2020.12.22 - Tiglon TPL-2000A
- diroyer
- Dec 20, 2024
- 8 min read
SUMMARY
The Tiglon TPL-2000A reduces the ingress and emission of electromagnetic fields by using 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 use of magnesium in a cable can be called innovative. This cable does not change the sound. Because apparently fewer interference signals mix with the audio signal, the noise floor is lower and there is above all an experience of more detail, silence, space and depth. These changes are subtle and just noticeable. They contribute to an even more natural sound experience.
PLUS POINTS
Actually built according to EMC
Delivers audible results
Very nicely built
Superior Furutech shielded connectors
CONS
Higher price, but not unreasonable
Not extremely flexible
Tiglon is a Japanese high-end company that is relatively unknown in the Netherlands and that builds speaker stands, vibration dampers and audio cables. The brand introduced a new technology to provide cables with effective protection against EMI. As a total surprise, a power cable from the range of this manufacturer was sent directly from Japan to the listening room. Japan is the audio country par excellence. An important reason to take this kind of specialized products seriously.
The operation and influence of power cables
Power cables (or mains cables) appeal to the imagination. An earlier article already discussed the theory behind power cables. There is no form of voodoo or supernatural phenomena in cables. Since the thirties, an immense amount of literature has been available on how cables work. Just physics and a bit of mathematics. Not all cables in hifiland are built according to the theoretically optimal model. This means that cables can react very differently. What has become very clear in any case is that cables and other accessories must be able to convincingly demonstrate any added value or improvement immediately after being connected. It does not work by listening for weeks and then claiming that a small change can be observed with a lot of effort. At such a moment, it does not make sense to spend money on it.
Problems
In my opinion, you can hardly say that manufacturers of power cables are innovative. In short ( see also the previous publication on power cables ), many power cables themselves are an immense source of interference. These cables are located very close to sensitive equipment and other analog cables. They cause measurable electromagnetic fields. These fields radiate into all equipment and other cables in the vicinity. In addition, power cables also absorb all kinds of interference from the environment. These are also passed on to the connected equipment.
In general, almost all power cables without any form of shielding or other measures to block and/or receive radiation are worthless. You might as well use the well-known black and supplied power cords. Some of these are, for technical reasons that will not be discussed further here, even better than a number of so-called 'audiophile' power cables. So, get such cables for a demo, saw them through and look for technology that contributes to reducing the problematic effects described above.
Tiglon
Here and there you see the application of techniques that have been known for eighty years to suppress these disturbances a little. Tiglon certainly deserves the honor of offering an innovative solution for electromagnetic radiation. That is generally one of the bigger problems with power cables. Tiglon is a Japanese company that started in 2006 with a speaker stand made of magnesium (MGT series). In the literature there are various studies known about the mechanical damping capacity of metals and ceramic materials. For example, magnesium alloy type AZ31B-F has a value of 10 ? at 0.1 ?ys(%). Materials such as copper, aluminum and steel are all below 5. So it is not a crazy idea to start building vibration-damping speaker stands, racks and 'damping' isolators (vibration damping devices) for under 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 dampen EMI. Tiglon has a patent on this application. In terms of content, it concerns a magnesium-containing flexible 'shield' 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 was made earlier and there are various studies available worldwide. A well-known study is one into, among other things, the effect of various alloys with magnesium on the damping effect, in which the relationship between the damping and the direction of the electromagnetic field was also examined (2018 Shangyu Gao et al. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China.).
A 2010 study also shows the relationship between cable architecture and the angle of radiation. It indicates that some architectures are better able to suppress EMI and are therefore more independent of the direction of the electromagnetic field. The Tiglon 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 power cable with some flexibility, which would be less possible with a cable with a mu-metal shield. The Tiglon cable is therefore flexible, but again not an example of a flexible cord.
Tiglon TPL-2000A power cable
According to Tiglon, the TPL-2000A is the best power cable the company can supply. Tiglon uses DF-OFC (oxygen-free copper), applies the previously mentioned magnesium shield and uses additional shielding to block RFI. By means of HSE (Hyper Saturated Energizer), the cable is 'run in' in advance and the sound quality also increases. The latter is quite an attack on the imagination of the undersigned, because as far as is known, no theoretical basis can be found for 'run in'. 'Running in' is done by sending a current of varying strength through the cable and by means of high frequencies.
The cable has a thickening 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. These have an effect on the sound. The performance of Tiglon cables can therefore not only be explained by the damping of EMI, but also by the damping of mechanical energy caused by the magnesium. According to Tiglon, the signal in a cable is moved according to the impulse law. The transport of electrons then causes micromechanical impulses (these are collisions between electrons). Tiglon's claim is that external vibrations influence the electrons, thus the nature of these micromechanical impulses (collisions) and subsequently the sound. Pucks, spikes and everything we place under hi-fi components influence the operation of the micromechanical 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 influenced 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 have an influence on these collisions, or whether that happens by definition and whether there is an influence on the sound. Nice PhD research.
On the other hand, (poorly constructed) cables can be microphonic. When the cable moves, a kind of crackling sound is audible. However, we are talking about interlinks and microphone cables through which a signal runs. No audio signals run through power cords. The cables from Tiglon are in any case beautiful and very solidly constructed and are supplied with the Furutech FI-50(R)NCF connectors, which are made of metal. Research here showed that a plastic connector simply throws the radiation, which for example a switched power supply generates in a device, out via the IEC connector. Sealing such a connector with a mu-metal shield was audible in the sound quality. The theory about the 'escaping' and incoming of radiation via 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-2000A: listening
There was only one cable available. Then a choice has to be made as to which component is to be connected. Experience has shown that preamplifiers, streamers, music servers and converters can be sensitive to all kinds of interference. The Tiglon TPL-2000A was therefore connected to an available DA converter. The influence of this power cable was immediately noticeable. What most likely happened was that due to the absence of certain interference, a bit of space and depth was added to the soundstage, in which sounds became audible that would otherwise remain hidden. You hear sounds that are not or less audible in many other listening situations. The nice thing is that sounds then die away for a very long time and that this is clearly traceable, until such an often subtle sound disappears behind the distant auditory horizon. Psychoacoustically speaking, it then seems as if the soundstage becomes much deeper, but also wider.
An additional psychoacoustic observation is that sounds seem to become more clearly defined. This makes sense. If the total 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 up very high. What happens is a bit like fog. When there is fog, you see less, while all the hidden objects are still present around you. When the fog lifts, you see more and more and your field of perception 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 still present in the signal. The observations are in line with the theoretical model and also in line with the intention of this cable. Namely to offer the best possible protection against EMI. It therefore seems that this cable keeps a certain amount of interference out of the DA converter. The noise floor then decreases and hidden musical details become perceptible.
Whoever reads it like this might not be impressed, because there is no mention of mega improvements, explosive eruptions of increased dynamics, instruments that suddenly come to the fore spectacularly and an impressively increased sound quality. Apparently it is always others in hifiland who get to experience all this. It has really never happened here. But, what this TPL-2000A does here is unmistakably noticeable. 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 sonically comes a little closer to a real live music experience. So I am curious what will happen if multiple devices from such an audio system are equipped with these cables.
Tiglon TPL-2000A: Epilogue
The Tiglon TPL-2000A reduces the ingress and emission of electromagnetic fields by using 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 use of magnesium in a cable can be called innovative. This cable does not change the sound. Because apparently fewer interference signals mix with the audio signal, the noise floor is lower and there is above all an experience of more detail, silence, space and depth. These changes are subtle and just noticeable. They contribute to an even more natural sound experience.
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