Tellurium Q Black II Speaker Cable Review
Written by Terry Ellis
Big Little History
Tellurium Q are an interesting HiFi company in that they have achieved a lot in a relative short period of time. They will soon celebrate their 10 year anniversary and have already won countless awards and achieved a fantastic reputation across the world. Their cables are different to many others, there is no fancy bling or jewellery, it really is a case of less is more, especially with the case of the Black II speaker cables
The Tellurium Q cable range is separated into three families Blue, Black and Silver with each having a a distinct sound profile. Once a user knows their preferred sonic family they can work their way up three tiers to diamond level with the Statement being Tellurium Q current ultimate expression of what is achievable.
The Black II speaker cables have been made from what the company learned in their development of the Silver Diamond range and are an improvement to the original and extremely popular Black Speaker Cables. The Black II is the entry level cable in the Black family but its far from entry level in performance.
Big Little History
Tellurium Q are an interesting HiFi company in that they have achieved a lot in a relative short period of time. They will soon celebrate their 10 year anniversary and have already won countless awards and achieved a fantastic reputation across the world. Their cables are different to many others, there is no fancy bling or jewellery, it really is a case of less is more, especially with the case of the Black II speaker cables
The Tellurium Q cable range is separated into three families Blue, Black and Silver with each having a a distinct sound profile. Once a user knows their preferred sonic family they can work their way up three tiers to diamond level with the Statement being Tellurium Q current ultimate expression of what is achievable.
The Black II speaker cables have been made from what the company learned in their development of the Silver Diamond range and are an improvement to the original and extremely popular Black Speaker Cables. The Black II is the entry level cable in the Black family but its far from entry level in performance.
Patience my Lad
Tellurium Q cables definitely require a patient audiophile and you must not jump to conclusions too quickly when using them, you need to give them time, "its gonna take time, a whole lot of precious time" in the words of George Harrison
The Black II speaker cables I received had been played for some hours so it only took a few days for them to hit their peak performance. All I will say is its well worth the wait.
Bigger Sound than you would believe
There is not a lot to talk about when it comes to describing the visuals and build of the Tellurium Q Black II speaker cables, think Tagliatelle and you are half way there. They are a slim flat type of cable, with a soft and flexible nature with the only real distinguishing feature being the Black II logo on the sides. The connectors are Z Plugs or spades with a shrunk tubing over them in black and red. For a cable that is so un-distinctive I would guess 99 out of 100 audiophiles would still recognise them such is the reputation they have built.
If you were to guess how they might sound just by looking at them you could wrongly assume a lean and cold sound as they are so far removed from the 2 or 4mm2 cable that is often suggested as being "all you need". A good listening session with a cable like the Black II proves that suggestion to be completely wrong.
The sound of our reference system with the Black II has size, scale, power and authority and most importantly really well defined, extended and articulate bass. Its actually the most articulate bass we have achieved from the system to date, there is not an ounce of fat on the bass, in fact there is not an ounce of fat on the sound overall. Watch the video below to get an idea of the bass we was experiencing with the Black II cables in the reference system
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With Clarity and Focus is how its supposed to sound
One of the hardest things to achieve with a hifi system sonic presentation is outright clarity and focus without losing a full scale and full richness of sound. This is the pursuit of the perfect sound balance, the Black II are not perfect but they are perfectly balanced in their presentation. I am really impressed with the sound stage clarity and space, each element and layer of the music is able to form and occupy its own space. This allows subtleties to come through clearly and makes tracking certain aspects of the music far easier. The overall clarity, focus and precision of our reference system with the Black II speakers cables is incredible.
The musical presentation has fantastic timing, its a thrilling listen where our reference system does not put a foot wrong in any aspect of its performance. When music sounds this good is when you start hunting down old favourites or you just press play on track one and let an album play through without any interest in skipping to something else you just sit and enjoy.
Its hard to fault the Black II speaker cables sound, yes there are better cables out there, but these still do everything right and nothing wrong, the video below will you give you an idea of the sound quality.
With Clarity and Focus is how its supposed to sound
One of the hardest things to achieve with a hifi system sonic presentation is outright clarity and focus without losing a full scale and full richness of sound. This is the pursuit of the perfect sound balance, the Black II are not perfect but they are perfectly balanced in their presentation. I am really impressed with the sound stage clarity and space, each element and layer of the music is able to form and occupy its own space. This allows subtleties to come through clearly and makes tracking certain aspects of the music far easier. The overall clarity, focus and precision of our reference system with the Black II speakers cables is incredible.
The musical presentation has fantastic timing, its a thrilling listen where our reference system does not put a foot wrong in any aspect of its performance. When music sounds this good is when you start hunting down old favourites or you just press play on track one and let an album play through without any interest in skipping to something else you just sit and enjoy.
Its hard to fault the Black II speaker cables sound, yes there are better cables out there, but these still do everything right and nothing wrong, the video below will you give you an idea of the sound quality.
How Much better is Black II
The Tellurium Q original Black speaker cable was award winning extremely successful and popular for the company for good reason, its a very good speaker cable. Its the most cost effective way into the Black family and still performs to a very high level. Tellurium Q was very keen for me to test both the Black and Black II to see what I thought to the new cable.
I started by listening to the Black II for about 5 days so that I could get a good grasp on them and wow what a 5 days. I was absolutely loving listening to music, doing what ever I could to get back in the hot seat to listen to more. It was time to change over to the original Black which were well used and run in cables and straight away I could hear a difference.
The sound that I had been relishing was gone, the system wasn't sounding bad, it just wasn't anywhere near as polished and faultless. Instead of an open, smooth free flowing sound it was more tense and compressed sounding in between the speakers. The mid range appeared more solid and fleshed out, but with some brittleness, the bass was less articulate and not as extended. The differences in the cables was marked enough for my to be able to record it as you will see in the video below
You will want to jump on these
I think an often missed area of speakers and speaker cables are the links between the high and low frequency terminals, for all the time I spent listening to and reviewing the Black and Black II speaker cables I was using the matching cable speaker jumpers. Lots of small things add up to one big one and its worth the extra money to get matching jumper cables to your speaker cables.
Champagne Sound for Lemonade Money
The Tellurium Q Black II are absolutely fantastic speaker cables, I cant praise them highly enough. A product that I could live with is the highest praise I can give to it and I could easily live with the Black II speaker cables. That clarity, focus, sound stage space and free flowing sound is seriously addictive and very hard to live without once you have experienced it. The Black II are a significant improvement over the original which is an incredible feat considering they look identical. They have given me a taste for Tellurium Q and I am excited to listen to more of their products in the other families and up the ranges.
Maybe less really is more, its hard to argue when Tellurium Q deliver a cable like the Black II which really is champagne sound for lemonade money, who doesnt want that?
Tellurium Q Cables Authenticity Check
Included with every new Tellurium Q Cables is an authenticity certificate, you use the free app CheckifReal and follow the steps shown in the video to confirm the cables are authentic.
Nice touch Tellurium Q!!!
Nice touch Tellurium Q!!!
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