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Tara Labs ISM OnBoard The One, Part 16

162.205.183.92

Posted on July 25, 2020 at 13:59:05
Luminator
Audiophile

Posts: 7291
Location: Bay Area
Joined: December 11, 2000
In number, very few audiophiles reach out to me about Tara Labs. But these few predominantly have the car-priced stereo equipment, with Tara Labs' models priced close to or over US$10k. So for these guys, the $3,000 ISM OnBoard The One is only used for secondary sources or systems.



In April 1990, I turned 18, and bought from San Francisco Stereo Plus, an Adcom GFA-535. That GFA-535 got me out of mid-fi, and catapulted me into high-end audio. SF Stereo Plus carried both Straightwire and Tara Labs, but I do not recall seeing any Straightwire.

With high-end audio on my mind, I returned to UC Santa Cruz, for the Spring 1990 quarter. The naturally blonde Taira lived in the dorm next to mine. But she dyed her hair black, so you only saw blonde roots, as her hair grew out. One Saturday, you and Taira were eating lunch in the dining hall. You two were almost done, when Taira's eyes got big, as she peered a couple tables behind your back. She motioned with her head, and told you to come to her room, where she'd explain.



You made the short walk to Taira's dorm room. She explained that her ex-boyfriend, "David," had sat down a couple tables behind you. She then explained why David dumped her. One night the previous quarter, she was over at David's room. Chances were high, that they'd make love for the first time. They started talking, and a mildly annoyed Taira asked, "Who's the clingy chick with the big titties, who's always following you around?"

David paused for a long time, then said in a low tone of voice, "That's my cousin."

And that was how David dumped Taira. Ever the audiophile, I've never been able to disassociate "Taira" and "Tara Labs." I told Taira that I sorely missed my girlfriend, KJ, who was back home in San Francisco. KJ and I would go through so many break-ups and make-ups, ultimately splitting around Spring Break 1991.

On 9/1/92, KJ and I were on good terms. She and I went to San Francisco Stereo Plus, the major local Tara Labs dealer. I bought an Adcom GTP-400 (which mated well with my old GFA-535), but never forgot about Tara Labs.



Ten days later, Hurricane Iniki crossed the Hawaiian Islands, where the vast majority of my relatives lived. Photo is from Oahu's Koko Head. Iniki's eye passed over Kauai, where none of my relatives lived. Along the way, it wiped out the Coco Palms resort, where Elvis' Blue Hawaii had been filmed.

At the end of 1997, I was actually working for the partnership group, which owned Coco Palms. Our offices were located on San Francisco's Market Street, near the Powell Street cable car turnabout. KJ met me downstairs, and we took MUNI Metro to Church Street station, and went to SF Stereo Plus. We had Yngwie Malmsteen's Facing The Animal, whose last track, "Air On A Theme," was an electric guitar transcription of Vivaldi's "Piccolo Concerto in C Major (RV443)." Founded in 1986, Tara Labs were retiring their Decade series, and had come out with their so-called Air series. The Air 1 line-level interconnect sounded, ironically enough, airless.



Starting in 1998, I tried Tara Labs' ISM The 2 and The One line-level interconnects. At $2200, the latter was price-prohibitive, but demonstrably superior to The 2. So I skipped The 2, and waited until I could afford The One. I got married in 2003, and eventually sold my old Tara Labs ISM products. Like Taira regretting the way she got dumped by David, I regretted selling the ISM interconnects. Then Tara Labs came out with the more convenient "OnBoard" iterations of The 2 and The One. Instead of outboard bricks, the OnBoard models have inline capsules.



Astute readers have pointed out that until now, the balanced XLR version of the ISM OnBoard The One has been depicted. Yes, we do have the single-ended RCA version. There are no signal flow arrows. The paper instructions tell you that the side with the leads is the beginning.



Sigh, these are the same awful locking-barrel RCAs, as found on other Tara Labs interconnects. This pair used to have serial number stickers, on the metal collar. However, both stickers fell off.



A black-jacketed cable with gold-plated RCAs, the ISM OnBoard The One reminds you of Taira's hair. The side without the leads is the ending.



You will need space, in order to hook up and disconnect The One. Here, we had to remove an interconnect from S4, in order to place The One on the S3. The locking-barrel RCAs are very inconsistent, in their grip on female chassis RCA plugs. Sometimes they grip just fine. Sometimes, they are very loose, no matter how many times you rotate/twist/spin the barrel. Even untreated, the ISM OnBoard The One sounds fine, kind of like a decent skater, not getting upset at the bad ice.

-Lummy The Loch Monster

 

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