High fidelity monthly magazine, review by Wojciech pacula,,, the impact of tests in trade magazines is either described as none or of a sort that can change everything; it depends on whether or not the one who expresses such an opinion likes or does not like the press and/or reviews. But if you want to form your own opinion, it would be best if you base it on concrete examples. The argument FOR could be the story of the, at the time Australian company with headquarters in Sydney, the TARA Labs (TARA is written in capital letters, because it is an abbreviation of The Absolute Reference Audio).
The company launched on the other side of the globe in 1986, with their Phase II cable. In 1988 they managed to organize its test in the American magazine "Stereophile". The cable proved to be so interesting that the magazine gave him an extremely positive feedback. The response from the press, distributors and consumers was so great that a year later the company moved to the United States and since then is a US company. It was not the first nor the last such Aussie transfer – one could point out some other examples such as: AC/DC and Dead Can Dance. But as far as audio industry is concerned this was the most famous transfer.
The world of cables is divided into those who use copper and those who use other metals, mainly silver. TARA Labs belongs to the former. But this is not the only distinguishing feature of their designs. The second is a commitment to the use of solid core cables, i.e. single, separately insulated wires, in TARA Labs version placed in the tubes filled with air; as air is one of the best insulators. Except for vacuum of course - the company boasted that for the, until recently top interconnect in company's lineup, model The Zero, they managed to get the pressure inside the pipes that is similar to vacuum. Was it really so? Hard to say, but the message was released out into the world.
The conductors utilized by the company were not ordinary round ones. Already in 1992, TARA used wires with a rectangular cross section (Rectangular Solid Core). Today such non-round wires are used also by other brands such as: Acrolink or Acoustic Revive that uses oval ones, but back then it was a true novelty. As for newer ideas introduced by TARA there are some worth mentioning such as: passive float screen that is connected to a special "base" (Isolated Shield Matrix). Currently, TARA Labs is one of the largest manufacturers of specialized wiring. All of its products are made in the USA, which emphasizes the engraving on connectors that reads: "All cables made in U.S.A.".
