do you know tara labs (i need advice)

[okiemax]

Well, if the wire gauges are indeed equivalents, doesn't have to be the same gauge, 12 ga is equivalent to 14 or 16 ga, then there is no audible differences that anyone has yet been able to detect under bias controlled conditions. ]

But, if you have credible evidence that you can detect audible differences, please cite it, or anyone with this ability.
Yes, that is saying a lot, indeed. And, lots of $$$ has been offered in the past to anyone who could demonstrate such skills.

I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think an offer means much unless it is presented in a way that makes it's acceptance a legally binding contract or agreement. It would be interesting to study the details of a documented offer to pay money to an individual who hears a difference between two cables in a scientific test. Can you post a copy of such an offer?

[mtrycraft]

An offer may not mean much unless it is in the form of a legally binding contract or agreement. It would be interesting to study the details of an offer to pay money to an individual who hears a difference between two cables in a scientific test. Can you post a copy of such an offer?

Nope. No legal document exists, just the honesty of th epeopl contributing to the fund, or the individual as I have read numerous offers over the years. The bassman rgreen here himself posted $1k bounty some time back at ar. That's the way it is.
But there is still no evidence for differences by anyone.

[okiemax]

Nope. No legal document exists, just the honesty of th epeopl contributing to the fund, or the individual as I have read numerous offers over the years. The bassman rgreen here himself posted $1k bounty some time back at ar. That's the way it is.
But there is still no evidence for differences by anyone.

I thought this topic was too interesting to be buried here, so I started a new thread.

[nusiclover]

wow. is all i can say. i just wanted advice on tara labs, not start a mini war on speaker cables and consumerism!
but, for the sake of fueling this fire, i will have to present my personal recent experience (take it for what you will): i emailed tara labs and told them that i had $1400 speakers and a $1500 amp. i asked them to recommened me speaker cables and interconnects. their reply email "highly advised" me to get their interconnect that costs $350 and their speaker cables that run $120/foot. Id say this is interesting....to say the least.
on another note, mrtycraft, however well this experience may help in your statements, i would like to ask you this: have you, or have you not, ever done a test yourself with , oh say radio shack 14 gauge versus (you pick) 14 gauge? if you have, can you really say you heard No difference at all?
i am not certain on speaker wire, but i know for a fact (source: my very own eyes) that video cables DO make a huge difference between, say what you can get at best buy versus what you can get at a high end a/v store.
trust me, id really like to believe that what i can get at home depot and what i can get at a high end store makes no difference at all. Hey, just like the next man i love to save $$$. however, and maybe this is me buying into marketing and hear-say, i think that there would be a notable difference.

[paul_pci]

wow. is all i can say. i just wanted advice on tara labs, not start a mini war on speaker cables and consumerism!
but, for the sake of fueling this fire, i will have to present my personal recent experience (take it for what you will): i emailed tara labs and told them that i had $1400 speakers and a $1500 amp. i asked them to recommened me speaker cables and interconnects. their reply email "highly advised" me to get their interconnect that costs $350 and their speaker cables that run $120/foot. Id say this is interesting....to say the least.
on another note, mrtycraft, however well this experience may help in your statements, i would like to ask you this: have you, or have you not, ever done a test yourself with , oh say radio shack 14 gauge versus (you pick) 14 gauge? if you have, can you really say you heard No difference at all?
i am not certain on speaker wire, but i know for a fact (source: my very own eyes) that video cables DO make a huge difference between, say what you can get at best buy versus what you can get at a high end a/v store.
trust me, id really like to believe that what i can get at home depot and what i can get at a high end store makes no difference at all. Hey, just like the next man i love to save $$$. however, and maybe this is me buying into marketing and hear-say, i think that there would be a notable difference.

This may sound a bit inconsisten from what I've been saying, but the last person I might trust with purchase recommendations would be the manufacturer him/herself. Do you have a local dealer you trust is not interested in parting a fool from his money? At least get a second opinion. Or consdier this: get some Tara Omni ($1.50/foot when I bought it) for your two front speakers and test it out for a couple weeks and see what you think.

… let the war rage on.

[mtrycraft]

wow. is all i can say. i just wanted advice on tara labs, not start a mini war on speaker cables and consumerism!

You didn't. It is ongoing. You just posted a new message


i will have to present my personal recent experience (take it for what you will): i emailed tara labs and told them that i had $1400 speakers and a $1500 amp. i asked them to recommened me speaker cables and interconnects. their reply email "highly advised" me to get their interconnect that costs $350 and their speaker cables that run $120/foot. Id say this is interesting....to say the least.

Yes, that is interesting, especially since you didn't tell them which speakers or amp, right? Now if not, how would they come up with those recommendation without knowing anything about those two components?


on another note, mrtycraft, however well this experience may help in your statements, i would like to ask you this: have you, or have you not, ever done a test yourself with , oh say radio shack 14 gauge versus (you pick) 14 gauge? if you have, can you really say you heard No difference at all?

First, it is irrelevant what I tested or not unless I make testable claims for myself. Second, there is no reason for me to do this; there is no evidence that anyone is able to differentiate comparable cables.
Third, who would it convince if I did such a test and didn't hear a thing. I can hear it now: your system was not resolving, you cannot hear, etc


i am not certain on speaker wire, but i know for a fact (source: my very own eyes) that video cables DO make a huge difference between, say what you can get at best buy versus what you can get at a high end a/v store.

Well, for what it's worth, there is an audio club in mid US, where a member did a blind DBT test with a video cable and a very long extension cable, yes, 120V type, with nothing.


trust me, id really like to believe that what i can get at home depot and what i can get at a high end store makes no difference at all. Hey, just like the next man i love to save $$$. however, and maybe this is me buying into marketing and hear-say, i think that there would be a notable difference.

Yep, you are bying into it, your subconscious bias is. You need to try some DBT comparisons.

[nusiclover]

ok, heres my test:
i simply connected best buy(audio research) components from dvd to tv in video1.
i then connected a tara labs s-video from dvd to tv in video4.
this was all done to the same toshiba tv the exact same time.
now, if information serves correctly, most would agree component video cables will render higher resolution and better color saturation? right?
so, i played a dvd. and on colorful frames i paused. then proceeded to switch between video1 and video4. and guess what?
right there, before my own eyes i clearly saw a difference in the color and saturation. at first i was unsure which cables corresponded with wich source. better unbiased example i cannot think of. then when i peaked behind the tv and found that component corresponded wih video1 and s-video with video4 it actually didnt surprise me that video4 was indeed the feed with better color saturation and better color richness. i then proceeded to change tint, color, sharpness, and contrast .i continued to change all the levels back and forth whilst changing back and forth from v1 and v4. and you know what? every level i tried proved that v4 was the better of the two.
this brought me to conclude that a better s-video cable will provide better color and saturation then cheaper component cables.
if this is not a 99% conclusive test, then maybe my eyes are backwards.

[nusiclover]

btw, i read some good articles today that made much sence.
it stated that whilst $10/foot 14gauge cable will not sound any better/different than $0.30/foot 14 ga, the difference is that the $10 cable will last longer without having the copper wires turn green (i guess a pretty commnon experience with home depot speaker cable).
so, i concluded that you can either, (a) get $10 cables now and for ever, or, (b) get $0.30 cables and change them every year or so.
what are your opinions on this?

[paul_pci]

ok, heres my test:
i simply connected best buy(audio research) components from dvd to tv in video1.
i then connected a tara labs s-video from dvd to tv in video4.
this was all done to the same toshiba tv the exact same time.
now, if information serves correctly, most would agree component video cables will render higher resolution and better color saturation? right?
so, i played a dvd. and on colorful frames i paused. then proceeded to switch between video1 and video4. and guess what?
right there, before my own eyes i clearly saw a difference in the color and saturation. at first i was unsure which cables corresponded with wich source. better unbiased example i cannot think of. then when i peaked behind the tv and found that component corresponded wih video1 and s-video with video4 it actually didnt surprise me that video4 was indeed the feed with better color saturation and better color richness. i then proceeded to change tint, color, sharpness, and contrast .i continued to change all the levels back and forth whilst changing back and forth from v1 and v4. and you know what? every level i tried proved that v4 was the better of the two.
this brought me to conclude that a better s-video cable will provide better color and saturation then cheaper component cables.
if this is not a 99% conclusive test, then maybe my eyes are backwards.

I did a similar test, although not blind at all. [Please mtrycraft, no need to bang your head against the wall] I had gotten a new RCA DirectTv receiver that had a component out and I had been using an S-video connection previously. I plugged both cables into the new satellite receiver and went to work switching back and forth on the TV input buttons. Surprisingly it wasn't the color or the definition that stood out in the difference, but the brightness and contrast. The component video cable had a better handling on the lighting and contrast then did the S-video, although I had expected the component video to have the clear advantage over coloring.

I would also ask if your Toshiba is a pretty sophisticated tv. I've read that some tvs will offer a component video input but down convert the signal to S-video. Can't vouch for how true that is, but it wouldn't surprise me one bit.