Peter’s approach is far more empirical than it is derived from audacious new science or unobtainium conductors. His is also a family-owned business whose braiding experts are his wife and three daughters. This makes for affordable products which should be welcome to those of us who consider most hifi cables overpriced. Now I must admit that this review consumed a lot of time. Without exploring cable interactions in various systems, it’s impossible to give an accurate indication as to value and performance. Whilst some people believe in abstract ideals and universal performance for hifi, I don’t count myself amongst them, particularly not for cables. Because many cable manufacturers go crazy by countering inflation rates with hyper reactions whilst claiming technological breakthroughs at an alarming rate, let’s inhale some purer air from a small company who still practice fair pricing.


Let’s start with the power cords. Today, Triode Wire Labs offers three different ones: the 12+, 10+ and 7+. I received 3 x 10+ and 2 x 7+ loaners. The 10+ power cord contains no less than 315 conductors and is a pure copper design. It can be used with all components of the audio chain since it represents the medium-size power cord of the TWL line-up. It fits high and low power requirements and ideally lower-powered amplification as well as preamps and source components. As are all TWL products, the 10+ and 7+ have been cryogenically treated for their conductors and connectors to enhance resolution. The process is called CryoProcessDeep because it is a more expensive treatment than the usual Nitrogen treatment. In fact, TWL wires are cryogenically treated with a Helium immersion that is said to represent the highest state of the art of cryogenic processing. Using liquid Helium, computer-controlled processes expose the goods very slowly to near absolute zero, i.e. 0 Kelvin or more precisely –450°F, –267.8°C or 4°K. Liquid nitrogen treatment commonly reaches just –300°F.

The proprietary TWL design and completely passive ground plane technology are claimed to ensure exceptional passive noise suppression and RFI/EMI rejection. The TWL wires also revealed themselves to be extremely flexible and to easily fit most sockets. All cords are burned in at TWL on Alan Kafton’s audiodharma Cable Cooker™. This device produces signal levels far in excess of those seen in normal audio system use thanks to a higher output voltage. This accelerates and completes break-in time. The TWL power cords loaners employed a 24K gold Schuko CEE 7/7 male plug. Even so a large choice of optional plugs are available from within the Furutech catalogue. Resonance-controlling dielectric potting adhesives achieve even better performance. Each cable is serial numbered and includes a cable certificate issued by the maker.

The Seven Plus American is the latest and largest-gauge power cord from Triode Wire Labs. Consisting of a massive 525 conductors, its heavy construction makes it ideal for very large amplifiers and massive power conditioners and regenerators. It might be used anywhere of course but also could be considered overkill on low current-draw appliances. Despite its very large gauge, the soft-annealed metal conductors remain very flexible and not stiff like other big snakes. Because of the accurate Litz braiding and carefully selected materials combined with a quality build, this cord is said to produce very natural PRaT. The American Speaker Cable consists of 210 individual 30AWG conductors in its standard format (420 conductors in the bi-wire format) utilizing pure copper connectors from Cardas Audio. The standard solid billet-milled pure copper spades combined with Triode Wire Labs proprietary design and fabrication methods are available in different lengths. The copper spade installation of a hydraulic compression die forging with 16’000lbs. of force produces a perfect mechanical connection. This cold-fused/cold-welded technique is supposed to provide the ultimate bonded joint.

As is the case for most TWL wires, the speaker cables use a ground plane design to remove most spurious EMI/RFI anomalies. Ground plane is, generally speaking, an electrically conductive surface usually connected to electrical ground.  It has been widely used in old valve radios to serve several functions such as provide shielding from external electrical fields and establish a zero voltage reference point for positive and negative voltage impulses. The use of a ground plane reduces the fields that permeate the non-conductive dielectric materials. In the specific case of audio wires, this technique acts as a kind of OFC Litz wire loop and low-impedance ground point that might allow us to hear more detail and less noise. The use of ground planes in audiophile speaker cables has been around. One of the first to promote this technique openly was the original Tara Labs Space & Time speaker cable followed in the late 80s by MIT with their MH-750 Shotgun speaker cables. The Tara Labs speaker cable was based on two separate runs of multiple 18-gauge insulated solid-core Australian copper. The positive leg was a twisted pair, the negative run was a triad with two of the wires connected at both ends and the third one connected only at the speaker end. Being an engineer, Peter Grzybowski developed his own version after numerous iterations and listening tests. As for his speaker cables, a large choice of possible terminations is available: standard 6.5mm, oversized 9mm and narrow spades for vintage gear with terminal strip connectors like older McIntosh or Vandersteen gear. All are compression die-forged again. Rhodium or silver bananas are also an option but do require solder. For twinned posts, custom speaker jumpers represent an alternative to biwiring. The speaker cables too benefit from CryoProcessDeep treatment for both conductors and connectors.

The Spirit XLR interconnect is the latest product in the Triode Wire Labs portfolio. It consists of a highly conductive hybrid material with a proprietary geometry coupled to extremely low-mass ultra low-capacitance connectors. The brass-bodied XLR connectors are available with three equally super low-mass ultra-low capacitance pins of high-purity OFC copper with 24K gold flash plating. These different conductors and dielectrics are said to synergize perfectly to cancel out their normal individual sonic anomalies. The TWL interconnects again are cryogenically treated like the others. In short, the entire offering follows the same design cornerstones. It should create a recognizable house sound and make for synergies between each wire designed by this small North-American company.