Audio is a emotional purchase and some audiophiles insist on new acquisition of the latest and greatest. If you have $21000 handy for audio you can afford your wine. So buy used and purchase your bottle of wine with the difference.
My point is that I have no “ emotions “ that say or compel me to buy $21k cables. I worked for a luxury goods company for many years and I witnessed first-hand many of the stupidest human behaviors. Every half decent luxury goods marketer knows that consumers buy “ stuff “ to make themselves feel better. Sounds cynical but oh so true.
The allusion to DRC is because I would buy it ,turn around and resell it/trade it out or donate it. In other words it’s an intrinsically better proposition. Conspicuous consumption only goes so far; the cables will only lose value and I certainly would not need them even at a diminished price.
This all goes back to what are the expectations for PS Audio consumers ?
I think a few of the folks on this thread have articulated the “ value “ proposition well. PS is a company that offers audio lovers a more realistic experience.
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Just bake sure you gave a reliable source and it’s not fake. LOL
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I know the importer !
Love it! That’s awesome!
We tried. Oh, how hard we tried. Galen was all for it, but the powers at Belden weren’t all that interested.
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Hi Paul, if things don’t work out with AQ maybe we should revisit. Your business model has changed removing dealers and we removed Belden. A new playing field, clean slate and cables that cannot be beat. Hope you are staying well. Crazy world we live in these days!
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It feels a little crazy as Paul stated in the beginning of this topic that they wanted to sell Synergistic cables with their products. For some reason ( Synergistic? ) they could not do it. Then they couldn´t take Iconoclast because of Belden and they settled on taking AQ cables. There is nothing wrong with the big picture,it is always just business after all.
Reading between the lines Synergistic would be absolute best match for PS Audio products regarding those thoughts and Paul´s comment. Also interesting that Iconoclast cannot be beaten? yet CO says top of the line AQ is the best sound they ever heard. I´m sure they tried Icono´s there too.
Still waiting for the first cablephile audionut with top of the line AQ to show up here spending 100K+ on cables with Stellar gear 
Thanks, Bob, always open to new ventures and ideas. You have my email address.
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Is Blue Jeans Cable not selling Belden anymore? Isn’t Iconoclast by Belden? I’m a little confused.
This I think should definitely be tried…a Stellar stack with top cabling compensating BHK alternative cost vs. a BHK Stack with entry level cabling. Not sure how it ends…
And regarding Iconoclast it would at least have been much easier to assemble the recommendation page, as there just seem to be 1-2 different cables available for each purpose (speaker, RCA etc.). Then there would have been a one for all synergy 
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I apologize if my wording confused anyone. The “and we removed Belden” was not meant to elude that we in some way stopped building and offering Belden cable assemblies but rather that Blue Jeans Cables contractually assumed all “sales and marketing” rights to the Iconoclast cable and the brand. Belden has always been and will continue to be an integral part of the success of BJC in providing the absolute finest cable assemblies available. Belden owns the patents to and will continue to manufacture Iconoclast bulk cable to the exacting specifications provided for in Galen’s designs. You might say that Belden and BJC at linked at the hip. It is a perfect marriage.
Paul mentioned that though Galen and I were both enthusiastic about and very much wanted PS Audio to become a Belden/Iconoclast partner at late as the Spring of 2018 and while we both still Belden employees, Belden management chose not to move forward with what we thought made perfect sense. Belden management tried to understand high end audio but their business model was never a good fit for the sometimes persnickety audiophile and the need to build one-off custom cable assemblies. Big ships do not turn on a dime.
So, even though Belden remains the exclusive manufacturer of Iconoclast bulk cable, they are no longer involved in sales and marketing of the brand. This is entirely managed by Kurt who founded and owns BJC.
Thank you Paul for leaving the future open to possibilities.
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To get back to some questions at the start of the thread, I think the discussion so far made obvious that the basis of the whole deal must certainly have been the intent to partner with “a” cable manufacturer to be able to offer recommendations and step out of own manufacture or the need of expanding it. Makes sense.
Each option would probably have offered a kind of good fit with the PSA electronics, but certainly not each option…or none of them…“the one and only magic synergy”. Nothing bad about it, no surprise, everything else would have been absolute fortune.
Of course many different cable brands will work fine with PS Audio gear and it´s a matter of ones taste and money always. Personally I have more trusty feel to companies like Iconoclast and some others who offer just a couple different copper/silver whatever conductor versions of a good cable to fit in setup. When it goes to AQ where you have 7 different lines and each has 3 to 7 different speaker cables to choose from…ouch. No wonder why PS Audio made recommended cables list to make things easier to choose from.
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When is PS Audio going to start carrying the Audio Quest outlets along with Power Port? Power Plants with curated outlets next?
I’m not sure that a curated cable means the full Audioquest Line. I prefer the Furutech GTX, R, G, NCF.
Their design, construction and quality isn’t matched.
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@watchdog507 Have you tried a selection of outlets? If so what comparisons did you try before settling on Furatech? What did you feel made it best of rhe lot? Getting ready to route three dedicated 20 amp lines.
I’ve had a P5 for years and the PSAudio outlets don’t clamp down well on many of the cables I own. I looked at the Furutech receptacles and found the construction to be robust and they clamp down extremely securely. I have 6 NCF’s and 2 GTX R versions. With 2 dedicated circuits that I’m upgrading to 20 amp when the lockdown is over for us.
interesting thought 
I hate confusion.
Yes, ICONOCLAST BULK is MADE by BELDEN to my specifications (The three design patents are “mine” but OWNED by Belden. Blue Jeans buys the bulk from Belden and we (I work for Blue Jeans now) manufacture them into electrically tested assemblies for sale.
As far as all this cable stuff goes, give Paul a break. He needs a full line of cables from A-Z. Most people are comfortable with line consistency, too. Yes, I feel my cables are a tremendously good cable for the bucks, and explained why, but the line is for specifically analog audio, AES/EBU and SPDIF digital. Paul does allow the ICONOCLAST thread to continue, as so many enjoy the products on PS Audio equipment (I use the P20, DS DAC and DS Memory CD player myself). Paul does support other good products that go with his product selections.
I DO NOT intend to have a “new” line of cables to churn the market, either. A proper EM design stays that way. We may improve interconnect XLR flex properties but the basic “sound” of the cable won’t be changed unless there is something really compelling that lowers both L and C concurrently. I sell performance not year to year BLING. I can afford to do this really well a VERY once and awhile thing.
We market a full line at Blue Jeans, and they are all specification based, yes, even ICONOCLAST is specifications based. We may be nuts to do it this way, specs are the “thing”, but the performance does walk with improved R, L and C and how it all goes together. Cables do sound different and that’s really the final answer, not the specs.
Getting those decent spec values is fascinating to know, and I just feel you should see what’s under the hood and what I did to justify the cable’s existence. We try to keep prices on even the top-line cables far, far lower than the market “accepts” but…we aren’t that market so much as we are VALUE and PRICE for sure. Better than that, you get to know all about why the designs are as they are. We are 100% open to peer review on any of our cables measurements and calculations. This is how you get BETTER products by more closely defining what they are and to repeatable benchmarks.
Two cars with “darn near” the same specs (weight and all that stuff) are still decidedly different to drive. I drove the HONDA civic Si but bought the VW GTI. No one that has a civic Si has a bad car, we can agree on that. There are different ways to go down the road is all. Me, I needed a quick and fun car, yes it is a GTI but I needed to haul 23 two cubic foot bags of mulch in one trip. The GTI can do this! I need a pick-up truck 1% of the time, a highway car 49% of the time and a sports car 50% of the time.
How we hear music can be as different as how we feel a car’s response to a road. Nothing is really right or wrong since this is ENJOYMENT. I have found specific things that I HEAR and enjoy in the way ICONOCLAST is designed and offer this alternative to as many as we can by keeping prices low. Enjoy the ride and oh yes, turn the car stereo on!
Best,
Galen Gareis
ICONOCLAST design engineer.
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