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fo.Q TA102 and TA32
A Most Remarkable Material
In our last newsletter we reported on our new PranaWire Sukhavati Interconnect which continues to astound. Not everyone can afford to
scale those Olympian heights, so we thought it appropriate to clue you
in to an upgrade that will cost less than five dollars but sound like a thousand.
I was listening to the reference system, which is sounding amazing, thinking, "What upgrade can I do right now." I needed a fix! That's
when it occurred to me to revisit fo.Q's wondrous damping material.
The TA102 and TA 32,
21st century material formulated by
fo.Q in conjunction with the National Science Agency of Japan, behaves
like
no other, and there is no end of places you can apply it to. For ex-
ample, I put a small circle of TA102 (1.0mm thick) on the spindle of
my turntable:
And added a strip of Phone Art material, which is simply TA32 (0.3mm) in precut shapes for use with headphones and ear buds, to the top of the head shell of my Durand Kairos tonearm:
These two upgrades, probably costing pennies, were quite significant in producing a quieter background and more stable and solid image with further improvements in the form of more burnished highlights and deeper tone. You can improve things even more by putting TA32 or Phone Art on the cartridge directly. I didn't because I didn't want to cover the logo on the side, but I'm guessing the improvement will be substantial. Also, someone might want to experiment putting it between the headshell and the cartridge. I'd be curious to hear your experience with that.
The pièce de résistance of these tweeks, the $5 worth of material that made an astounding improvement on its own, was wrapping 3/16" by approx 1 1/4" strips around the binding posts of the Lotus Group Granada loudspeakers. OMG! Now I sound like a valley boy! Since the TA102 is rather thick, I had to secure it in place with electrical tape. You can get the same effect by wrapping TA32 around the nuts 3 or more times. I believe it will stay stuck as it is much less stiff. Or, you could remove the nuts and cleanly apply heat shrink around the TA102. (Not all nuts are removeable, however.) This is an epic upgrade, and for the cost, is absolutely a no brainer. You must try this! Your system is brought to new levels of refinement and delivery of information. The TA102 material is $95 for two sheets approximately 5" X 8". So the amount of material used here is likely less than the $5 quoted. I did not hear as big an improvement by wrapping the amplifier binding posts, but then, I would expect it to be vibrating at much lower amplitude than the speaker.
Other uses include on cables, connectors, equipment chassis, inside of outlet face plates, etc. It is very slightly conductive, not enough to get a continuity reading, but enough to mess with the sound if you make direct contact with active traces and conductors, so a modicum of care is required.
Please let me know how you use TA102 and TA32 and I will spread the good word.
We encourage you to contact us directly at 415-897-8884 or email us at
[email protected] with any questions you may have.
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