Swedish Premiere

E.A.R. USA took advantage of CES to announce the world premiere of the Origo cable line from Jorma Design of Sweden. Prices for loudspeaker cables start at $7000 for the first meter, while interconnects start at $5250 for a 1-meter pair. A cable that, I am told, counts Japan as its major market, two of Jorma's lines have been designated "Product of the Year" by a leading Japanese audiophile publication. Jorma's extensive line starts with Jorma No.3 ($1450 for a 1m pair of speaker cables), and proceeds to Jorma No.2 ($2860 for a 1m pair of speaker cables), Jorma No.1 ($5000 for that pair), the new Origo, and the top-of-the line Jorma Prime ($12,800 for a 1m pair of speaker cables). All lines include loudspeaker cables in both single and bi-wire terminations, RCA and XLR interconnects, and jumpers. An Origo power cable, aptly named Origo Power, is due out shortly.

Had Tara Labs not named its top cable The Zero, the title Origo (the Swedish word for origin) would have been names Jorma Zero. Such is the reality of love and war.

Jorma's Jorma Koski (shown holding one of his cables) told me that the company began in 2000 with the release of power cables. When they began distributing beyond Sweden, they began to flesh out their lines. Jorma Origo is composed of copper and very thin ceramic fibers woven together to form a tube. Terminations are from WBT. E.A.R.'s Dan Meinwald told me, "I hear lots and lots of cables. I think Prime and Origo are worthy of comparison with Nordost Odin."

This was a strain I heard over and over again in The Venetion. Any time I mentioned to a cable manufacturer that I have been listening to and loving Odin in my system, they immediately declared that their top-of-the-line cables, or even cables lower in their line, were superior. I suppose if I had said that I had been listening to and love Tara Labs the Zero at home, the cable manufacturers would have said that their cables easily topped Tara's competition. I suppose this kind of one-upmanship happens to any company that receives a lot of praise and press for a high-priced product.

Regardless, the cables sounded quite wonderful. That they seem such a good fit with the Marten Coltrane Soprano loudspeakers ($45,000/pair) that John Atkinson discusses below comes as no surprise, since the Martens are wired with Jorma No.1.

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gulliver's picture

"origo" is not the Swedish word for origin, it's Latin

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