TARA LABS TL2-/14

MJ26.11.2014

Speaker cables

When I swapped my reference wires for the TL-2/14 I was surprised at how clean the sound was. The background noise, or better, the electronic hash in the background, was vacuum cleaned. Such a canvas was perfect for the TARA Labs to start painting their sonic pictures.

Function and form

80%

Ease of use

41%

Sound

82%

Appearance

TARA Labs uses proprietary extruded air-tubes inside their cables which eliminates the need for the typical dielectric construction in a typical cable. Using hollow channels along the inner wall of the main air-tube, the positive and negative conductors are isolated from each other with absolutely minimal dielectric absorption and coloration of the audio signal. Due to the absence of typical dielectric or insulation construction in the cable, the result is an extremely open and revealing cable product, able to transfer subtle detail and ambient information without distortion or coloration. So says the manufacturer.

The TL-2/14 speaker cable features 2x7 SA-OF8N solid core copper conductors individually encapsulated in polyethylene (Stable Valence Polyethylene or SVPA as TARA Labs calls it). It is quite thin and lightweight in fact, easy to manipulate and bend. The review sample was terminated with bananas which made good connections to my Bowers & Wilkins 802 Diamond’s terminals.

Bass management

Weight

Slam

Articulation

I liked the exciting lower bass to midbass where instruments like electric bass guitar, kick drum or timpani have their fundamentals – it was contoured and full of energy, something that is rare in this price category. For example, the timpani gallop in Saint-Saens Samson and Dalilah (Eiji Oue and Minnesota Orchestra, Exotic Dances from Opera, Reference Recordings) was fast, impactful and perfectly delineated to the extent I could hear individual strokes of the mallet on drums skins.

Clarity & delicacy

Detail

Air

Transparency

The mids were tonally brilliant and seamlessly extended to pure and soaring highs. Triangles, flutes or blazing horns had both romanticism and bite, both emotions and technical perfection. Initially, there was a sense of hardness on the top of the frequency spectrum, yet this hardness had got refined with ongoing burn-in.

Tonal accuracy

Timbre

Dynamics

Temporal resolution

I was blown with the soundstage that was rendered by the cheap TARA Labs cables. Realistically proportioned, with width and depth without any restrictions, totally fluid in its expanding wholeness – simply breathtaking in this category of products.

Spatial resolution

Holography

Soundstage width

Soundstage depth

So far it looks like the biggest bang for the buck ever, so where is the hook? Well, measured by the most critical standards, the TL-2/14 will not provide you with low bass and lacks the texture and micro-dimensionality. The cables are on the fast and light side of universe and did not manage to get deeper under the music’s skin. As the result, Fadia El-Hage’s voice was just a voice what hovered in my listening room, I missed the real person, the origin of the voice, the flesh. Similarly, the triangle in Marouf, Cobbler of Cairo was extended and pure, surrounded by airy ambience, yet it did not sound, it did not ring and resonate.

Price as reviewed:4 300,- Kč

Recommended resellers

Gaia Connections, Praha, tel. +420 286 885 599

Manufacturer's website: http://www.taralabs.com

Associated components

Sources: Van Medevoort CD transport CT460 and DAC DA466, Accuphase DP-78, Accuphase DP-700
Amplifiers: Van Medevoort PSQ/CAQ/PAQs, Accuphase A-70
Interconnects and speaker cables: Krautwire Fractal, Nordost Valhalla V2, Cardas Clear, Audioquest Wild, Audioquest Redwood, Actinote Sonata
Loudspeakers: Bowers & Wilkins 802 Diamond, Sonus Faber Guarneri Memento
Power conditioning: Nordost Thor (modified)

Gallery

39%

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