Taralabs cables

This is another Tara lab's comment, I am not sure which cable model this reviewer is talking about other than the description has to be some of the top model's of Tara Lab's, “The pinpoint imaging of voices behind the mikes was surgically precise. The cable mastered relative distances between the singers and, as a bonus, it also depicted relative heights of the singers. Usually I hear this track with the voices coming as if from the same horizontal level – this time I could hear how tall the singer were.” - Audiodrom online magazine 2014

“By the clever design TARA Labs have managed to achieve the goal when timing is unified across the frequency spectrum and the system provides crystal clear view of the soundstage not only in spatial domain, but also in temporal domain.” – Audiodrom online magazine 2014

1-14-15: Audiolabyrinth
Hi Gslone, consonant alloy is pure SA-OF8N 99.999999% copper (super-annealed, oxygen-free, eight nines pure copper, it is not an alloy at all, if you know what the word consonant mean's, just constant,you go a way's back, I remember the master gen2 cable's, I use to own them my self,I am pleased that you have been a long time Tara lab's owner, congrat's, the new cable's are far beyound the ole master cable's, if you wanted to do a cheap very cost effective up-grade on the older cable's, I can give recommendation's, however, I am not a dealer, you would of course have to buy from a dealer or direct from Tara lab's, reply when you can, thankyou for coming to this thread.
Audiolabyrinth (Threads | Answers | This Thread)

An alloy is not pure copper. An alloy is composed of two or more metals.
Consonant, the way they are using it, means blended together in a harmonious way.
Their alloy is proprietary, so they are not saying what the other metal is, or what the mix % is.
A simple search found this info
The Consonant AlloyTM
BREAKTHROUGH Explained

By Matthew Bond, TARA Labs Designer

The development of Consonant Alloy was a response to recent advances in copper technology that have resulted in ever increasing purity levels. This increased purity (expressed in the form of "99.9999% pure" or "six nines" copper) does result in measurable increases in conductivity over copper conductors of lesser purity. In the development of Consonant Alloy, I sought to increase conductivity even further by examining the use of different materials and, just as important, more sophisticated annealing processes.

Consonant Alloy is a proprietary blend of elements chosen for their conductive strengths and compatibility. It meets three important criteria: 1.) Consonant Alloy is more conductive than pure copper. 2.) Consonant Alloy is more linear and accurate than current alternatives to copper. 3.) It can be produced at a price that is within the range of the average audiophile.

Independent metallurgical testing shows the conductivity of Consonant Alloy to be substantially greater than "six nines" copper.' But this improvement is even more significant in terms of sound quality than the numbers may indicate. A purer, more conductive material sounds cleaner, more transparent and more neutral than one that is less conductive. Even small differences in conductivity result in audible differences in sound quality.

The word "Consonant" means "blended together in a Harmanious way." This very accurately describes the relationship of the elements that make up Consonant Alloy, and is a partial explanation for its success as a conductor material.

Examination of the structure of Consonant Alloy reveals a very long, unbroken crystal structure. This is important to conductivity because breaks between crystals in traditional copper conductors result in internal oxidation. These oxidized crystal junctions are electrical discontinuities which act as diodes to inhibit the flow of electrical current. Because of the homogenous crystal structure of Consonant Alloy, fewer such breaks occur than in even the purest form of copper.

After annealing, Consonant Alloy is buffed and polished in-line to produce a mirror-like surface that is visibly smoother than copper, even to the naked eye. This eliminates surface oxidation that can inhibit electrical flow and result in audible distortion.

Consonant Alloy vs. Alternatives to Copper

There are other conductor materials currently in use besides pure copper. Using the criteria of conductivity, frequency linearity and cost effectiveness, none can outperform Consonant Alloy.

Silver, for example, has long been known for its conductive strength, which is widely acknowledged to be greater than copper. The problem with silver is that contemporary designs tend to accentuate high frequencies when not designed or annealed correctly. Mathematical formulae reveal that for a given diameter, copper and silver conductors have different frequency response curves and linearity with frequency. For a silver conductor to sound as neutral, it must be slightly smaller than the equivalent copper conductor.

Solid silver conductors that are not annealed properly can be overly bright, even harsh sounding.

Since silver is a more expensive raw material, it is almost impossible for manufacturers to produce a reasonably priced silver conductor that has been subjected to the appropriate (read "expensive") annealing process.

Silver-plated copper conductors worsen the problem. Silver accentuates high-frequencies more than the equivalent skin-depth layer of copper would, delivering them out of phase with the underlying copper core.

Consonant Alloy is currently in use in TARA Labs' top of the line Rectangular Solid Core products: RSC Master Generation 2 and Decade speaker cable, interconnect, digital cables and power cords. In conjunction with TARA Labs' patented Rectangular Solid Core design, Consonant Alloy provides what I believe to be the ultimate combination: conductivity that far surpasses that of any form of copper, and frequency linearity far greater than either silver or silver-plated copper.

Material Resistivity
ohms/circ.
mil/ft Conductivity
calib. to %
Consonant
Alloy 10.1
(Annealed) 100%
99.9999 Cu
"6 Nines" 10.3
(Annealed) 99.4%
99.99 Cu
"4 Nines" 10.1
(Annealed) 100%
TM -- Consonant Alloy, Rectangular Solid Core and RSC Master Generation 2 are trademarks of TARA Labs, Inc.

Awsome Grey9hound, However, Tara Lab's does NOT use 6-nines occ copper any more period,also, I confirmed with Tara lab's, they do not make consonant alloy conductor's anymore either, they have not done so for a few years now, this is the conductor now-Conductor Information

The RSC Gen 2 (SA-OF8N) Conductor

Super Annealed, Oxygen Free, Eight Nines Copper (SA-OF8N) is the new standard in high performance copper purity.

TARA Labs Rectangular Solid Core® conductors are completely produced in the USA. We start with Oxygen Free Eight Nines Copper (99.999999%), and the copper rods are extruded into long, unbroken, mono-crystal copper rectangular conductors. The conductors are extruded into a unique rectangular shape having specific ‘frequency-tuned’ proportions. Rectangular Solid Core conductors are annealed with a process known as Super Annealing™.

Super Annealing™ or SA, softens the RSC® conductor and increases its conductivity. After annealing, the RSC conductors are polished in-line, and will become finished SA-OF8N® Rectangular Solid Core conductors ready for insulation using advanced polymers or liquid-film technology.


TARA Labs has continuously advanced the design and materials used in its conductor technologies. Previously, in our lower priced consumer grade cables, we were limited to the use of 6N, or six-nines (99.9999%) pure copper and the OCC or Ohno-Continuous Cast copper technologies.

Since the development of Rectangular Solid Core, we have moved beyond these lesser quality materials with the use of higher purity copper and our exclusive USA technologies.
and this id the new generation 3 conductor here, used only in the Grandmaster Evolution interconnect-Making Sense of….Gen 3 Conductors

TARA Labs, Inc. has just announced the introduction of its Generation 3 Rectangular Solid Core® conductor, to be used exclusively in its state-of-the-art interconnect cable.

TARA Labs claims that the Gen 3 conductor has an increased bandwidth or high-frequency extension, that makes it unrivalled in important test measurements and listening tests.

TARA Labs’ Vice President of Product Design, Matthew Bond, said that the new Gen 3 conductor has the same current-carrying capability of a 28 gauge conductor but has the high frequency linearity of a 40 gauge conductor.

Matthew Bond explains why this is possible. “In a conductor with a rectangular profile, there is a huge reduction of ‘flux-linkage’ or ‘coupling’ of electromagnetic lines of force. These lines of force are created as the signal (music) passes through any conductor.” Bond said further, “In a round conductor there is a large center that tends to roll-off or attenuate much more of the high frequency information … this does not happen in a Rectangular Solid Core® conductor”.

According to Matthew Bond, the new Gen 3 Rectangular Solid Core® conductor is smaller than the current Gen 2 conductor used in most of TARA Labs’ audio cables. The Gen 2 conductor measures approximately 25 thousands of an inch wide and 12 thousands of an inch in height. Bond says that the Gen 3 conductor is about 66% of the size of the Gen 2 conductor, and that it is Super-Annealed™ to increase its conductivity.

Both the Gen 2 conductor and the smaller Gen 3 conductor are said to be Eight-Nines™ pure copper, which is 99.999999% pure. TARA Labs’ trademarks for this technology are 8N™ and SA-OF8N®. SA-OF8N means Super Annealed – Oxygen Free 8 Nines copper. According to Bond, the term ‘annealing’ refers to the method whereby a conductor can be made softer and more conductive.

TARA Labs is widely known as the leader in cable technology and audio cable design. They are based in Ashland, Oregon. All cables are hand-made in the USA.

Thankyou grey9hound for the correction about consonant alloy, that was used a very long time ago, my last post about the current conductor's is a huge departure from what was made back then, Tara lab's has evolved their conductor's over the year's, they are now publicly shareing via their web-site what their conductor's are now, since they have everything they do copy written now and trade marked, I use to own the master gen 2 cable, those were produced in the early 90's to 1995, then in 1996, the decade anniversary cable replaced the master gen 2, the model called, The One, replaced the decade cable in 1996 and is still made today.

Simply Googling TARALABS or visiting their website will get most if not all the infos here ~ more accurately, IMHO.

What's lacking are testimonials from 'real' users sharing/exchanging of experiences. I personally would like to hear feedback from Evolution and/or Grandmaster owners/early adapters. In my understanding, Audiocrack was one of the few, but was driven away by way this thread took course, unfortunately.