REVIEW

RESUME The Tiglon TPL – 2000 A, the application of a patented magnesium-containing tape reduces the entry and emission of electromagnetic fields. Because power cables are close to audio components and other cables, EMI is often a serious source of interference. The application of magnesium in a cable can be called innovative. This cable does not change the sound. Because apparently less interference signals mix with the audio signal, the noise floor becomes lower and there is mainly an experience of more detail, silence, space and depth. Those changes are subtle and just noticeable. They contribute to an even more natural sound experience.

PLUS POINTS Actually built in accordance with the EMC Provides audible results Very beautifully built Superior Furutech Shielded Connectors MINUSES Higher price, but not unreasonable Not extremely smooth Tiglon is a relatively unknown Japanese high-end company in the Netherlands that produces ands, vibration dampers and audio cables. The brand introduced a new technology to provide cables with effective protection against EMI. As a total surprise, a mains cable from this manufacturer’s range was sent directly from Japan to the listening room. Japan is the audio country pur sang. An important reason to take these types of specialized products seriously.

The operation and influence of mains cables

Power cables (or power cables) appeal to the imagination. In an earlier article, the theory behind power cables was discussed. There is no form of voodoo or supernatural phenomena in cables. There is an immense amount of literature available on how cables work since the 1930s. Just physics and a bit of math. Not all cables in hi-fi island are built according to the theoretically optimal model. This means that cables can react very differently. What has in any case become very clear is that cables and other accessories must be able to convincingly show any added value or improvement immediately after connection. It doesn’t work by listening for weeks and then shouting that a little bit of change can be discerned with a lot of effort. At such a moment it makes no sense to spend money on it.

Issues

In my opinion, manufacturers of mains cables can hardly admit that they are innovating. In a nutshell (see also the earlier publication on power cables), many power cables are themselves an immense source of interference. These cables are very close to sensitive equipment and other analog cables. They cause measurable electromagnetic fields. Those fields radiate into all equipment and other cables in the area. In addition, power cables also absorb all kinds of disturbances from the environment. These are also piped to the connected equipment.

In general, almost all power cables without any forms of shielding or other measures to block and / or receive radiation are worthless. You can just as well use the well-known black and supplied power cords. Some of these are for technical reasons, not discussed further here, even better than a number of so-called ‘audiophile’ mains cables. So, get such cables for a demo, cut them, and look for technology that will help reduce the problematic effects described above.

Tiglon Here and there you see the application of techniques known for eighty years to to suppress those disturbances a little. In any case, Tiglon deserves the honor of offering an innovative solution for electromagnetic radiation. That is generally one of the bigger problems with mains cables. Tiglon is a Japanese company operating in 2010 started with a magnesium speaker mode (MGT series). Various studies are known in the literature on the mechanical damping capacity of metals and ceramic materials. For example, magnesium alloy type AZ 31 BF a value of 10? at 0.1? ys (%). Materials such as copper, aluminum and steel are all under 5. It is therefore not a bad idea to build vibration-damping speaker stands, racks and ‘damping’ insulators (vibration damping devices) for audio components based on magnesium alloys.

But, magnesium has another great property in the form of damping electromagnetic fields. An important product group of the company are all kinds of audio cables, which use magnesium shields to damp EMI. Tiglon has a patent for this application. In terms of content, it concerns a flexible ‘shield’ containing magnesium that is wrapped around the conductors in the cable. So it looks like a kind of tape, like you wrap around the handle of a tennis racket. The discovery that magnesium can dampen electromagnetic waves has been made earlier and several studies are available worldwide. A study is known here into, among other things, the effect of various alloys with magnesium on the damping effect, including the relationship between the damping and the direction of the electromagnetic field (2018 Shangyu Gao et al. College of Materials Science and Engineering , Chongqing University, Chongqing, 20201127140605, China. ).

An inquiry from 2010 also shows the relationship between the cable architecture and the angle of irradiation. It indicates that some architectures are better able to suppress EMI and therefore are more independent of the direction of the electromagnetic field. Tiglon’s patent does not contain the discovery that magnesium blocks electromagnetic radiation, but it concerns the magnesium-containing tape. This makes it possible to provide such a network cable with some flexibility, which would be less successful with a cable with a shield of mu-metal. The Tiglon cable is flexible, but again not an example of a flexible cable.

Tiglon TPL – 2000 A power cable

The TPL – 2000 A is according to Tiglon the best power cable the company can provide. Tiglon uses DF-OFC (oxygen-free copper), uses the previously mentioned magnesium shield and uses additional shielding to block RFI. By means of HSE (Hyper Saturated Energizer), the cable is ‘played in’ in advance and the sound quality also improves. The latter does a considerable drain on the imagination of the undersigned, because as far as is known no theoretical foundation can be found for the ‘anticipation’. The ‘anticipation’ is done by sending a varying current through the cable and by means of high frequencies.

The cable has a bead at both ends. These are windings of magnesium tape. They form a mechanical filter that dampens mechanical energy coming from the connectors. According to Tiglon, cables are very sensitive to mechanical resonances. They affect the sound. The performance of the Tiglon cables can therefore not only be explained by the damping of EMI, but also because of the damping of mechanical energy caused by the magnesium. The signal in a cable, according to Tiglon, is moved according to the impulse law. The transport of electrons then causes micromechanical impulses (ie collisions between electrons). Tiglon’s claim is that external vibrations affect the electrons, ie the nature of those micromechanical impulses (collisions) and then the sound. Pucks, spikes and everything that we place under hi-fi components affects the operation of the micro-mechanical impulses and thus the sound. It is a claim that requires an explanation of how free electrons move in a conductor and whether this transport is affected by external vibrations.

The Paul Drude model teaches that the transport takes the form of a sea of ​​colliding electrons . The direction that electrons get after such a collision is, according to the theory, only dependent on the local temperature. It is interesting to investigate whether external vibrations also influence those collisions, whether this takes place by definition and whether there is an influence on the sound. Nice PhD research.

On the other hand, (poorly built) cables can be microphonic. If the cable moves, a kind of crackling sound can be heard. However, it is about interlinks and microphone cables through which a signal runs. No audio signals pass through power cords. The Tiglon cables are in any case beautiful and very solidly built and are supplied with the Furutech FI – 50 (R) NCF connectors, which are made of metal. Research here showed that a connector made of plastic simply throws the radiation, which, for example, a switched power supply in a device generates, through the IEC connector. Sealing such a connector with a mu-metal shield was discernible in the sound quality. The theory about ‘escaping’ and bringing in radiation through the connectors and chassis parts of audio equipment can be found in a publication by Jeffrey P. Mills (Electromagnetic Interference, Prentice Hall). A power cord with plastic connectors is therefore at odds with the theoretical model.

Tiglon TPL – 2000 A: Listen

Only a single cable was available. Then a choice has to be made which component will be connected. Experience shows that preamplifiers, streamers, music servers and converters can sometimes be sensitive to all kinds of disturbances. The Tiglon TPL – 2006 A was thus connected to an available DA converter. The influence of this mains cable was actually immediately visible. What most likely happened was that there were no failures a bit of space and depth was added to the soundstage, in which sounds became perceptible that would otherwise remain hidden. You hear sound that is not or less perceptible in many other listening situations. The great thing is that sounds die out for a very long time and that such a thing is clearly traceable, until such an often subtle sound disappears behind the distant auditory horizon. Psycho-acoustically speaking, it then seems as if the soundstage becomes much deeper, but also wider.

An additional psychoacoustic perception is that sounds appear to be more clearly defined. That makes sense. As the overall noise floor decreases, sounds stand out more clearly. A funny effect is that you tend to turn the system down. At low volumes there is already such a density of information that it is not necessary to want to hear more by turning the volume very high. What happens is a bit like fog. If there is fog, you will see less, while all hidden objects are indeed around you. When the fog clears, you will see more and more and your field of observation also becomes deeper and wider. In an audio system, interference that ends up in the audio path can hide softer sounds, while that information is actually present in the signal. The observations are in line with the theoretical model and also in line with the intention of this cable. Namely, offering the best possible protection against EMI. So it appears that this cable is keeping some amount of interference out of the DA converter. The noise floor then descends and hidden musical details become discernible.

Whoever reads it like this might not be impressed, because there is no mention of mega improvements, blasting eruptions of increased dynamics, instruments that suddenly come out spectacularly and an impressive increased sound quality. Apparently it is always others within hi-fi island who are allowed to experience all this. It really has never happened here. But, what this TPL – 2006 A does here is unmistakably discernible. But see it above all as one of the small steps that you can take with well-chosen cables and accessories and that together form a system that is neutral and sounds just a little closer to a real live music experience. So I wonder what will happen if multiple devices from such an audio system are equipped with these cables.

Tiglon TPL – 2000 A: epilogue The Tiglon TPL – 2006 A reduces the entry and emission of electromagnetic fields through the use of a patented magnesium-containing tape. Because power cables are close to audio components and other cables, EMI is often a serious source of interference. The application of magnesium in a cable can be called innovative. This cable does not change the sound. Because apparently less interference signals mix with the audio signal, the noise floor becomes lower and there is mainly an experience of more detail, silence, space and depth. Those changes are subtle and just noticeable. They contribute to an even more natural sound experience.

Price indication: 2. 400 euro

Black Forest Audio | www.blackforestaudio.com