quietness, price, construction, neutrality, focus, nearly everything I look for in an interconnect

stiff as hell and not as easy to arrange, but hey..i'll take that if they cancel out outside intereference (EMI/IRI)

I am writing this review a bit prematurely as I am sure that this product has yet to break-in. I am just so impressed with this product that I would write my feelings down.

OK, I started looking for a new set of RCA to RCA interconnects when I got my SACD player b/c I switched my Stealth silver ribbons to the SACD and the CD got the Monster junk cables. At first, it wasn't a huge deal, but then I started noticing what I was missing from before. This actually bothered me and until I could afford something I only used the silver ribbon to listen to both the SACD and CD, so I was switching or not using one unit or the other. My search began like all searches for my equipment and that is through reviews from this site and other various professional sites. I looked at what cables were closest to a perfect 5/5 and I ran across the the TMC Yellow Label. I checked out their site and found them to b a small company (which I like b/c they have lower prices yet very inovative products).

I finally found where the dealer/manufacturer was selling these gems and won at the auction. I figured from their claims of their cables being "addictive," the price, and the reviews here I would check them out. They arrived straight from Australia about a week later. My first impressions were that they are very solidly constructed, but EXTREMELY stiff. I hooked them up with their locking RCA's to my gear and arranged them best I could without the cables sticking all over the place. Threw in a CD and voila' DEAD quiet sound. Everything was gone....except the music. One gentleman stated that good cables don't add to the music, but their true value is what they take away. Usually we only hear things we miss from before not things that are added unless it is a noticable change. This is the first interconnect that I heard an immediate change in the music. Nothing was added, but everything that was before was gone. The background was dead silent. The music had much greater focus and neutrality. In addition, the music was more life-like.

Overall, I plan to upgrade the remainder of my gear with their products. As soon as I can afford my Odyssey Stratos amp I am going to grab a pair of their Yellow Label IC's and use them to create a perfectly quiet music setting. Thanks and enjoy all.
Cheers.

Similar Products Used:

Stealth SCR silver ribbon, Monster stuff

After installation and break-in of two sets of yellows and whites, voices became much more perceptible, as did the
instruments. The imaging and sound stage became much more stable and clear, which leads to a much more pleasing
listening experience.

I believe it's what the cable doesn't do that adds the improvements. These apparently add virtually nothing to the
original source signal. Note: It did take near 20 hours of signal throughput before they began to reveal their
improvements. Now I can recline back, close my eyes and enjoy. No fatigue!

Planning to purchase additional Whites for video connections.

Stiff but managable.

Same as posted for TMC Yellows.
After installation and break-in of two sets of yellows and whites, voices became much more perceptible, as did the
instruments. The imaging and sound stage became much more stable and clear, which leads to a much more pleasing
listening experience.

I believe it's what the cable doesn't do that adds the improvements. These apparently add virtually nothing to the
original source signal. Note: It did take near 20 hours of signal throughput before they began to reveal their
improvements.

Planning to purchase additional Whites for video connections.

My System:

NAD T 761 A/V Receiver
Outlaw 5 Channel Amp
Klipsch RF-3's
Klipsch RC-3
Klipsch RS-3's
Klipsch KSW12

Sony DVP-530D
Sony CDP-CA80ES
Sony MiniDisk MDS-JE320
Sony Remote Commander RM-AV2100
Monster Cable HTS-3500 Audio/Video Power Conditioner
Mitsubishi 52" Wide Screen

Similar Products Used:

IXOS 1000 Studio

Everything

I feel bad for the people who don't know about TMC

After hearing a pair of yellow labels in my friends system, I was conviced that TMC's were the way to go. After a few days of searching and bidding, I won a pair of white labels for $60.
With the white labels hooked up, everything opened up and got much cleaner. Bass, mids, highs, imaging, soundstage...everything!! I still can't believe that I got these cables for $60 considering that they retail for something like $220 on the TMC website. If another company made these, they would easily sell for atleast $400.
The construction and quality of the components used is unmatched by any other cable i've seen for anywhere near the price. The locking RCA's are also a huge bonus! Although you can't audition these great cables in a nearby audio store, trust all of the rave reviews: You will surely be impressed to say the least. You can return them anyway if for some reason you don't like them.
Check out the TMC website(www.the-music-cable.com) for much more info about their interconnects and speaker wire. I really can't say enough about these cables. Just get them! I am planning on keeping these cables for a long, long time.

Similar Products Used:

Monster(terrible), Kimber(not worth it), Audioquest

Very Musical, improved bass and imaging

Stiffness of the cable, but can molded to fit the application.

A friend of mine turned me on to this product. I was a bit skeptical, but gave his a try in my system. WOW! The soundstage just opened up - the music that is. Less background noise, much more clarity and focus, beautiful imaging and better distinction of the instruments within the soundstage.

This was one of those "pleasant surprises" in my world of audio equipment - a rare thing, but I'm elated with the improvement it brought to my system. I'm going to buy the speaker cables as well.

These deserve an audition and are a great buy - outstanding performance for the price!!

Similar Products Used:

Kimber, Audioquest, etc. etc. etc.

Smoothness,Transparency,Detail,Dynamics

RCA's can loosen, kind of stiff but workable.

First of all let me say that although these cables are stiff, they are very bendable and you can form these to fit in tight places if you take the time. Second of all I do not like the RCA's, even after locking the plugs they slipped off of my CD player (Cary CD 303) I removed the locking plugs and gently tightened the RCA's with a pair of pliers (please be careful if you try this) I attached the locking plugs and that did it! That said, let me address the review by Mr Yamaha below. I don't know why he was hearing squashed sound with no dynamics. It only took me several moments of listening to hear how special these cables are. Right out of the box they were dynamic,airy, and smooth with plenty of detail and depth with a big soundstage. After a couple of hours they sounded even more open and relaxed. What more can you ask for? The yellow seemed to need more break in time, so I moved them to my tuner. Since they are fully broken in I will switch them to my CD player and give a review in a couple of days. Suffice it to say that these TMC White cables will hold their own with anything out there and will embarass most! These replaced a $192.50 1/2 meter pair of Goertz Saphhire silver cables. (and I love Goertz) This should tell you something! Even at the full retail price I would consider these a good buy. I have a biwire pair of their speaker cables on order. At the discount price available over Audiogon, they are simply a steal! Very highly recommended!
My current system:

Odyssey Monoblocks
Transcendent Grounded Grid pre/amp
Alon II speakers(Goertz silver biwired)
Cary CD 303 CD player TMC white label
Pioneer 70's tuner TMC yellow label
BEL "The Wire" pre/amp to amps
Rotel 900 t/t with Origin Live modified REga RB250 arm
Dynavector 20X MC cartridge
Lehmann Black Cube
(3) Omega Mikro PLanar power cords (red) wave treated on front end equipment plugged into RGPC
(2) The Absolute Power Cords on amps

Similar Products Used:

Goertz silver and copper, DH Labs, Cardas Neutral Ref, Golden Cross, many more.

soundstage, clarity, balance, value

It will take a little practice to get good and connecting them to gear because of their stiffness, and you need some room behind equipment for them.

I bought these while looking for good interconnects for my CD player and the amp I was planning to add. I have used them in several places on my system, A-B comparing them with assorted old Monster Cable, BetterCables audio and digital coax, TMC Yellow Label, and Magnan Vi's.

For the CD changer, I preferred the Yellow Label (see my review of that cable), but I suspect that preference is largely system-dependent. The White Labels performed amazingly well when used between VCR and receiver (it's a source with certain inherent limitations, but on a 1-10 scale I'd rate the Monster Interlink 200 at 5, BetterCables at 7, and the White Labels at around 9). What really impressed me, however, was the performance I got when using a White Label cable as a digital coax cable from DVD player to receiver. I'd previously used both coax and optical from my player, using Monster optical, BetterCables optical, Monster coax, and most recently BetterCables coax. The BetterCables coax provided a marginal improvement over the others. The White Label improved the soundstage and clarity -- I heard sound effects that I'd never noticed previously. The best description would be probably be "transparent."

Currently, I'm using White Label as digital coax and for the center channel to my amp. I plan to move the existing White Labels to the surround channels to the amp, and possibly add a pair for the VCR.

Equipment list:
Outlaw Audio Model 1050 receiver
Outlaw Audio Model 750 5-channel amp
Yamaha CDC-775 CD changer
Panasonic DVD-A310 DVD player
Paradigm Reference Studio 60 mains
(Transparent MusicWave Super cables)
Paradigm Reference Studio CC center channel
(biwired with Monster M.75)
Paradigm Reference Studio ADP surrounds and center surround
(Monster XP cables)
Mitsubishi 27" TV
BetterCables S-Video cables

Similar Products Used:

Monster Cable Interlink 200, 250, and 400 Mk. II; BetterCables, TMC Yellow Label, Magnan Type Vi

Amazing interconnects for the price, even at the full USD$220.00 per 1m pair!!!

I thought I'd "gamble" with USD$130 for a pair of White Labels to see if they'll beat my vdH The First, after reading through all the good reviews and hypes from the various newsgroups/forums and websites.So I was pretty pleased to get a 1.5m pair for just USD$91 at an online auction.

The Music Cable folks are nice to deal with and I got my cables within the week. They look like a million bucks and the construction's very good and inspires confidence. The quality locking phono plugs are a bonus. However, the stiffness of the cable can be a real pain to work with....... in my case, I had a hard time getting them into place behind my tight AV cabinet as I didn't want to bend them too much. The White Labels go between my DAC and the power amp.

The results??? Well, I must first admit that I have no first-hand experience with cables or interconnects that run into thousands of dollars. But compared to my vdH The First? Wowee..... straight out of the box, there are already very perceptible sonic improvements. The First is well known to elicit very natural sounds from equipments, being made of carbon fibres in place of metals. I dare say that the White Labels are the equal, if not superior, to The First in this aspect. But what is most apparent immediately, before they're run-in, is that they already give more focus and flesh to the soundstage. Well, in my system, the soundstage is not perceived to be any wider than before...... however, within this width, the instruments are more pronounced and apparent, especially those images situated around and beyond the speakers. Well, I wouldn't quite say it's like the lifting of a veil......, The First are pretty transparent and revealing themselves, but the tmcs better the former by fleshing out more of the instruments while not reducing the soundstage depth. In fact, the tmcs give more depth to the soundstage now. I've always felt the background instruments in Four Seasons in the "Classic Kennedy" album a tad recessed and constricted. With the new i/cs in place, the track opens up in a more convincing and enjoyable manner.

After a week or two of breaking them in, the improvements are even more fabulous. Vocals and instruments, across the sonic spectrum, blossoms......... there are just "more" to what you hear. Very addictive stuff this........ now I'm beginning to experience the heightened "you are there" feeling in the music I played, as mentioned by the previous reviewers. Almost everything just takes on a very realistic imaging....... Miles' trumpet and Coltrane's sax spits with such realistic energy and presence on Kind of Blue, it seems as though they're jammin' in my living room. Other improvements?....... lower noise floor, better retrieval of details, fairly significant extension to lower bass........ but the most important one is the improved musicality to music that flows through the system. For once, it looks as though all the hypes are justified. Music played are more musical and come with more emotions.

Downsides? Well, nothing is ever perfect in hifi, and if I have to nitpick........ in my system, I notice the extension to the lower bass registers comes at the expense of a slightly "woolier" lower mid-bass...... around the 100Hz region (?). It's not as taut and defined as with the vdHs. Another thing is....... piano notes, especially the lower octaves, lost some weight and definition..... they are ever so slightly more difficult to focus on and pick out individually. Kei Akagi's solo piano in Moonriver (Jacintha's The Songs of Johnny Mercer; Groovenote) is one glaring example. Funnily though, I've only noticed that with the piano and no other instruments.

So, can I live with the slight blemish to the i/cs? You betcha.....!!! In all other regards, I've nothing but good to say about the White Labels. Also, there are none of the aforementioned brightness to the tonality by other reviewers...... in my system, I did not perceive any bit of increase in harshness and brightness compared to before. But, of course, it all depends on your own systems, I suppose. IMO, you can only fully realise the vast benefits the tmcs are able to offer if you own better quality and revealing systems.

In the final analysis, BUY WITH CONFIDENCE!!!

Similar Products Used:

van den Hul The First
XLO Type 4
Straightwire Laser Link
Cable Talk Monitor 3.1
etc

Price and quiet background

too stiff, squashed sound

Having upgraded my 2 channel system to a “high-end” system (compared to what I originally had) I decided to try the new cable route (new to me anyway) so I recently went on a cable binge. I borrowed several cables from friends in the West Valley Audio Society over an extended period of time. They all convinced me that one of the new small shops was the way to go, and to stay away from the big boys (my first stuff was all Monster, agh!!) My new system is as follows:

Bryston 7B ST Monoblocks
Bryston BP-25 Pre-amp
Sony SCD-777ES SACD Player
Joseph Audio RM25si Signature speakers

Let me give a synopsis of all the cables I tried:

TMC White – These cables are very stiff and hard to work with, but I managed. I guess there is a difference in design philosophy out there. The TMC cables are very well shielded, maybe too well shielded. While they have a low noise floor, they have a low dynamic capability too. The music seemed squashed and flattened. Crescendos to fortissimo and beyond where not very dramatic. They do sound better than my old Monster 950is and are cheaper too. I also did not like the WBT knock off connectors, they are better than the monster “pull your female RCA jack off” connectors, but they seem cheap. Rating 3

TMC Yellow – These were a little better than the Whites, with better dynamics, but still squashed. The lows were a little less squashed than the high in my opinion, giving them a bloom in the bass, which some people may like. They are even stiffer than the whites and have the same cheap RCA connectors. Both TMC cables were capable, and as I look back on the other reviews I notice a lot of receivers and A/V receivers. Due to the limited dynamic capabilities of lower and mid end systems these cables are fine for this equipment. However, there are better and less expensive alternatives out there. Rating 3.5 - 4

Homegrown Audio silver interconnects - These are a great bargain at $80. They have the opposite philosophy of TMC, no shielding. This let the music flow more easily than the TMC yellows and greatly increased the dynamics. The high end still seems a little rolled off. I have heard none of the brightness people say you get with pure silver, maybe they were suing silver plated copper (which is why I stayed away from Nordost and DH Labs) My other complaints are the same cheap WBT knock off connectors as the TMC and the build quality. Rating 4

Pure Silver Sound silver interconnects - These are almost twice the price of the Homegrown silver interconnects, but in my opinion well worth it. They are also unshielded, which seem to be fine at the lengths I borrowed (1 meter). They were even clearer than the HG without the rolled off highs. The bass sounded tighter too, very fast and not bloomy. The build quality was excellent and the WBT knock-offs must be a different brand, they look better and are silver-plated (I never understood why companies that make silver products would use gold plated connectors) I am now a firm believer in silver. Rating 5

Thanks for the great forum, I am off to buy some cables for myself.

Similar Products Used:

Monster 950I, TMC yellow, Homegrown audio, pure silver sound quartet

My previor review was lost apparently. Great cable for the money, in fact when compared to the Tara labs Prism55i, I liked these better. Only proble is that they are very stiff. After 3 months they become appreciably richer. I plan on replacing most of my cables with TMC products!

everything

nothing

I've always been very proud of my Infinity Renaissance Speakers. For years, audiophile friends have been extremely complimentary. Besides their overall musicality, transparency and imaging have been been their stongest points. Now, having installed TMC yellows and whites to my system, I can easily add soundstaging. In fact, I'm not sure if I really appreciated what soundstaging truly meant before. Now, I most certainly do. I could swear that I'm
surrounded by the different instruments. I could easily go on and on about these cables. But, why repeat what everyone else says before me. Very simply, these TMC interconnects will be bring out the best your system has to offer. You might even need to upgrade your system to reach the full potential these cables have to offer.
And I need to add that the customer service is beyond good. King at TMC is amazing. It's a pleasure doing business with a company that not only offers a great product
but also backs it up 100%.