Tellurium Black Cable quandry

[wee tee cee]

OK hear goes......I had a pair of 4m Tellurium Q cables, I was switching between different speakers at one end, it was a real stretch when using the statics as it was routed through the cellar to circumvent a fire place and as such both of the V plugs got fatigued and one eventually snapped. I didn't get my knickers in a twist, just stripped the pair of v plugs off and put on a couple of mitchel gold band plugs....(I would be lying if could hear any sonic degradation.)
Well in the interim I started experimenting with placing my temple audio mono blocks right next to the speakers and using very short speaker cables and long interconnects.
Long story short I was so impressed with results I ended up velcroing mono blocks to each speaker, setting the impedance on the amps to suit they're respective speaker Spendor sp1/quad 63s.
My son inherited by TQ blue bi wire set up so I borrowed (stole while he was out) enough to make up what is essentially jumper cable length runs.
Mark Grant made me up custom length interconnects to complete the plot.

So impressed with the results I made up jumper lengths of TQ Black for both sets of speakers,,,,,,the jump from blue to black was very evident and to my ears(I know some don't get on too well with the black) sounded tremendous.

Heres the rib, I now have a single 4m run of TQ black factory terminated.......the other length is roughly 3.4m factory terminated at one end but bare at the other.
i now only need jumper cable length speaker wire, loads of scope for experimentation but my gut tells me that TQ ultra black jumpers on both sets of speaker/ amp combos may lead to something special.

My quandary, TQ black should be factory terminated...... should I send it back and get the same lengths factory terminated (at cost) and sell them on....or crimp on some v plugs to the naked ends of the short run and punt them in non standard form.

They are sitting in a drawer looking for a good home......some sage advice would be appreciated!!!!!

[Andrei]

Sigh
The quandary sounds interesting but as I am now on my second glass of red I will have to re-read it to make sense.

[realysm42]

Why do they have to be factory terminated?

[wee tee cee]

TQ advise the solder they use is not readably available and requires high temperatures. I have used to bare wire and with screw on banana plugs but to be honest couldn't detect any detrimental effect.
looking to eventually sell the cable but don't want to devalue it if it requires specific termination.

[realysm42]

I remember Martin T changing various plugs and keeping the TQ wire, he said it had a positive impact on the sound.

[wee tee cee]

MMMM....thats interesting , i could have sworn the bare wire sounded better. From memory was it black or ultra martin was experimenting with?

[realysm42]

If it was his xlrs then black, if it was speaker cable, ultra black; can't remember which though!

[Stubies]

I have read in some forums that the type of solder changes the sound significantly - and even the way it is applied (temperature, etc). Sometimes resulting in reduced sound quality.

In the past i had bare wire cables that i had 'dipped' in solder to keep them from fraying - after reading about solder's downside, i clipped the ends and put on banana clips with just screws/bare wire contact. I believe I heard an improvement in the sound.

I believe I read somewhere that Mark Grant uses no-solder crimping in some of his connections for this reason. (sorry cant remember where just now, i hope i remember correctly)

here is an interesting article on this subject:
http://www.lejonklou.com/?page=41

I can believe the the Tellurium solder process could be special and make for a more consistent sound quality - though my experience leads me to think crimping may be just as good or better.

[Stubies]

I have read in some forums that the type of solder changes the sound significantly - and even the way it is applied (temperature, etc). Sometimes resulting in reduced sound quality.

In the past i had bare wire cables that i had 'dipped' in solder to keep them from fraying - after reading about solder's downside, i clipped the ends and put on banana clips with just screws/bare wire contact. I believe I heard an improvement in the sound.

I believe I read somewhere that Mark Grant uses no-solder crimping in some of his connections for this reason. (sorry cant remember where just now, i hope i remember correctly)

here is an interesting article on this subject:
http://www.lejonklou.com/?page=41

I can believe the the Tellurium solder process could be special and make for a more consistent sound quality - though my experience leads me to think crimping may be just as good or better.

All of that said - if you believe solder impacts sound quality - what does that mean for the solder in the IC boards...? Kind of obvious question, though i just now realized the implication...:scratch:

[realysm42]

What you going to do though?

Necessary evil.

[wee tee cee]

Well,
the bare wire in the black is two separate thin lengths in yelow sheath with another tiny sheath of translucent plastic. so far the best I have found is mini banana plugs, i think they for surround sound systems, they are belkinn ones given free with the flat audio cable. they secure with an allen blot much better than a cheese textured screw on most screw on bananas. place them in the bare cable hole on amp/speaker and tighten them as much as possible. sound great/ cost me nothing and had eight that has done both sets of jumpers. had a look at mcrus and see eichman do tellutium copper plugs but at 4 for £55 its a bit salty.
#

think i will hang on and get a set of ultra jumpers and see what they do.......had a play yesterday with about six different types of cable includihng tq blue. the black is still by far and away the most neutral and musical.
the runs of black i have left i might chop up for my son and create bi-amp runs, he s using blue just now but the black is sitting in a drawer doing nothing