TELLURIUM Q Ultra Silver

MJ10.09.2019

Speaker cables

These Tellurium Qs are real gentlemen – they are understated and good-mannered. They have analogue smoothness, beautiful tonality and solid lows, all of which makes the listening one long seduction.

Function and form

100%

Ease of use

71%

Sound

95%

Appearance

The manufacturer does not give away anything about their cables except the terminations (lightweight plugs or spades) are silver-plated. Yes, they are. The silver plating is quite vulnerable and the reviewed pair had already some worn-out marks. Other than that the Ultra Silver is covered in black textile braid and the workmanship is neat and assured. The design surfs on the same geometry principle like Van den Hul The Magnum that I reviewed few years ago: the positive and negative leads run in parallel about 3 centimetres from each other and the constant distance is secured by a plastic bridge between them. Capacitance benefits from such a solution, inductance goes up, however.

Bass management

Weight

Slam

Articulation

As usual I started auditioning without knowing a single thing about the cable, neither its price. In a day or two I put it on the level of the QED Supremus in the back of my mind, though it sounds different. The Ultra Silver has by far better lows, it lacks a bit of the QED´s transparency however.

The bass of the Tellurium Q speaker cable is excellent and analogue-like. It radiates comfortable warmth and roundness, power and saturation. Therefore all except the bass shy recordings benefit from the Ultra Silver. For example, Nevermind (Airto Moreira and The Gods of Jazz) features Herbie Hancock on piano that blossomed in my room with beautifully rich quality, so does Stanley Clark’s bass that was contoured and punchy, one of the best I’ve ever heard in my room. It was a tube-like experience which makes the review process a mesmerizing event.

Clarity & delicacy

Detail

Air

Transparency

The Tellurium Q Ultra Silver shows off a nice level of detail which is not sharp, rather it is nuanced, very fine and luxurious. The profit is apparent: one can listen to his/her favourite music for hours without listening fatigue. Highs are a bit rolled off which eases pressure on the ears, although it also suppresses some low level ambient detail. For example, in Bowie’s The Angels Have Gone from Heather album (Columbia) the Ultra Silver delivers less air and sizzle of a cymbal had softened edges.

Tonal accuracy

Timbre

Dynamics

Temporal resolution

The well-mannered nature of the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver becomes friends with any recording. Despite I tried to shake the cable’s confidence by using some recently mastered CDs it always won me over with the smoothly delivered playback. The other side of this coin is that it means an audible signature that reminds me of what I heard way back in time from Cardas Cross and Golden Cross where strict neutrality surrendered to beauty. The Ultra Silver’s performance is a similar league.

Spatial resolution

Holography

Soundstage width

Soundstage depth

I grabbed my worn out copy of Stereophile’s Test CD 3 with Soundstage Maps & Microphone Techniques. The Ultra Silver throws soundstage with both fantastic depth and width. I can track easily John Atkinson marching with a cowbell through the church and accurately say where he is even without listening to his comments. The cowbell has a gold & honey aura and miniscule reverbs are damped, yet the main imaging clues are unambiguously identifiable.

All this summed up means that the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver is a top-league cable that will require careful matching to balance its warmth and liquidity. Do it properly and you’ll fall in love.

Price as reviewed:64 000,- Kč

Recommended resellers

Navrátil Audio, Havířov, +420 737 821 360

Manufacturer's website: http://telluriumq.com

Associated components

Sources: Accuphase DP-720, SPL Q2048 Mastering Equalizer
Amplifiers: TAD-M2500 MkII
Interconnects and speaker cables: Audioquest Redwood, Audioquest Wild Blue Yonder, Ansuz C2, Ansuz D2, Tellurium Q Silver Diamond, Vovox Sonorus XL, Nordost Valhalla V2
Loudspeakers: TAD Evolution One E1
Power conditioning: Shunyata Research Denali, Nordost Valhalla, Ansuz C2, Pangea AC-9SEMKII, Roth Audio Orfeo + několik dalších prototypů, Synergistic Research Atmosphere Level 2, Synergistic Research Euphoria Level 3, Synergistic Research Galileo SX, AudioQuest Hurricane

Gallery

39%

Back to category