The Cardas Nautilus Power Strip. Pure power. No current limiting components or circuit boards. Six premium, custom designed outlets, each equally capable of delivering the clean power your audio components require, from the biggest power amplifiers to the most sensitive front-end components.

The Cardas Nautilus Power Strip is the culmination of more than a year of development, prototyping and testing by George Cardas and the team at Cardas Audio.

THE OUTLET

We began with, arguably, the most important component - the outlet.  The Cardas 4181US Duplex Outlet features copper contact surfaces, plated with Rhodium over Silver, for improved current transfer. Tension springs provide excellent grip, even on heavy cables.  One of the most versatile audio grade outlets available, the 4181US can be used as a standard duplex, or electrically separated into two completely discrete outlets, each with its own hot, neutral and ground connections.

We released the 4181US Duplex Outlet to the market, and it was an immediate success.  Audiophiles and studio engineers installed the outlets in their listening rooms.  Our dealers specializing in DIY parts had trouble keeping them in stock.  Other high-end audio manufacturers used the 4818US in their own power distribution products. We went through several production runs of the outlet while we worked on the chassis design and internal wiring scheme for own power strip.

THE BODY

While discussing the challenges of designing an attractive and functional case, one of our distributors remarked “why not base it on the original Cardas power strip?”.  That model, the much heralded Cardas Golden Power 6A, dated back to the mid-1990’s. Demand exceeded our production capacity at the time, dictating an extremely limited run. But it was this model’s legendary status that led to our being asked to make another power strip two decades later. 

The Golden Power 6A was beautiful & sleek, but its interior space was quite limited, making assembly a challenge.  For the new Cardas Nautilus US Power Strip, we emulated the same basic exterior design, with rounded sides and soft steps leading to the top panel, adding nearly 5 centimeters of height to accommodate the bulky 4181US Duplex Outlet, and all of the heavy gauge wiring. Instead of the original’s all-black color scheme, the body of the Nautilus US Power Strip is matte black, with heavy brass end pieces plated with copper, and clear coated.

THE WIRING

As a wire & cable company known for producing the finest copper wire in the world, the internal wiring of our power strip is expected to be the best. Mined in the US Southwest and processed in the Northeast, Cardas Copper is produced using a proprietary method developed by George Cardas more than 30 years ago.  Unable to be replicated by any other facility, Cardas Copper is used in all of our cables.  It is also found in many other high end audio products, and in scientific applications. 

In the Nautilus US Power Strip, Cardas 10 AWG Solid Core is wired from the IEC inlet to the Hot and Neutral of each 4181US Duplex Outlet.  Cardas 11.5 AWG Multi-Stranded Litz Wire runs from the chassis to all six of the independent ground connections, passing through six wraps around a ferrite core for noise suppression, similar to the ‘bulb’ found on many of our power cables.  A 3D printed guide keeps the coil uniformly spaced.  All ground connections are tied to a 1 Kilogram pure copper Earth plate.

The 4mm jack (banana style) allows you to connect the Nautilus to an external ground, such as a stake in the ground outside, or in the basement of your home.  (Please consult with a qualified electrician before implementing this feature)

A unique ground coil on each outlet helps prevent noise from entering & propagating through your system.