Cable Asylum: REVIEW: Tara Labs Analog Floating Ground Station Cable by Luminator

A critical component of Tara Labs' ISM cables is the Ground Station. The latest production The One and The 2 interconnects now come with what is called "ISM Onboard," essentially incorporating the Ground Station inline on the interconnect itself. But if you have the older non-Onboard version of these ISM interconnects, you will need a Ground Station.

Each ISM interconnect comes with a small, 2.5" x 1.5" x 0.3125" Chassis Ground Station (CGS). You can also replace the CGS with the Solo Floating Ground Station ($400, measuring 2.9375" x 1.9375" x 0.8125") or Analog Floating Ground Station ($600, measuring 4.5" x 2.9375" x 1.25"). The AFGS can accommodate two pairs of interconnects.

Call it sick to use the $1895 The One interconnect on a $595 Sony KV-24FV10 television, but that is what I do. And you know what? In conjunction with The One, the Sony coughs up some of the best TV sound I have ever heard. 'Tis better to spend $1895 on a killer cable like The One, rather than on home theatre equipment, which just ruins the sound, with all that processing and extra channels.

When The One goes between TV and preamp, broadcasts come alive. But it gets better. The sound becomes smoother, less fizzy, when the Solo replaces the stock CGS. Replace the Solo with an AFGS, however, and the whole upper midrange to lower treble range is cleansed of grain, and snaps into focus. Prior to this discovery, I had thought that the grain was just part of the reception. How wrong I am! The bottom line is, you absolutely do not know what your gear, regardless of price, sounds like, until you have used it with top-notch interconnects like The One with its AFGS. Okay, so the AFGS costs as much as my TV itself. But if you have already bought the equipment, plan to keep it for years to come, and want to squeeze the most out of it, do yourself a favor and check out some top-notch cables.

If Ground Stations work wonders with ISM cables used on a TV set, what will they do for real high-end audio? Used between sources and preamps, and between preamps and amps, the ISM series is already phenomenal. But you will get even more freedom from grain when you use the Solo or AFGS. This freedom from grain manifests itself in several ways. Without the grain in the way, low-level details are free to shine. Image outlines are more sharply focused, and the images themselves are more firmly anchored within the soundstage, which now more accurately mimics what is on the recording. Throw up a monaural recording like The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds," and marvel at the layering and harmony. It seems as if the static from a FM broadcast has been removed, so there is more of the original air around instruments, complete with the reverb and room reflections swirling around each instrument. These cues let you know the size and feel of each venue or studio recording. Overall, without all that hash riding on the signal, the music takes on a life, presence, and flow of its own.

Solo versus Analog Floating Ground Station

Honestly, the Solo does not effect enough of an improvement to justify its $400 cost. For just $200 more, get the AFGS, which is over twice the size of the Solo. However, if you use two ISM interconnects with one AFGS, the sound is not as clean and sharp. In fact, two Solos are better than running one AFGS. But are two Solos better than one AFGS and one Chassis Ground Station? Tough call, but I would still go with the AFGS. You could always add another AFGS later.

Where the AFGS is also underrated is in its use as a weight on top of a component. The AFGS, being more than twice the size of a Solo, replicates the effects of, say, a VPI Magic Brick or PolyCrystal Dissiblock.

Enter the Floating Ground Station Docking Base

The FGS Docking Base ($400) is a 15" x 8" platform made of the same material (Ceralex) as the Ground Stations. It is designed to hold up to four full-sized Floating Ground Stations. Remove the rubber bumpers from the bottom of your AFGS or Digital Floating Ground Station. Screw in two rods on the bottom of the AFGS. Align the rods with the grooves in the Docking Base, and slide them in. The Docking Base shields your component from RFI and EMI. When loaded with AFGSes and DFGSes, the Docking Base acts as an anti-vibration device.

The Solo is too small for the Docking Base, and cannot be locked into one. That puts the Solo at a severe disadvantage, when compared to the AFGS.

When compared head-to-head, the AFGS trumps the Solo. But lock an AFGS to the Docking Base, and the combination ups the performance another notch. The images remain unaltered and tangible. If you snorkel or go scuba diving, it's as if your mask stays fog-free. Without fog forming on your mask, you can see a greater variety of colors, differentiate the coral from the rocks, spot fish swimming within the tentacles of an anemone, and pick out individual fish within the school. Likewise, with a loaded Docking Base, you can hear the differences between celli, violas, and violins. Planes, motorcycles, and cars zip across the soundscape with precision and purpose. At the end of Motley Crue's "Girls, Girls, Girls," you swear that you can smell the exhaust of their Harleys. And when you listen to 'N Sync, the individual voices have identity, rather than meshing into a wall of sound. On Cyndi Lauper's "She Bop," the line "I hope he will understand" still sounds like "I don't even understand," but at least you now know that Lauper's singing, not your hearing or system, causes the confusion.

DJ/producer/remixer Kimball Collins compiles and mixes a CD called "Session: One" [ICU Records MXD-2154]. Adding the AFGS to The One or The 2 finally allows me to hear into this album, which is tasteful and seamless enough. The selections are naturally full of life, create interesting moods, and paint colorful landscapes. With the AFGS stripping away layers of distortion, you can hear the individual sounds flowing, gyrating, pulsing, and whipping back and forth. Listening to this compilation, you will not feel the urge to fast forward to get to the interesting parts.

Rarefied Air

If you are fortunate enough to own Tara Labs' ISM Series cables, congratulations. If you own the non-Onboard interconnects, then you owe it to yourself to maximize your purchase by investigating the Floating Ground Stations.

As I mentioned above, I do not recommend the Solo. It simply does not effect $400 worth of improvements. Stick with the Chassis Ground Station, stick your hands between the sofa cushions, and find that extra $200 to be able to afford an Analog Floating Ground Station. Refrain from sticking two pairs of interconnects into a single AFGS; the performance weakens. If you have two ISM interconnects and one AFGS, be patient, and wait until you can pick up a second AFGS. To top it all off, buy an FGS Docking Base, and connect away!

Once you have assembled that dream system, corrected the room's acoustics, and built up a nice software library, Tara Labs' ISM series products are the final piece of the puzzle. Aw, hell, whom am I kidding? Crazy as its sounds, these ISM products, of which the AFGS is a vital part, bring out the best of even the lowliest electronics.

REVIEW: Tara Labs Analog Floating Ground Station Cable Review by Luminator at Audio Asylum