Tellurium Q Black in da house

I should be on commission!

Great...Our temporary accidental misbehavior was worth it in the end!

G

You would be one flush flat fish!  

True! But I promise to be good henceforth....

Sat here with Jacco Garnder playing through my new TQB. Sounding a little brighter than I recall with the loan set but the dealer says it needs a few days to break in and then the top end will dampen a bit.

Mine are pre-owned and are anything but bright.  The main difference I've noticed, apart from masses more detail and soundstage, is that the lower frequencies are more evident and more tuneful.  I'm sure they will settle down once they burn in.

I  also found until I had was about 2-3 weeks in the bass was little lean but all is now spot on, very neutral and balanced, just give them time and this cable hits the mark across the full frequency range.

Mine are bass heavy from the start which is a bit of a disappointed because the last thing I needed was more bass. Was hoping for the tighter bass sound

The Tellurium Q Black is not know to be bass heavy, it is very neutral in presentation, if anything on some systems it can sound a little bass shy. Did you have an issue with the bass before adding the TQB? it could be your room, or the position of your speakers? are your cables new or pre owned?

Yes my room is an issue, but after several adjustments it's quite under control. Recently I've changed my speakers and missed something compared to my previous. So I'm trying different things(positioning/etc) and so also speaker cables. I read the TQB should be very natural and in general are positive accepted. Compared to my atlas equator 2.0 ofc(different league I expect) they at the moment add(or atlas removed) bass. Still my TQB are quite new and if 'burning in' exists it might improve.

Allen - I was going to suggest you try Super Lumina speaker cable as it is in the same price bracket as TQ Ultra Black but I notice you are now running Devialet amp. I have just demoed and bought SL speaker cables and NAP 250 DR and the SL cable easily surpasses NAC A5 even with a lowly NAP 250 DR and so it should! I have no idea if the SL speaker cable works with Devialet but might be worth trying it if you can get loaned some where you live and assuming Devialet approve of the SL's electrical properties.

Just a thought!

Any issues running TQB on my old NAP110 (mono's) currently using trusty NACA5?

len originally posted:

"Now running Devialet to Ovators S600, and it works really well. Looking to change my NACA5 cabling and TQ Black has perked my interest. It's a big jump up to TQ Ultra Black in cost, is it worth it?

Looking for opinions other than try for yourself, where I live, that's not possible".

Allen,

I have been using TQ Ultra Black cables for a while (speaker cable plus interconnects), and am absolutely delighted with the difference they have made to my system. I originally had a home demo of the "Blacks" and thought them to be fantastic, but then tried out the "Ultra Blacks" and was hooked.

However, it's impossible for me to gauge whether you would find the difference to be worth the extra cost. They are hugely more expensive, and if I had required lengthy speaker cable runs, I would probably have been  put off by the cost, but they do provide (in my system) a 'bigger' more 'solid' sound all round with no apparent drawbacks.

Really too much money for anyone with any sense (I used to wonder at the amount of money some people spend on cables), but then the difference they make in my system makes them a bit of a bargain in relative cost terms.

I had the opportunity to audition the Blacks and Ultra Blacks side be side in my own system for an extended period, and I would certainly not contemplate or advise spending the sort of money that the Ultra Blacks cost without a home audition. You should be able to find a dealer who will allow you to do this.

One word of warning. The difference switching back after some time from the Ultra Blacks to the Blacks was far more obvious than I had experienced moving up to the Ultra Blacks from the Blacks. Isn't that almost always the case! The Hi-Fi Gods have a lot to answer for.   

Allen, I understand. Not sure where you live but you said that you couldn't borrow TQ cable and I only suggested SL cable because I thought you may be in easy reach of a Naim dealer to borrow SL cables and take the risk out of buying without trying. I was in this exact position and wanted to try TQB but couldn't. I was able to try SL and am very glad I did. I agree however that TQ Ultra Black can be picked up secondhand for a lot less but with the risk of buying without testing in your system. Sorry but I have no direct experience of TQ cables but it seems that the TQB offers very good VFM (therefore less of a risk) from what others have said on this forum. Less sure about the VFM for TQ Ultra Black due to its considerable additional expense.

Good Luck.

Nigel

Slightly off topic but still quite relevant , I have added a TQ Black Diamond RCA interconnect in between Hugo and SN2 with great results so far . This has replaced a standard TQ Black RCA  as I wanted to get more out of my source . The Diamond has the same signature but with much more detail , smoothness , soundstage and control . It was almost a sensory overload the first time I tried one a few weeks ago , a very similar first impression as with the Sarum I tried but slightly less forward . I contemplated Super Lumina but in the end I decided I wasn't prepared to spend £2k on the RCA-DIN at this time . I have had the new Diamond here for about 10 days and its settling in to a great purchase after the usual ups and downs of burn in worries . My Black speaker cables are allowing all the extra through effortlessly and they are here to stay unless there is a bargain to be had ..... 

Peter. 

It's a shame they don't do an RCA-DIN Peter as I suspect this would have improved the sound even further. I noticed this after trailling a Chord Company Chorus RCA between by 2Qute & SN2... was quite shocked at how much of an improvement there was between RCA-DIN and RCA-RCA. 

Jude2012, I took the plunge and ordered the TQ Blacks and TQ Black jumpers. Jumpers arrived today and I have put them in instead of my Chord Company Signature jumpers and have already seen an improvement despite still running Chord Company Epic Twin. The jumpers are brand new as well. Can't wait for the cables to arrive now  

Yes its a shame as DIN is always preferable but after numerous conversations including to Naim themselves who confirmed DIN was preferred BUT it can be cable dependant , I decided to go with RCA-RCA and there is nothing wrong with the SN2s RCA connections . Initially when I bought the Hugo I used a Naim Lavender RCA-DIN , this was easily superseded by the TQ Black RCA using a DIN adapter , eventually I removed the adapter which was an obvious bottleneck looking back . Recently I have tried  Chord Signature and Sarum , a Nordost cable , a Studio Connections cable ( very impressive) and finally settled on the TQ Diamond which is damn fine and was bought at a very friendly price , it just made the most sense . I'm not trying to start a RCA-DIN debate as I agree with what will be said but these are my findings so far and now have an even more wonderful sounding system .

Peter. 

Well I'm a little late to the party but thought I may as well add my praise for the TQ Blacks...

I got the jumpers brand new and the speaker cable s/h, listed as being 'one month old' so I expect that things will likely improve over the next couple of weeks. I initially replaced my Chord Signature jumpers with the TQ Black jumpers before arrival of the TQ Black cables a day later to replace my Chord Epic Twin. The jumpers improved things from cold before adding in the cables which added more of the same. My findings correlate with many others... things have really opened up at the top end, my PMC 20.23's really seem to sparkle now. There's also more low level detail and everything seems more airy. There's very nice seperation to various elements of the music but everything remains coherent and musical. The only loss I've noted compared to the Chord cables is that there seems to be less bass, however I think that this may be due to a slight bloating in the bass previously, with the TQ Black now tightening things up. Overall the TQ Black seem to contribute to a very neutral, engaging listen. Again, I am a very happy camper.   

Many thanks to Hungryhalibut et al. for bringing the cables to my attention and for the feedback provided on them... I do sometimes wonder where my set up would be without this forum.

I also have recently replaced chord odyssey and have the TQ black to have a very open and neutral sound and nice tight bass.

one question though, I notice other have also replace speaker links. I have a pair of audiovectors si3 and wondered if it would also be worth using the TQ instead of the link plates which AV recommend leaving? as its a 3 ways speaker connection it would be a double link cable needed.

I've replaced the standards manufacturer links on my PMC 20.26's (3 way speakers) with TQ Black link and I think it's made enough of a difference to justify the outlay.

+1 I have the same speakers and totally agree they are worth the outlay.