About Transparent Cable People #2

Transparent's experience also extends deep into its work force. Many of our artisans have been with us since the early years, and often specialize in just a few of our products -- no one can build them any better!

Betty and Ralph have been assembling Transparent's Reference level cables since 1987. In this photo they are checking their work on a pair of Reference XL speaker cable, matching the left and right channels to precise tolerances. It takes longer to build a Reference XL speaker cable than some companies take to build an amplifier!

Since every Transparent product is essentially handmade, right here in Maine, it's important that the artisan who builds it know all the requirements for careful parts matching, positioning, and testing.

Lisa knows how to hand-craft every product in our range; she's been a Transparent technician since 1988. One of the things she enjoys is modifying our customers' existing cables when they need special terminations. (To read more about special terminations, go here.)

It takes us longer to make our products, because we stop frequently to test their performance as we build them. This is the only way we can ensure consistent performance, from piece to piece, across our whole line.

Roxanne works on the precision assembly of a balanced interconnect, her specialty since 1986. Every one of our products is hand-tuned on the bench -- the higher the performance level, the more time it takes to position and match the components.

People are important in every phase of our work. In design and product development, we rely on our well equipped test laboratory, where an important 35% of each product's development takes place ... but the ultimate refinement of our designs always happens when music and film lovers sit down in the Music and Film Studio and judge whether the product delivers the true spirit of a performance. The members of our design team are also musicians, so a product is not released until they feel it is right!

Josh Clark and Jack Sumner discuss the performance of a new cable design in our Music and Film Studio. Our design team spends many hours each week in this room, listening, comparing, adjusting, and refining. They test our products with a wide selection of associated components, to ensure compatibility. We have made significant investment in purchasing examples of the finest components available, so our customers don't have to. The components you see in this picture are the ones that happened to be in service on the day the photo was shot -- another visit would show a different array.

Although the public perception of many high-end audio businesses is that they are garage operations, we are proud to have modern, well-lit manufacturing and warehouse spaces, and wonderful working conditions for our entire staff. It's only good business to do this: The people who work here deserve those conditions, and so do the people who buy our products and depend on us for quality construction and dependability. To see some more pictures of our physical plant and additional views of the Music and Film Studio, please go to the Headquarters page.

Transparent customers don't have to put up with back orders. Amy efficiently keeps track of nearly 600 products, hundreds of custom options, thousands of parts, hundreds of kilometers of cable, and mountains of packaging! Amy is a second-generation Transparent employee.

Kevin Midgley completes the fabrication of a video cable. He is another stalwart of the lab, working on everything from the construction of prototypes to unique custom terminations. Kevin is a well-known blues guitarist and songwriter in Maine. Many of the people at Transparent are actively involved with music.

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