Belden ICONOCLAST Interconnects and Speaker Cabling

That is a good question and I am not totally sure it still has settled out given my Qsound anomaly the other night. I would say plan at least 75 to 100 hours. It gets way better after around 50 hours or 7 to 10 days about 5 hours a day listening.

Highs and mids start getting easier and you start to think perhaps this needs a bit more bite and then the cymbals crash or a trumpet is in the room piercing highs in a song, or you hear a solid skin of a tympanic hit snapping back to taut after the bass hits your gut. You say to yourself, “Damn this is good, this is what music is supposed to do.“ Surprises you since details jump out.in astounding bursts with lightning transients with sedate mellowed tranquility in between.

2 Likes

Good Morning, we will have a static display and more than anything we are there to meet with all of you personally. It’s great to put faces with names and shake hands with friends. I’ve seen the artwork for our backdrop and it ties the Belden, BJC and Iconoclast brands and associations nicely. So many have dine business with BJC over the years and we are anxious to say “thank you” to all!

There are many that have perhaps, never heard of Iconoclast and we hope to engage as many who will stop and let us tell them a little about our story. We will have cables of all types available to handle as well as sections of unterminated cable that better shows the designs.

Our 10’ x 10’ area will be well staffed. This time Kurt, our techs Andrew and Jeff and Galen will attend. Kurt attended Axpona as did Galen and I (pre-Covid,) but this time we want Andrew and Jeff to get out of of the plant for a few days and get a better feel for our industry. It is an eye opener to see components, speakers and of course cables at this level. By having 4-attendees, it will allow everyone ample time to walk the floor. Having 4-in the booth at a time would be crowded!!!

I will sit this one out and mind the store. It would be impossible for me to count the number of industry trade shows I have attended starting in the late 80’s. AES, CEDIA, CES, Infocomm, ISC, NAB and a few others made me wonder if I should just move to Las Vegas.

Please, if you plan to attend Axpona, promise you will stop by to visit!

4 Likes

Hmm, a Dagogo review of ICONOCLAST mentions that Galen took into consideration to develop a wire for internal speaker wiring, with some of the strengths of ICONOCLAST but obviously much more flexible and thinner.
I wonder if that’s gonna happen. I’m positive that rewiring my Audio Physic Tempo IVs with such wire would make them sing like or better than many over 5k speakers today. Galen mentioned earlier that people with about 10k speakers would see ICONOCLAST as value - I certainly see it (TPC) as value even though I paid MORE for the cables than what my speakers cost used last fall (though their MSRP in 2008 was around 4k)… Then again Audio Physic, I think, is generally quite extraordinarily unique in its sensibilities…

2 Likes

We really do need to look hard, very few cable manufacturers are quite so open about the technical details. I’m guessing maybe Tara Labs top-of-the-line cables might be those Ferrari cables, hmm, maybe Analysis Plus?
About Tara Labs, I doubt Fremer would accept much group delay decoherence so they gotta be good.

I tried (not hard, since there’s simply no info) to look for technical data about the ludicrous Transparent Opus cables. Very annoying, even offensive, that they don’t seem to even specify the conductor material, just marketing speech on their carbon fiber noise damped passive box integrated into the cable. Oh, I bet they sound “good”, but the passive components in the middle are off-putting without any info on what’s inside. Found an x-ray of the box, there’s a coil inside that seemingly attenuates RF. Or something. Dunno.

1 Like

Unfortunately the founder/driver/designer for Analysis Plus passed away recently, and the company appears to have been sold to AudioQuest. Hope I am mistaken about all this. If not, unless AQ continues the integrity of the design and reporting approach, Analysis Plus may have reached the end of their line.

PureAudioProject Quintet 15 - Mr. Ulrich - Switzerland - OEM Internal Wiring Replacement

We regularly receive inquiry from speaker manufacturers about Iconoclast cable. They are all ears until they learn of the process and precision necessary to use Galens Series I, much less Series II design. Once they understand, most go running preferring to use 2-conductor, stranded 12/14/16 AWG. I had to refrain from using the “lamp cord” designation for fear of a contract being placed on my existence. Maybe you should not look under the bonnet, of your speakers.

We do have some brave souls who stepped up to the plate to replace the otherwise “standard” fare of internal cabling of their “highly regarded,” and by most standard “expensive” speakers with Iconoclast cable. The Legacy Audio Valor’s was a massive undertaking with over 50-such assemblies to complete the speaker system.

Ulrich contacted me as a “customer” who wished to replace the internal cabling of his PureAudioProject Quintet speakers from Israel. I was introduced to Zeév the principal of PureAudioProject a fews years back. He has an incredible following and produces some “from what I hear” incredible speakers. I provided speaker cables to listen to and received lengthy and sincere accolades. But, like most, the prospect of prep and perhaps expense involved we did not move forward as business partners. I am intrigued by the open baffle dipole design and would love to experience the Quintets! Remember that my Whispers are “compound dipoles” and have never been considered for replacement.

Here is the story as provided by Ulrich. He is a perfectionist as are most from the EU cultures. Before I consented to sending him “raw” Iconoclast cable he had to perform an interview even more stringent than the first date of my eldest daughter. I knew that he was more than competent and would perform the task as a “work of love!” And, he did. It took hours and hours and hours. The end result was astounding.

Eins - “have nightmares about stripping little blue wires.”

Zwei - “twist conductors tightly, apply silver solder.”

Drei - " Solder on spade connectors." Don’t forget shrink ! Oh crap!

https://www.fastmailusercontent.com/jmap/download/u73994096/G197d99f937d6682cb8d1781485b212f37a584d86/IMG_6284.JPG?

Vier - And, when you think you are done, repeat 20-times!!

To Be Continued…

8 Likes

@BobBJC - I find those helping hands too fiddly. Have you tried one of these?:

6 Likes

Ulrich - Switzerland Part Zwei

Much of what will follow is images that must only speak for themselves. This is all “eye candy” for me. I receive countless images from our customers who share their systems with me. Like the systems section of the PS Audio forum, no 2-are ever the same and the obvious thought and planning is evident. Although I am not a fan of diversity and inclusion in many things, audio certainly presents a channel for such thought and application. I can only imagine the presentation and sound from some of the systems that I am blessed to look at!

After Ulrich has completed a significant number of assemblies, each measured to perfection, each maintaining the necessary geometry and break out length and each carefully hand terminated, he was ready to make connections.

The Quintet 15 design includes “external” crossovers making it necessary to route cables a little different than most.

Enjoy. I will follow up with comments from Ulrich.



7 Likes

Very nice! Link to purchase? Thank you. Looks way more stable.

2 Likes
5 Likes

Sorry for the mess on my bench, I am switching gears from a power cord to a cable to go from Phono DIN to RCA. I got a sweet deal on a Transparent Audio Ultra Phono cable, but it’s DIN and I have RCA.

This is beautiful work. I hope it sounds as good as it looks.

It also reminds me why I’ve never terminated Kimber Kable.

Ulrich - Switzerland Part Drei - Finale

Kinda says it all. Thank you Ulrich! You did a masterful modification. Thank you for the opportunity!

"Sound was now absolute fantastic, with high resolution, clearly defined instruments, deep and wide space. Wonderful!"

""** At first I am very astonished about the performance of your cable. It was a risk to buy and configure, but I am very happy with it. It is a big step in hearing music with my system. I will say the cable has component status, absolute fantastic!""**

8 Likes

Thank you!! I need this!

1 Like

I’m nowhere near your elevated skills, but a handy (third handy) tool does make a difference.

Enjoy!

2 Likes

Never, never, never put alligator teeth clips on 7 mil FEP! The indentations create ionization paths that can lead to low dielectric withstand voltages. Voltage is lazy and looks for the thinnest, and easiest path to ground. Don’t give it one. Use some sort of PVC sleeve over the polarity.

We test at 5 KV, yes 5,000 volts after assembly for dielectric integrity. Speakers run around 50-60V max, so likely no problems but…let’s be as good as we can be! This is true on ANY cable…don’t clamp the work area, ever. Use a pressure insulator.
Best,
Galen Gareis

8 Likes

I would like to wire my open baffle speakers like this but yeesh these cables are pricey! I wouldn’t even mind stripping them as I’ve had lots of Kimber Kable.

3 Likes

I have shrink tube covers for my alligator teeth clips. I had no idea about the ionized path issue, I just didn’t like the tooth marks. :tooth:

4 Likes

It would be great to see a review of the Iconoclast Series I/Series II bi-wire speaker cables on the new aspen FR30 speakers.

4 Likes

Someone is doing that but…you have new speakers and new cable. THAT is a tough job. Speakers are awful for mechanical break-in and few are good out of the box. Now throw in cable differences that may or may not be in-line with the speakers changes. When we hear a change, who is on first, the speaker or the cable? A moving target complicates and irritates the basis for a judgement.

I would not want to change two things at once. Maybe hold off awhile for the speaker’s to settle in. My CWT1000-40 took month’s to reach stability. My opinion of the speaker, no change in cable, varied a LOT as they worked in. One evaluation requires the other be “finished” for any real accuracy.

Best,
Galen

8 Likes