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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.