Tellurium Q Black Phonos modded with WBTs

I finally re-fitted my 0.8m TQ Black Phono interconnects, now sporting WBT0110Ag plugs, into my system. This cable links my SUT (step-up transformer) to the phono preamp. It is therefore a very critical interconnect running at high impedance and susceptible to noise and hum pickup. There is absolutely no hum and no noise pickup, and only a very small amount of phono preamp hiss coming though at my normal listening level. The shielding is very effective.

I always knew the TQ was a good cable, but Marco made a comment that he could hear the cheap plugs in action in my system and I agreed despite liking their overall sound. So this was an experiment to see how much more sound quality the Blacks would yield. What would replacing the standard plugs with WBT 0110Ags achieve? The answer is: a lot.

I have just been listening to Rickie Lee Jones' Danny's All-Star Joint, a particularly good test track as there is so much going on. I can hear a ride cymbal deep in the mix that I hadn't really noticed before, together with fabulous impact with the bass drum and great dynamics throughout the frequency range. Treble is detailed and extended. There is no harshness, a signature of TQ cables, and no emphasis of sibilance. The overall sound is very rhythmic and exciting, and makes me want to play more.

I can't recommend these in any meaningful way as they are a custom one-off. However, they are the best single-ended interconnects I know (the rest of my system uses balanced TQ Black XLRs), easily beating the old Kimber KS-1011 that I used to have (which, by the way, uses very similar plugs to TQ).

I had some time ago asked Tellurium Q (via my dealer) if they would sell me another 0.8m Black with my choice of plugs, either Eichmann Silver Bullets or WBT 0110Ags. They refused, with the reply below from Geoff:

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We chose the plugs that we use for a number of reasons, not least of which is that they work well with our cable and the processes we use.

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Fair enough, TQ, and I understand that you use a high temperature soldering process which is difficult to manage. However, if you haven't ever tried WBT 0110Ag plugs with your cables then I urge you to try them. You could always sell an elite line using these plugs, side by side with the standard versions.

interesting post. I was going to get some of the TQ ultra blacks but I have decided against them. Would be interesting to hear some feedback from TQ regarding your post here, considering we got absolutely nowhere when we questioned him on the subject :steam:.

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Originally Posted by REXTON

interesting post. I was going to get some of the TQ ultra blacks but I have decided against them. Would be interesting to hear some feedback from TQ regarding your post here, considering we got absolutely nowhere when we questioned him on the subject :steam:.

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Hi Andrew

Yes, I'd love to hear from TQ and await with interest. Don't get confused between their speaker cables and interconnects: the Ultra Blacks are speaker cables and are quite superb. They simply destroyed my previous Kimber KS-3035s, some £5.5k worth of cable.

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Originally Posted by MartinT

I always knew the TQ was a good cable, but Marco made a comment that he could hear the cheap plugs in action in my system and I agreed despite liking their overall sound. So this was an experiment to see how much more sound quality the Blacks would yield. What would replacing the standard plugs with WBT 0110Ags achieve? The answer is: a lot.

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I'm glad that upgrading the stock RCA plugs has worked out well, and has resulted in a notable sonic improvement. I was convinced that this would be the case, as I now know from experience the sound associated with the use of heavy metal plugs, and can pretty much detect it instantly :)

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Fair enough, TQ, and I understand that you use a high temperature soldering process which is difficult to manage. However, if you haven't ever tried WBT 0110Ag plugs with your cables then I urge you to try them. You could always sell an elite line using these plugs, side by side with the standard versions.

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+1 (with knobs on). I would urge them to do so, as I think they're missing a trick!

In the meantime, Martin - enjoy! :cool:

Marco.

be interesting to know how these would affect noise pickup

http://www.oriton.co.uk/hifi-highend.../blackbullets/

Never heard of them, Phil. Have you tried them? I'd be concerned at the load the weight of the cables would exert, especially as they are not themselves locking plugs.

They look like adaptors ? Plug your RCA incon at one end and then plug the Oriton into the socket. Seems like a lot of extra connections in the way..:scratch:

Those things are bullshit, and simply a way to fleece the gullible from their hard-earned... :nono:

Like Dave says, you're simply adding more unwanted connections, the effect of which will be more sonically detrimental than the problem that the 'bullets' were designed to remove!

Far better to simply fit better plugs in the first place to a cable, such as Eichmanns, Furutechs or WBTs, which actually address the problem properly!!

Marco.

I agree

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Originally Posted by Marco

Those things are bullshit, and simply a way to fleece the gullible from their hard-earned... :nono:

Marco.

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+ 1. Too much weight, not a good idea.

Yep - I didn't like the look of them at all, either from the multiple connection aspect or the strain on your component sockets from the lever created by them sticking out that far.

The oriton thingy's were reviewed recently and got 5 stars if I remember correctly! Why add something in the signal chain that does not need to be there?

I have been doing some serious research on a new set of analogue interconnects that came about purely by accident from a chap who sent me some cables to burn in for him on my nordost cable burner, I could not resist listening to them afterwards and was shocked at how good they were, they had audionote RCA's fitted which are silver plated, I was so impressed I have asked him to make me a pair for myself with guess which connectors? Marco should know as I asked him this afternoon?

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The oriton thingy's were reviewed recently and got 5 stars if I remember correctly!

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Like that means anything! :rolleyes:

One star more, for the more ridiculous the product is!!

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I was so impressed I have asked him to make me a pair for myself with guess which connectors? Marco should know as I asked him this afternoon?

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Yesh, shome shilver wubble-yoo bee-tees :eyebrows:

Marco.

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Originally Posted by Marco

Like that means anything! :rolleyes:



Yesh, shome shilver wubble-yoo bee-tees :eyebrows:

Marco.

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been on the vino chief? :lol:

Martin, I know you've got the same xlrs as me in your system, are you tempted to upgrade them aswell?

I don't know if Neutrik are a good brand of xlr? I've never heard of them before.

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Originally Posted by realysm42

Martin, I know you've got the same xlrs as me in your system, are you tempted to upgrade them aswell?

I don't know if Neutrik are a good brand of xlr? I've never heard of them before.

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oh yes, chopping cables up is well worth it! :steam:

http://www.mains-cables-r-us.co.uk/5...s-set-of-4.jpg

Neutrik plugs are pretty muchy industry standard and my experiences with balanced cables leads me to believe that they are much less prone to variation than single-ended cables. I'll not be fiddling with my TQ balanced cables.

My ears must be shot as i can't hear any difference in cables let alone connectors.

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Originally Posted by realysm42

I don't know if Neutrik are a good brand of xlr? I've never heard of them before.

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As Martin says, Neutrik are the industry standard in XLR connectors.

Just about everything recorded will most likely have been through a Neutrik connector on the microphone or instrument cables.
http://www.neutrik.com/en/

A blind test of two identical pairs of cables terminated with gold contact Neutrik XLR and Oyaide or Furutech XLR would be interesting to see if anyone hears much of a difference.

Hmm, I do have three pairs of TQ balanced XLRs :eyebrows:

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Originally Posted by chelsea

My ears must be shot as i can't hear any difference in cables let alone connectors.

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You would hear the difference that the Yannis tonearm cable made in my system over the Dynavector cable :eek: :eek: :eek:

Shame i don't have the facility in my arm to try one.

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Originally Posted by chelsea

My ears must be shot as i can't hear any difference in cables let alone connectors.

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Trust me. If you'd been at the session at Martin's you would
It was not subtle

(not golden ears) Mike

It'll be coming to yours on Tuesday, Mike. Glad it arrived in time.

So that's the Technics, PSU, Choir SUT, Whest and cables. Did you say you have the required phono to DIN cable for your Naim preamp? All we will need is a line input.

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Originally Posted by chelsea

Shame i don't have the facility in my arm to try one.

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What arm have you got, Stu?

Marco.

Helius orion MK3 marco.

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Originally Posted by MartinT

It'll be coming to yours on Tuesday, Mike. Glad it arrived in time.

So that's the Technics, PSU, Choir SUT, Whest and cables. Did you say you have the required phono to DIN cable for your Naim preamp? All we will need is a line input.

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Record Deck input is BNC. I have Phono-BNC converters....
Rest are DIN. I have Phono/DIN converter
All will shave something off I assume :(

Record deck (phono) input we can compare with. For the Whest, you need a line input.

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Originally Posted by chelsea

Helius orion MK3 marco.

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Ok, dude. What's specific to its design that you can't use an aftermarket tonearm cable with it?

Marco.

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Originally Posted by MartinT

Record deck (phono) input we can compare with. For the Whest, you need a line input.

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So Phono -DIN adaptor then ?

Guess so, Mike. Isn't that what I said? :)

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Originally Posted by MartinT

Guess so, Mike. Isn't that what I said? :)

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That's not necessarily what I heard !
:)

All being well my other new box will also be there !

It would need a rewire as it doesn't have the ability to just plug a new one in.
It has AN silver already fitted so would be silly to mess around with it.

Ah, it's a captive lead... No worries. Yeah, AN silver should be good :)

Marco.