New speaker cables for new set-up

TQ black II cables might be worth a demo 

+1 for Finkfans recommendation. Excellent cables and not to expensive. 

Whats the difference between TQB MKI and MKII?

spacey posted:

Whats the difference between TQB MKI and MKII?

You mean apart from price ???    .................  TQ don't give any info on anything other than its black.  

5m each side of TQ Black II will be £540, more than 25% of the cost of a s/h SU!  That could easily be considered excessive.

On the other hand the O/P has only given very limited information, and certainly not told us enough for me to feel able to give an honest answer.

What other info do you require Huge?

4m x2 would be enough. Plus I'd consider (used) TQB MKIs

Apparently they have altered the makeup of the cable which had improved the overall sound of the cable. 

Also, you never need to pay rrp for TQ cables. Most dealers will give you a decent discount. 

There is a HiFi world review of the TQ Black II cable 

For a budget of £2,500         Naim SL

For a budget of £25               Audioquest 14/4 SLiP (and reuse your existing 4mm plugs, assuming you have a good enough soldering iron)

What's your actual budget?
What characteristics are important to you?
What speaker cables have you tried and what did you like & dislike?
To what music genres do you listen?

Look out for some used NACA5 for the length you require, hard to beat for the price and still in production since 1989, say no more.

Ah, now the other one!

... Not specific to anyone replying to this thread (who probably really do genuinely believe their recommendation to be the right one).

There are some people who will always recommend TQ Black for any installation and reject any other choice; there are similarly those who take the same approach with NAC A5; there again there are some will only ever recommend NAC A5 or Naim SL.

For some reason, speaker cables seem to result in very entrenched positions!

Another point, the characteristics of speaker cables can sometimes interact with the sonic characteristics of particular audio component sets and different rooms in complex and unpredictable ways.  Comparing them 'in-situ' is really the only way to be sure.

Before the SL cable was a scratch in its dads underpants the grand father of cables for Naim systems was NAC A5 and has lived with the modest Naim setups to the 552/500 systems for nearly three decades.

Before the Hindu-Arabic numeral system was introduced to Britain the only system available was the Roman numerals...

Try doing long division using Roman numerals.

Personally, as a rule of thumb I would allocate a budget of not more than 5% the total cost of amplification on speaker cables. Anything more it would be better to spend it on equipment. The usual suspects would be NACA5, Chord Epic Twin. I have both these cables and they sound great with my 202/200 and 282/250DR. Although the differences between the NACA5 and Chord Epic do exist, they are rather minor. Both are equally good and will likely work well with your Superuniti.

Cheers fellas, Budget would be £250 (used or new) Cables really don't understand what music so genre is irrelevant IMHO.

What I'm looking for, is a cable that works well with the SU, as we know anything 'exotic' can upset the amp.

I can solder better than most pros.... always build my own cables in the past.

When I had a Superuniti and PMC speakers I preferred TQB to NACA5. Other than Chord Odyssey, which I didn't like, and SL, which is not relevant here, I've not tried other cables in the last twenty years. I got my 4m TQB cables for £120 used, which seemed good to me. They would be my choice, based only on my experience. 

The skill to solder takes some heat out of the question.  

The SU isn't particularly fussy about speaker cables, just so long as you avoid Litz type cables or other 'low inductance' or high capacitance cables then you'll be fine.  All simple parallel twin (i.e. 'shotgun' configuration) cables will be fine.  It's really only the 'Classic' series poweramps that are particularly fussy about cables.

A set of Deltron 4mm plugs for the speaker end will cost about £12, leaving £238 - i.e. about £30/m, for that there are quite a few good cables.
NAC A5 is just above budget (£35/m).
TQB and Chord Epic Twin are a well above budget (£54/m & £50/m) unless second hand.

True the speaker cable knows nothing of the genre; but if, for instance, you like baroque chamber music then you'll be looking for separation of instrumental timbres and detail; other musical genres have other requirements.  Hence asking for the genres and what you want in a cable and what you tried / liked / disliked previously.

I'll try track down some used TQB's and see if they differ from my studio grade cables I current have (and built) They're Sommer Meridian SP240 with Naim plugs amp end and Deltons speaker end.

If only I could find some for £120 HH!! they're currently about £230-250 S/H

Although I've not heard them, those Sommer cables do have a good reputation among pros, albeit at a considerably lower price point.

So have any of you Tellurium Q Black users deferred back to NACA5? and if so why?

ryder. posted:

Personally, as a rule of thumb I would allocate a budget of not more than 5% the total cost of amplification on speaker cables. Anything more it would be better to spend it on equipment. The usual suspects would be NACA5, Chord Epic Twin. I have both these cables and they sound great with my 202/200 and 282/250DR. Although the differences between the NACA5 and Chord Epic do exist, they are rather minor. Both are equally good and will likely work well with your Superuniti.

That 5% would make NACA5 over budget for anything less than 250 amp. At least in the US.

Huge posted:

Before the Hindu-Arabic numeral system was introduced to Britain the only system available was the Roman numerals...

Try doing long division using Roman numerals.

An abacus might be faster if you happen to be proficient.

spacey posted:

So have any of you Tellurium Q Black users deferred back to NACA5? and if so why?

I went back to A5 when I went back to Naim speakers. It just seemed to work better. 

spacey posted:

So have any of you Tellurium Q Black users deferred back to NACA5? and if so why?

No - Between 250DR & S400 the TQB is, to my ears, considerably better than the NACA5 I'd used for years beforehand. Wouldn't swap it back.

G