October 2018

Furutech Nano Crystal² Formula (NCF), Alpha Process, And Boost Series
Article By Furutech

  Furutech products are not the idea or work of one person, they are a combined and cumulative effort of a team of dedicated designers and production specialists with an eye for detail and quality. Furutech's President – Frank Hayama – heads a dedicated staff of 48 employees at the Tokyo head office, a Taiwan branch and a Hong Kong branch. And everyone at Furutech is passionately devoted to reaching the highest watermark in reference-grade A/V cables, OEM parts and accessories for home audio where Furutech maintains a very strong presence. Ideas for new Furutech products come from numerous sources, but more often than not, it is ideas from Furutech product distributors, dealers and their loyal customers along with collaborations with other manufacturers that become final Furutech production product. Ideas become prototypes and these prototypes are tested exhaustively, both by our in-house team and by some of Japan's most respected audio commentators. A new Furutech product only comes to fruition once it has passed a gauntlet of dedicated audio enthusiasts and the most fastidious quality control inspections.

A recent hit product from our product design team – Furutech's NCF Booster.

What is NCF?
Nano Crystal² Formula (NCF)
Incorporated into selected Furutech products, NCF features a special crystalline material that has　two 'active' properties. First, it generates negative ions that eliminate static. Second, it converts thermal energy into far infrared. Furutech combines this remarkable material with nano-sized ceramic particles and carbon powder for their additional 'piezoelectric effect' damping properties. The resulting Nano Crystal² Formula is the ultimate electrical and mechanical damping material.

The word crystal, when applied to sound reproduction, is a truly desirable thing. When you describe a sound system as "crystal-clear," for instance, you're referring to its ability to offer an open and transparent window into the original recording event. You might also use this phrase to suggest a lower noise floor, less distortion, or anything else that gets you, the listener, closer to the music you love. Furutech has produced decades of unrivaled innovation within the audio industry. We have enabled listeners all over the world to get closer to their favorite music by making it sound as crystal-clear as possible. We have accomplished this enviable feat through careful research based upon solid scientific principles, and exhaustive listening tests to confirm those results.

These aren't "magic" crystals, mind you, but a new crystallized material that actively generates negative ions to eliminate static and converts thermal energy into far infrared. Furutech tested these crystals under strict conditions. After experimenting with countless forms and composites, the Furutech team found a proprietary use for this material that would excel in audio applications.

Furutech achieved this by combining these crystals with nano-sized ceramic particles and carbon powder to create a piezoelectric effect, which results in even better damping properties. This didn't happen overnight — this material is the culmination of 30 years of steady and consistent research at Furutech. We dubbed this material NCF, which stands for Nano Crystal² Formula.

Furutech first incorporated NCF into three market-topping products, the GTX-D NCF wall receptacle, the FI-06 NCF IEC inlet and the FI-50 NCF series connectors – all award-winning products adopted by leading manufacturers worldwide for use on their flagship products. Later releases included the e-TP609 NCF & e-TP809 NCF power distributors and the Flux-50 NCF inline filter.

In fall of 2017, Furutech introduced the NCF Booster – a connector holder and cable lifter designed to support and damp connectors at components or wall outlets and to lift and damp cables between components – eliminating static fields around connectors and cables, boosting connector and cable performance. April 2018 saw the series grow to include the NCF Booster-Signal and optional modular parts.

With the NCF Booster Series of products, Furutech has made it easy for anyone to hear the differences that this NCF technology can bring to any audio system. These differences include noticeable improvements in imaging and clarity, a reduction in distortion in higher frequencies and more dramatic tonal definition.

The versatility of the NCF Booster Series and its modular parts (Top Clamp, Cradle-Flat, Cradle-Curved, Extension Shaft Bars and Adjusters) offers customers a complete solution for damping and arranging cables, allowing customers to build their own customized multi-level NCF Booster Series support systems. You can install the NCF Booster Series throughout your system in a matter of minutes, and immediately notice the results.

Many Japanese Audio commentators have described the NCF Booster Series as a "new kind of audio accessory", completely unique in function and surprisingly effective in performance. One commentator labeled the NCF Booster Series as "not an accessory, but more of a necessity".

The NCF Booster Series is the most innovative audio accessory to arrive this year, featuring one of the most innovative materials designed for boosting audio performance ever - Furutech's NCF.

We have been very fortunate at Furutech to have our products to receive almost every prestigious and recognized industry award, lifting the Furutech brand to be recognized as the world's leading High-End audio accessory maker. We thank our legions of loyal supporters and we remind you that our mission has not changed since foundation, to build the absolutely best products imaginable whatever the effort involved and offering them at a price/performance ratio that deeply satisfies every purchaser.

Furutech Patented / Patent Pending And Trademarked Technologies
Nano Crystal² Formula (NCF)
Incorporated into selected Furutech products, NCF features a special crystalline material that has　two 'active' properties. First, it generates negative ions that eliminate static. Second, it converts thermal energy into far infrared. Furutech combines this remarkable material with nano-sized ceramic particles and carbon powder for their additional 'piezoelectric effect' damping properties. The resulting Nano Crystal² Formula is the ultimate electrical and mechanical damping material. Created by Furutech, it is found exclusively in Furutech products.

Piezo Ceramic & Carbon Series Products
Furutech's Pure Transmission Piezo Ceramic and Carbon series products feature a breakthrough construction technique. A special material in the products combines two "active" materials: Nano-sized ceramic particles and powdered carbon. (Only nano-sized ceramic particles effectively couple with carbon powder.) Nylon and fiberglass are incorporated as well forming an extremely effective, well damped, mechanically and electrically non-resonant connector body. That's correct, they're electrically damped as well.

Piezoelectric effects are the key. Furutech's breakthrough in design and materials is based on employing nano-sized polycrystalline ferroelectric ceramic particles exhibiting electro-generative properties; mechanical pressure creates an electrical charge forming a bridge between electrical and mechanical oscillation.

Carbon powder exhibits thermal-conductive characteristics that interact with the charged ferro-ceramic particles converting their energy into heat that's conducted away and released from the surface of the connector body!

These carefully chosen and tested "active" materials mechanically and electrically damp connectors, receptacles and other products as they "interconvert" thermal, mechanical, and electrical energy for the finest Furutech Pure Transmission signal imaginable.

The Furutech Floating Field Damper completely solves the biggest problem you never realized you had by star grounding the parts in which floating magnetic fields are created by current flow. As represented in the images below, a precisely engineered, sprung metal bridge in the connector body ties the various parts together and shunts the potential to ground, preventing the flow of noise and significantly reducing distortion for ultra clean and stable power transfer. US Patent No. 6,669,491

Furutech Alpha Process
Using cutting-edge technology and materials, Furutech developed a low-temperature two-stage process that significantly improves every facet of audio and video performance. The treatment begins during the manufacturing process with a deep, conditioning cryogenic freeze of all metal parts. Using high-end refrigerants — liquid N2 or He — Furutech achieves temperatures of between -196 to -250C. The treated parts actually change their molecular structure at these extremes of temperature relieving internal stress. The molecules bond together more tightly, and the overall structure becomes more stable. This improves electrical conductivity and so power and signal transfer.

Step two in the Alpha Process exposes these same parts to the patented Ring Demagnetization treatment. Ordinary high-power magnets used for this purpose often increase magnetization effects; they leave some areas more magnetized than others. Just like a CD spinning over a fixed magnet; when the CD stops the area above the magnet is still exposed to the magnetic field causing audible effects. This patented process uses controlled attenuation to completely eliminate magnetization for immediately more vivid and colorful improvements. Ring Demagnetization further enhances conductivity of all treated materials.

All metallic parts used in Furutech products go through the Alpha Process treatment to keep all connectors, conductors, and metal parts in a perfect stress-free, stable and highly conductive state.

The Final Result The two-step Alpha Cryogenic and Demagnetizing Process works in tandem with other design-in features to create the most optimized AC power transfer possible. Furutech's total awareness and devotion to detail results in a greater sense of power, dynamics, and resolution, with cleaner, blacker backgrounds and a larger, more stable soundstage, vivid tonal colors and deeper extension at both ends of the frequency range.

About Furutech
Furutech, founded in 1988, designs and manufactures an extraordinary range of high-end audio accessories and A/V cables made with extremely high-quality materials and precision manufacturing techniques. Now in our 31^st year, Furutech had its beginnings as the international distributor for Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., bringing Furukawa POCC single-crystal oxygen-free copper cables to international audio related industries and markets. Two years after our start in this "no compromise" industry, Furutech introduced its own line up of Furutech branded cables and started accessory sales to its distribution network. In 1992 Furutech developed and released the FI-15 IEC and power connector series which was well received worldwide and still remains extremely popular to this date. Furutech then set about expanding its lineup of products to include further power related products, signal connectors and an extensive range of audio cables. Also, introduction of sound improving technologies like the Floating Field Damper and the ɑ-(Alpha) Process to their products, boosted our reputation in the industry and high-end audio consumer market lending to our already strong reputation as a leading Japanese audio and accessory manufacturer. Furutech then took its products to mainstage audio exhibitions like CES and High End Society (Frankfurt and Munich) and international distributors soon signed on to represent Furutech.

Furutech Co., Ltd.
Furutech Bldg., 3-9-1 Togoshi, Shinagawa-Ku,
Tokyo 142-0041, Japan

Website: www.Furutech.com