If someone from our faithful readers would feel a slight déjà vu, then the feeling is right, he or she does not need to visit a doctor, the audiophile passion did not make a doctor’s visit necessary, it is just that I decided to tackle the British cable manufacturer products again. Why? This is simple. Although last time, as well as now, I have got a full set of cables for review, but due to the big spades of the cables not being compatible with my loudspeaker’s cable terminals,  I could review only the interconnects. But the manufacturer was determined, especially as my review of the XLR cable was rather positive, to provide me again with the full set of cables, with the loudspeaker cable terminated especially for me with different spades and fully burned-in. This is a true example, that with some determination everything is possible, and the British manufacturer should be praised for this. So I will not delay any longer and invite you to read on about the sparring between the Japanese Harmonix I use in my system and the tested British Tellurium Q Silver Diamond. I will just add, that in Poland the distributor of the brand is the company HiFi Elements based in Wrocław.

Looking at the pictures of the Tellurium Q products, it is hard to find any external, visual fireworks. Despite that, due to nicely looking plugs and white sleeves placed next to them we get a product, that does not look like it should be immediately buried. In addition covering the cables with a black, slightly opaque braid, results in a look, that can be satisfying for many people, even compared directly with competitive products. Digging deeper, the conductor is silver plated copper, and the only difference between the cables is the external size determined by the thickness of the used conductor and dielectric. And while the signal cables seem quite thin, the loudspeaker variant has the form of a wide, stiff, but quite well foldable tape. Reading company materials we can learn, that all interconnects are directional (including the digital ones). And while XLR cables do not allow for different connecting, the RCA variants have the direction noted on the sleeves near the plugs. The case with the loudspeaker cables is different. Those also have appropriate arrows painted on the sleeves, but their intention is different. I conducted a hefty email exchange with the constructor about those, as in my opinion those markings were obsolete, but he insisted, that those arrows have a different meaning: they should allow the user to know, how the cable was connected, as when the cable is reverted 180 degrees, then the conductor must form again to achieve the same quality of sound, and it can take a few days. I must say, that for a reviewer this makes sense, as we are plugging and unplugging the cables many times each day. So this is a brief description of how the British cables look like, and I invite you to read on to find out, how the idea of “fighting phase distortion” is translated into reality of my Japanese-Austrian system.

This description will not be very long. Why? For once because we have recently described the Tellurium Q for the first time, and secondly, because there were no findings that would completely change things I we heard during the previous test. Then why all this ado? Against appearances the case is quite important, as it did happen, and not once, that I heard negative consequences of a system being cabled completely with one product line. This is not a rule, but when some individual element brings the desired changes into our system, its way of sounding, when we copy this effect many times, the final effect might not be acceptable. Am I telling rubbish? I do not think so, as during my reviewer life I observed such undesired reaction at least a few times. So what did happen, when I amended the XLR interconnect with the loudspeaker cable? Before I reveal that, I will just remind you, that this model from the British manufacturer caught me with introducing freshness to the upper registers, without artificial increase of their amount and with a detectable increase of energy of the lower registers while keeping their contouring. It was interesting, that the tested cable did not touch the midrange of my system, what resulted in the effect of levelling out the coherence of the sound, or putting it clearer, you could feel a slight withdrawal of this overly dense subrange. Some might say: “You lose palpability”. And I will say, that in the name of music recorded in churches, so important to me, I have enough of it and can give some away. The set of Reimyo and Trenner & Friedl is a refuge of dense, paper and loaded with midrange energy sound, and even if my perception of the quality of sound evolves, without the slightest harm to the vocal music, then even with slight thinning of the sound I can still fit within the canon of musicality with a big “M”. And all that avoidance of sharpening, with a big opening of the musical stage, was the thing I searched for since I changed my loudspeakers. Of course, before reaching that, I needed to understand my needs, and once I did, only the tested cables could bring me an answer, how to achieve that. Like I mentioned, most of the good influence of the Tellurium Q I saw with ancient music. It is not that it was not there in other genres, but in case of the human voice flowing through churches or monasteries, every piece of light – not brightening, but just transparency – is comparable to a jump a few rows closer to the stage, in terms of readability of the musical event, while sitting in the same place. Of course this does not mean, that the British brand was successful on all fronts (please refer to the part in the club in the previous test), but judging based on the reviews of Marcin and some other colleagues, the case is interesting enough to be tested by all thinking about this product. OK, I am talking and talking, but as yet, I have not let you know what happened. So going over to the specifics and slowly approaching the end of our meeting with the Silver Diamond Tellurium Q, I will probably ease down everybody mentioning, that including the loudspeaker cables into the system I received a slight underlining of what happened using the interconnect; another opening of the readability of the sound. What was very important, this extra air did not take on the form of over brightening. The treble and bass remained untouched, and the only, I confess still wanted, change (without losing any mass of the sound) was the additional freeing of vitality from the music, perceived as a kind of lifting. For many people this might be not enough, but for me this was very tempting. But I will repeat again, that the most important thing is, that the second attempt with the TQ cables showed they do not have this kind of dreadful cumulation while using the full set. This might be a small thing, but important when you are trying to go for a full synergy of your system, so I would even say, it is vital.

Commenting my comeback to the British products, I will just mention, that the amendment of tested cable combination with the loudspeaker cable resulted in dotting the “i” of the marriage. Without searching for any fireworks, just working on releasing the reserves of your audio system. In the beginning of the test I mentioned, that it was not so obvious, but without the wow factor, the second approach to the TQ cables showed them in a very good light. I do not know, how the full set will fare in your system, but if you are searching for an unobtrusive extra lighting of your sound stage, and the British cabling would not help, then you have a serious problem in your system. In such case it might be so, that the first set of cables would help, but subsequent fighting of the heaviness of your system might not be successful anymore. Unfortunately those cables are not making a lifting of a system by thinning and brightening, they just increase the readability of an already well resolved sound picture. There is no liposuction of a whale there.

PS. To better understand the current text, I would recommend for all interested readers to make yourself acquainted with the previous test, a double look at the same set of cables.

Jacek Pazio

Distributor: HiFi Elements
Prices:
Silver Diamond Speaker Cable: 4 650 PLN (per meter mono)
Silver Diamond Jumpers: 2 800 PLN
Silver Diamond XLR: 13 250 PLN (1 m), each extra 0,5m stereo + 1 300 PLN

System used in this test:
– CD: ReimyoCDT – 777 + ReimyoDAP – 999 EX Limited
– Preamplifier: Robert Koda Takumi K-15
– Power amplifier: Reimyo KAP – 777
– Loudspeakers: TRENNER & FRIEDL “ISIS”
– Speaker Cables: Harmonix HS 101-EXQ (mid-high section); Harmonix HS-101 SLC (bass section)
– IC RCA: 聖HIJIRI HGP-RCA “Million”
– Digital IC: Harmonix HS 102
– Power cables: Harmonix X-DC 350M2R Improved Version, X-DC SM Milion Maestro, Furutech NanoFlux – NCF
– Table: SOLID BASE VI
– Accessories: Harmonix Beauty Tone Milion Maestro, Harmonix TU 505EX MK II, Stillpoints „ULTRA SS”, Stillpoints ”ULTRA MINI”; antivibration platform by SOLID TECH; Harmonix AC Enacom Improved for 100-240V; Harmonix Room Tuning Mini Disk RFA-80i
– Power distribution board: POWER BASE HIGH END
Analog stage:
– Turntable:
Drive: SME 30/2
Arm: SME V
Cartridge: MIYAJIMA MADAKE
Phonostage: RCM THERIAA