly that they didn't really know how they could improve its design so that it could be applied in such a small batch. Therefore, its anniversary edition differs from the classic one only with its plugs. Instead of the classic ones, with silver carbon braid, the braid in the anniversary version is black.

And, of course, you will find the anniversary "High Fidelity" logo everywhere. Already holding the box in your hands you will see it right next to the sticker with the model name. Another, much larger one has been pasted on the actual box. When you take the cable out of the box you'll see the 20th anniversary logo applied to the plugs, and immediately after that you'll notice a certificate with the number of the particular unit handwritten on it (from 1 to 20). And the certificate was signed by the hand of Mr. Akihido-san, who assembled the plugs.

It seems like not much. But only if we don't know the context I wrote about above. A special edition product from a major company is a rarity, and from a Japanese company - an absolute rarity. Even more so because it is such a short series. That's why it warms my heart when I recall my adventures with this brand's cables. My respect for what it does is combined with good memories of tests, meetings of the Krakow Sonic Society, as well as contacts with Mr. Hontai, Acrolink's representatives outside Japan.

With this type of project, no one makes extra money - neither I have any money from it, nor Acrolink. I will say more, the company earns less than with the regular version. This is all about community, about the message that we are doing something together. As it's not hard to see, it's this kind of connection, direct, emotional meetings, whether at presentations at the Audio Video Show or at the Pylon - Tour de Pologne, that builds something more than just a technical "audio system".

Because the fact that we dreamed something up, that the dream was realized by one of our favorite companies, is not the end of the story. And that's because the cables in question will go to audiophiles, who will plug them into their system and listen to music with them. Which means that you, dear readers, will also be part of this celebration. And you will be the ones who will make this whole sequence of activities into something more - something that will unite audiophilism, music, manufacturers, press and users as one community. For me, this will be a true fulfillment of a dream begun with a brief, seemingly insignificant conversation in 2005. ●

Let me remind you, that HIGH FIDELITY will celebrate its 20th anniversary on May 1st. 2024. We will keep you informed about more products prepared for the occasion.

WOJCIECH PACUŁA
Chief editor