Nordost QRT QKORE6 Ground Unit
“I can’t imagine that anyone who’s invested considerable time and energy and money in a high-end system would want to be without the markedly “blacker” backgrounds, increased transparency and detail, more vivid colors, and greater overall veracity delivered by Nordost’s QKore Ground Units. Connecting just a single power distributor or conditioner to a QKore1 or QKore6 brought marked improvements; adding as many additional components as possible increased the effect greatly. The law of diminishing returns does not apply; the differences were cumulative, and anything but subtle.”
— JASON VICTOR SERINUS, STEREOPHILE MAGAZINE
“While Qkore isn’t necessary for your audio system to function, it is essential for hearing it at its absolute best. It doesn’t take much insight to predict that this “final frontier” will become commonplace in audiophile systems, so obvious and profound is the improvement it brings.”
— MARC MICKELSON, THE AUDIO BEAT
“But in the end it is the added refinement that the QKore provides that is the most addictive. The more I listen, the more riveting I find the ability of a good stereo to capture the nuances of the music. ... This is what the Nordost QKore does so well. I can't help thinking that to achieve the most from any high-end stereo Nordost QKore is an essential product to consider.”
— JACOB HEILBRUNN, THE ABSOLUTE SOUND
“The change QKORE brought about was instant, obvious, and profound.”
— ALAN SIRCOM, HIFI+
NOTE: The QKORE is not designed to replace the protective earth bond in your electrical grid system (household ground).
A great deal of the electrical noise in hifi systems is caused by imperfections in the power domain. These imperfections may be generated by airborne pollution on the AC line that are induced, in part, by increasing amounts of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and cellular signals. Airborne pollution can take the form of high frequency interference, noise, and stray magnetic fields, which lead to AC line contamination. A poor, or “unclean”, ground causes more performance imperfections than most people realize. Without an effective ground point, the entire foundation of your sound system becomes jeopardized—and unfortunately, most listening rooms simply do not have access to a designated line, attached to a ground rod. In these instances, a simple, effective, and internal option is needed: Nordost’s QKORE Ground Unit.
The QKORE is a parallel grounding device, which provides an artificial, “clean” earth for hifi audio systems using both an electrical and mechanical approach. This unique product combines Nordost’s patented Mono-Filament technology with purpose-built, Low-Voltage Attractor Plates (LVAPs), constructed with a proprietary metal alloy and a passive electronic circuit, in order to draw stray high frequency noise and voltage-generated magnetic fields to a manufactured earth point, leaving a clean reference behind. This passive system is contained in a mechanically tuned housing, and outfitted with gold-plated, WBT binding posts, which easily connect each component to an artificial ground. By providing for a balanced and very “clean” ground point, by-products of electrical balance imperfections between voltage and ground are no longer added to other pollutants, dramatically increasing high quality audio circuit performances.
Nordost’s QKORE is available in three distinct models. The QKORE1 is specifically designed to serve as a parallel ground for use with Nordost’s distribution block, the QBASE. By connecting the QBASE to the QKORE1’s singular binding post, it provides an effective, alternative ground on the primary side of the power supply. The QKORE3 is named for its three available binding posts, which can be used to ground any component in your system on the secondary side of a power supply, where the audio circuit is. For audiophiles who have monoblocks in their system, or are searching for an all-in-one unit solution, Nordost offers The QKORE6, making it possible to ground all elements of your sound system on its 6 binding posts, including one ground for your distribution block, two grounds for the left and right channels of your monoblocks, and three grounds for additional audio components.
In order to complete this comprehensive grounding system, Nordost has also designed a designated QKORE Wire, which is constructed to provide the path of least resistance to ground, for the stray, high-frequency, low-voltage potentials that can affect the performance of your sound system. The QKORE Wire is a mechanically tuned cable that utilizes Nordost’s patented Micro Mono-Filament technology, combined with extruded FEP insulation, and constructed with a 16 AWG, silver-plated OFC, solid core conductor. The QKORE Wire can be terminated with the following connectors: spade, banana, male-XLR, female-XLR, BNC and RCA (further termination options available).
The QKORE grounding system is the most effective, comprehensive grounding solution in the consumer electronics market. When introduced to a hifi audio system, the results are immediate and dramatic— the noise floor drops, the increase in harmonic accuracy and clarity is unmistakable, and the overall musicality in system performance is elevated. Every aspect of Nordost’s QKORE grounding system is thoughtfully designed and manufactured in the USA to the highest standards in the industry, in order to ensure product quality and customer satisfaction.
QKORE6 Features
- Provided with a 2M Banana to Banana QKORE wire and a 2M RCA to Banana QKORE Wire
- Furnished with three multi-use binding posts for audio circuitry, two binding posts for left and right monoblocks, and one “QBASE Ground” binding post to ground your distribution block
- Offers an effective ground on the primary side of the power supply, for a distribution block, as well as on the secondary side of the power supply, for system components, including those with separate left and right chassis
Specifications
Dimensions (WHD): 270 x 80 x 200 mm (225 mm with binding post)
Weight: 17.2 lb
Wire Specifications
Insulation: Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP)
Construction: Micro Mono-Filament Design
Conductors: 1x16 AWG
Material: Silver plated 99.9999 % solid core OFC
Termination: Banana, Spade, RCA, Male-XLR, Female-XLR, BNC, RJ45, USB A, and USB B
