Dielectric materials sound different because of the different rates that the materials store and release energy at different frequencies. PVC, a common dielectric material, causes distortion and coloration mostly audible in the mid-bass and mid-range frequencies, whereas Teflon® causes distortion in the upper treble frequencies, making coloration less noticeable.

TARA Labs uses a proprietary dielectric material called “Aerospace Polyethylene™” or “Aero-PE™.” This material is chemically treated to have low dielectric absorption and high dielectric elasticity. It reacts less with the signal in the conductor, making it more sonically neutral than other materials. Aero-PE is also extruded at a lower temperature than other insulating materials. Copper conductors insulated with Aero-PE are not exposed to high heat and therefore retain their specially annealed qualities.

Bi-wired

Bi-wiring

Bi-wirable speakers can be connected either with two separate runs of regular speaker cable, or one run of speaker cable configured as “single run bi-wire.” Bi-wire cables, such as TARA Labs’ Prism Bi-Wire or RSC® Bi-wire speaker cables, have all necessary conductor runs contained within the same outer jacket. They provide the four connections necessary for bi-wirable speakers in a more convenient and attractive form.

Although bi-wiring results in improved definition and stereo separation, further improvement in the soundstage can be gained by TARA Labs’ unique range of bi-wire cables: RSC® 1800, RSC® Reference Bi-Wire, ISM Bi-Wire the Two and ISM Bi-Wire The One. In these very special cables, the bass conductors, positive and negative, are separately shielded to avoid electromagnetic radiation from the bass conductors affecting the high frequency conductors. This results in a very noticeable improvement in the smoothness of the entire sound field, producing a much less fatiguing sound.

Impedance

As a current is passed through a conductor, an electromagnetic field is created which interacts with the dielectric material and temporarily displaces the molecular structure. If the dielectric material has good elasticity and can return quickly to its normal state, then the material is said to have low dielectric hysteresis or loss and will have little audible effect on the signal.

A filter network removes RFI from the audio signal by filtering out or rolling off all high frequency energy above a certain range. This affects a great deal of high frequency information at the upper end of the musical spectrum. Furthermore, these filter networks are connected directly in the signal path. When the signal is interrupted and fed through these low-pass filter networks, the cable’s electrical characteristics are changed to make a modified cable interface with limited and unnatural filter characteristics. The high frequency bandwidth is reduced. The audio band is affected also, as it is subjected by the filter network to rippling, and slower rise time (in the case of the Fourth-Order Bessel low-pass filter.) Furthermore, in a filter network RF inter-modulation has not been addressed properly because the heterodyning effect still affects the audio band. Additionally, the amplitude of the extreme high frequency harmonics of the music are filtered off, along with the RFI distortion, by generic capacitors and inductors in the filter network. The effects of a filter network are therefore subtractive, and ultimately color the original signal.

Inside the Floating Ground Station are Ceralex® components.  Ceralex is a ceramic composite compound for the absorption and grounding of RFI and EMI. This compound is comprised of metallic oxides and a specific amalgam of mineral elements in a ceramic binder.

Linearity with Frequency

100 KHz

1 KHz

101 KHz

99 KHz

This is an important distinction because it has a profound effect on lowering the amount of RF intermodulation that can be introduced into the system via the cables. TARA Labs’ in-house testing shows that the best of conventional shield designs are not effective at preventing RF intermodulation. The Isolated Shield Matrix, with its floating shield, dramatically reduces RF intermodulation of the audio signal.

In a typical interconnect the shield may prevent a certain amount of RF from modulating the signal through the conductors. But the shield is not deflecting RF energy in the environment – it is actually being absorbed. That energy is then returned to the system through the chassis of the component because the shield is coupled to the connector at one or both ends. By floating the shield at both ends, the Isolated Floating Shield avoids this problem. Energy absorbed by the shield is then transferred directly to the Floating Ground Station.

The Isolated Shield Matrix system consists of three components: the interconnect cable itself (The One™, The 2™ and the ISM Digital cables), the Isolated Floating Shield, and a Floating Ground Station®. The purpose of the system is to provide an independent isolated absorption path for the transference of RFI and EMI without connection to the audio or video system.

Rectangular Solid Core® interconnects and speaker cables have become the reference standard for reviewers and serious audiophiles the world over due to their extremely accurate, neutral and frequency linear performance.

To understand the principle behind RSC® technology, it’s necessary to understand a phenomenon known as the “Skin Effect.” This principle states that in a round conductor higher frequencies will tend to travel towards the outside (or skin) or the conductor, while lower frequencies tend to be concentrated at the center of the conductor. The larger the diameter of a round conductor, the worse the effect will be, resulting in a significant roll-off of high frequencies in large gauge conductors.

Because of its rectangular cross section, an RSC conductor essentially has no center like a round conductor. Therefore it does not suffer the same high-frequency losses. It is the only conductor that is able to combine high current-carrying capability with extreme frequency linearity across the musical spectrum.

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) refers to energy that is radiated by devices such as audio/video components, which contain transformers, AC cables and other electronic components that generate electromagnetic fields. The radiation of this energy is the major source of electromagnetic interference in an audio system. EMI affects the audio signal, adding noise and hash and obscuring low level detail and ambient information.

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is actually a type of electromagnetic interference referring to signals within the radio frequency spectrum of 70 kHz and above.

The abundance of RF pollution in the environment has been compounded in recent years by the proliferation of appliances generating RF signals. Furthermore, digital technology in audio systems has exacerbated the problem because RF modulation of the transmission of digital information affects the audio signal also. For this reason separate Floating Ground Stations® for Analog and Digital Interconnects are provided.

In an audio or home theater system, the interfaces which are most vulnerable to RFI are the interconnect cables themselves, which tend to behave like antennae for RF signals. The order of magnitude between the audio signal in the cable and the RFI in the cable is close enough in both analog and digital signal transmission that it can be a serious problem. (NOTE: This problem does not generally exist in speaker cable because of its characteristic combination of high current and low impedance.)

Rolled off

The Super-Annealing process is performed in an oxygen-free environment to create an ultra-pure conductor with long-grain copper crystals. Traditional copper conductors are composed of much smaller crystals. The multiple breaks or junctions between these smaller crystals cause increased noise due to the diode effect of these junctions. They alter the flow of electrical signals and cause distortion.

Insulating materials exposed to electric fields are called “dielectrics.” As a current is passed through a conductor, an electromagnetic field temporarily displaces the molecular structure of dielectric material. Fiber and PVC, common dielectrics, cause audible distortion and coloration. Teflon’s low dielectric absorption and superior molecular elasticity deliver a sonically neutral signal.

A vacuum is the most effective dielectric environment possible, due to its lack of dielectric hysterisis (see “Dielectric.”)