QED earned its stripes developing affordable loudspeaker and interconnect cables and the vast majority of its products are still priced for music listeners who do not have a huge budget for cables — which would be 99% of the market. We are huge proponents of their products and many of use them in our home systems; the new Golden Anniversary XT loudspeaker cables earned our “Editor’s Choice” award in 2023 and remain one of the best values around. The British manufacturer does offer more expensive models in its lineup but none of them approach the new next-generation flagship loudspeaker cable: Supremus Zr.
Developed without compromise, Supremus Zr is the result of more than five decades of technological evolution and refinement.
Featuring leading-edge QED audio innovations, the new Zr model now boasts high-quality zirconia plugs and barrels. Used in watches and fountain pens and in automotive and aerospace industries, this advanced ceramic material is prized for its durability and high resistance to wear, temperature and eddy currents. Its lustrous surface also adds a luxury finish to the cable.
In conjunction with QED’s Aircore and Airloc technologies and a host of other cutting-edge designs, Supremus Zr represents the most effective way of preserving the integrity and fidelity of the analog music signal from beginning to end that QED has ever achieved.
Key Features:
- Zirconia Airloc design: hard-wearing zirconia barrels and boots offer durability and resistance to performance-affecting eddy currents, in one lustrous-looking material.
- Cold weld system: unifies the conductors and plug components for a lifetime of functionality.
- Rhodium-plated locking design ensures optimal contact between a speaker binding post and the cable plug for a maintenance-free connection.
- Aircore technology delivers an even, consistent performance across the entire audible frequency range.
- 6.2 mm2 ultra-low resistance conductors effectively allows your amplifier to exert complete control over your speakers.
- Cryogenic treatment ensures a perfect cable microstructure for more natural tonality.
Zirconia Barrels and Boots?
The exceptionally high mechanical strength of zirconia, its remarkable resistance to scratches and general wear, and its glossily lustrous finish, all make it the ideal material for this cable’s barrels and boots.
Not only are the Supremus Zr plugs gleaming and tactile, the electrically inert nature of zirconia also means eddy currents cannot become established and therefore plug-induced distortion remains vanishingly low.
Rhodium-plated locking design
Aside from its purely decorative properties – which are considerable – rhodium makes the surface of the Supremus Zr connectors very smooth, increasing the contact area and reducing resistance.
Designed specifically for Supremus Zr cable, this unique contact expansion system securely clamps the rhodium-plated beryllium copper pins into the speaker terminals, while at the same time increasing the contact area of the plugs, simply by twisting the plug barrel until it is tight.
And because it’s so very hard-wearing and resistant to oxidisation, rhodium can cope with the extra load exerted by our locking design – which ensures a perfect, maintenance-free connection.
Aircore technology
Loudspeaker cables with large cross-sectional areas are prone to skin effect, where high frequency analogue music signals are forced to the outside of the conductor, and proximity effect that disrupts current distribution. QED’s innovative Aircore technology combines hollow tubular conductors – to minimise the skin effect – with polyester insulation and a special spiral construction to reduce the proximity effect. This highly effective combination evens out current density and significantly improves the cable’s uniformity throughout the audio band.
6.2 mm2 ultra-low resistance conductors
Boasting a large cross-sectional area, the ultra-low resistance, silver-plated, oxygen-free copper conductors effectively bring the amplifier electrically much closer to the loudspeakers, enabling it to exercise better control over them, so the fidelity of the original music signal can be more accurately maintained.
Cryogenic treatment
Cryogenic treatment improves the microstructure of the copper core by eliminating crystalline dislocations. Numerous brass musical instruments at all points of the frequency range have been found to produce a better, more natural tone after deep cryogenic treatment.
Specifications
- Cross-sectional area: 6.20 mm2
- Wire gauge: 10 AWG
- Outside diameter: 17 mm
- Loop resistance: 0.005 Ω/m
- Parallel capacitance: 48 pF/m
- Loop inductance: 0.49 μH/m
- Dissipation factor: 0.009
- Technology: QED Aircore™; cryogenically treated; QED Airloc™
- Conductors: 32 solid core, silver-plated, 99.999% oxygen-free, polyester coated copper
- Dielectric: Foamed polyethylene, LDPE, and air
- Plugs: Rhodium-plated, locking Airloc plugs with zirconia barrels
Price & Availability
QED Supremus Zr is expected to be available in July 2024 in pre-terminated options from QED retailers with pricing per pair varying by length:
- QED Supremus Zr 2.0 m – $2,100 (£1,399 / € 1,749)
- QED Supremus Zr 2.5 m – $2,400 (£1,599 / € 1,999)
- QED Supremus Zr 3.0 m – $2,700 (£1,799 / € 2,249)
- QED Supremus Zr 4.0 m – $3,300 (£2,199 / € 2,749)
- QED Supremus Zr 5.0 m – $3,900 (£2,599 / € 3,249)
The QED Supremus Zr will be on display at the High End Show in Munich from May 9-12, 2024 at Atrium 4.1, Room F110.
For more information: www.qed.co.uk (UK) | www.qedcable.com (US)
About QED
British audio specialist QED has been designing and engineering superior AV cables for nearly five decades and is considered the original cable brand, with its QED 79 strand cable, released in 1979, widely recognized as the world’s first “specialist” speaker cable – a product that demonstrated how cables could have a tangible impact on audio performance.
Since then, the company has used extensive scientific research and computer-aided design techniques to ensure its products remain at the very cutting edge of technology. That rich heritage and constant drive for innovation underpins QED’s latest products.
