Could be my ears and speakers/room too. The more experience I gain the more I learn it all matters.
Way more of a difference in a “lesser system” for me, perhaps counter-intuitively. Which is part of where I get the above notion. No substitute for auditioning, which they give you freely for a month or more. But also, I like the TPCs in both systems vs. the SPTPC’s, which most Icono fans want me to like better, much as most want me to like “Windward” vs. “Snowass” ; )
Me and my gear. Focus group of one.
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For me it’s not that I like the TPC better than the SPTC, it’s that I’m not hearing much of a difference. I will admit I’ve only had the cables since Friday so maybe I just need to spend more time listening. I could with out a doubt hear a difference between the Iconoclasts and the standard BJC cables. I’ll spend some more time listening and update you all at that point.
There really isn’t that much in the big scheme of things. It is like splitting hairs, but you’ll find yourself eventually preferring one or the other after several weeks of listening.
Galen says that the silver plating only influences the highest frequencies. IMS the SPTPC’s had marginally smoother highs and images within the soundstage were less pinpoint in their apparent origins, but sounded slightly more “organic” and realistic. Like Galen (and Beef) say, it’s really system dependent to a large degree.
In my case, Galen hit it on the nose in an email discussion I had with him, as follows:
"My description is it is like DOTS. Some cables make them BIGGER, some BLUR them, and some form more of a sphere in space.
“If the dots are too fuzzy and big, the sound stage is larger, but has less left to right space. It sits in your lap more. More precision in the dots, or the definition of the sphere, allows better DISTANCE between each sound and throws the perception of the image farther to the left, right and back in the sound stage.”
I could easily live with either, but then I grew up in no-man’s land (Toledo, OH) more or less halfway between Ohio State and U of M. 
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Lon - I visited Canton, CT… I talked with the Mayor and the HS is not wired with Iconoclast… man was I pissed off… they are off my Christmas card list… 
http://www.townofcantonct.org/
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Yes, the SPTPC silver can ONLY change the way upper harmonics. The highest fundamental in music is just under 10KHz. Anything above that is a harmonic off a lower fundamental frequency.
Skin depth calculation show silver is ONLY possible to change the very highest frequency. The silver plate will change the phonons that emminate from that layer to comprise the final EM wave, and that’s how it “effects” the sound.
Sorry to say we can’t define exactly HOW the superimposed EM wave is changed…but we do know how it is fundamentally created with phonon superposition fields caused by moving electrons. The more electrons move in a given time past a point, that is the current definition, the larger the field that is created around the wire in the dielectric. The phonons fields keep adding up. An EM field is made of “parts” of a field superimposed one on another, it isn’t just “there” in it’s final form. Where the electron is moving, and making a phonon field, also impacts the tiny EM wave superpostion change it brings to the party. This is all time based stuff. At every instant the EM wave is different.
The silver layer is on the top of the wire, and the EM wave contribution changes based on the phonons source location and how many electrons flow in that outer layer creating them. Copper and silver will be different.
The inner copper core is exactly the same wire, TPC draw. This is why the sound so much the same as so much is the same. No hidden agenda there, just the wire choice.
The SPTPC copper is originally designed for 3-8 GHz coaxial cable and is extremely “round” to minimize signal reflections. It is super high geometric grade conductor spec wire, and expensive.
Best,
Galen Gareis
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Like Mr Beef, I knew I was “supposed” to like the SPTPC best, but after much time listening/comparing, the OFE was my certain choice. It just sounded better balanced, more organic in my system.
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@RonP - yeah - high frequency degradation as a function of age… why spend the coin for HF harmonics when you don’t have the younger transducer characteristics… just sayin… was that PC enough? Glad I have not hit the SS age yet… 
More love from the desert… more organic was the phrase I was searching for… thanks…
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Thanks Galen for the information. As an engineer I appreciate the data. Great job on these cables, your work made a believer out of someone who thought cables were snake oil. Don’t get me wrong I still think there is a lot of snake oil in this industry but I can honestly say that there is a significant audible difference between the Iconoclast speaker leads compared to my existing standard cables. As someone who develops technology on a daily basis I understand the amount of rigor that goes into product development.
If I were to change out my interconnects with Iconoclasts where do you guys think I’ll hear the largest audible difference.
DSD -> BHK PRE
or
BHK PRE -< BHK 300s
My other gear is two Revel Saloon 2’s and a P15.
@goblue - I went SPTPC for mains and loved them better than Nordost Tyr2. Then I changed my Nordost Valhalla2 IC (DSD >> BHK PRE >> BHK300) for Iconoclast OCC IC and that is when the holy crap moment really hit me with very serious coherent sound. Then I went full bi-wire SPTPC from BHK 300 to my SF EVOs and that was lights out… stick a fork in the cabling infrastructure… last cable I will buy.
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My guess is between the source and pre but that’s just a guess. The really big change is when all three sets are Iconoclast. Seems like half of us here are from Ohio and Michigan. I’m originally from Kalamazoo.
I’ve been listening to all three (TPC, SPTPC, OFE) on my new (but now finally loosened up) pair of Von Schweikert Endeavor SE’s. I can definitely discern a difference between the TPC and SPTPC. The silver is probably the best cable of the three, “technically”, but I’m not sure it’s the best for my system and my musical expectations. This is a drive by comment only to contribute to the recent posts - I’m trying to wrap up my thoughts over the next few days. I hope by then to be able to post a more comprehensive summary of how they all did in my system. The one additional wrinkle in the comparison is a pair of MasterBuilt speaker cables. These are recommended by VSA, as their speakers are wired internally with the same.
Small world. I’m from South Haven. 
On the IC side, I suggest to improve the "source of the signal first and then work towards the amp. One reason is it is CHEAPER to get the SHORTER lead (ya!), and the second is that a lead farther down the stream can’t improve the sound much past what it is. This is why the, OMG I can hear it stuff, happens when the LOOM is all the same IC with design cable.
The 4x4 conductor design, which was supposed to prove ONE 25 AWG wire was small enough, proved the opposite, sixteen 10-mil wires in the XLR and 4 in the RCA were superior in image chherence and stability.
OK, can’t fight mother nature so the ANALOG, it won’t change digital, RCA and XLR were introducted. Get the 4x4 wire design for your analog sections only. The digital side won’t care about the changes analog does.
Speaker cable doesn’t see the IC cable directly. They see the amps high current output op-amp. And, it reacts with the amps requirements AND the speaker’s demand requirements concurrently. A lot can happen between the amp and speaker. The speaker cable balances the amps wishes with the speakers, neither gets the full monty of what it needs. Someone has to decide that balance, and WHY they chose it!! Anyone who sells you passive cable and says that each end is totally happy is not being straight with the data, (see the tech papers on iconoclastcable.com) and how cables react with frequencies. Passive cable can not be any where near perfect.
IC cable eliminates one end from the reaction, it is a theoretical “open” circuit load. 47K-ohm input impedance load is supposed to look like infinity…and generally does. Now we just have the driver op-amp to satisfy and HOW the signal travels in the wire(s) inside the IC cable. Capacitance is important to not load the op-amps, but if you can keep cap low enough with a good design, low Inductance, which tries to climb up as cap goes down, is more audible as PHASE consistency. And, current coherence inside the wires (smaller wires) also perks things up.
The air core IC design allows low inductance and keeps cap lower, too. A win-win thing in design, but terribly hard to make in production.
All this stuff is well able to be calculated, measured and proven to be the case. The 1x4 and 4x4 RCA and XLR react to expected physics with the changes I made from the 1x1 and x4 design. I had no new magic, I didn’t find the end of a rainbow. Wire isn’t really weird at all, just the stories about it are. Wire isn’t a story and is interesting enough without making stuff up.
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@BadBeef
Focus Group of 2. Have the TPC and SPTPC in for audition and I have to say the TPC is impressive. I am leaning towards the TPC at the moment. The SPTPC does sound different than the TPC but at times the music sounds as though it is not cut from one cloth. The upper end has a bit more energy. The best example I can think of is cymbal shimmer is slightly more than what I hear in a live performance. The TPC can emphasize sibilants to a minor extent. Jury is still out on which version I will ultimately land on as my evaluation has been interrupted by the Holidays and a head cold.
Very well put, and my feelings exactly. The SP seems to add a secondary thing that is added to what the TPC does, hence the TPC sounding more of a piece, and sounds more “right” to me.
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I am dyed green Spartan Alumni. Perhaps our hearing gravitates to Iconoclast or Big Ten Engineering school education makes us appreciate the science behind them.
Color me Big Ten as well. University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and Northwestern. Followed by the Chicago School -being AACM and the local Blues Thing.
Strangest things…When I get to the Midwest, and the corn bugs splatter on by teeth as you inhale that cornfield smell riding my CB750F motorcycle from out West, I’m HOME again!
Yep, I’m and Indiana and Ohio boy for sure. Maybe not so bright as I rode my Kawasaki F11 250 to math class Saturday morning…in February when it was oh, -20 F. Why I was asked and my answer was it STARTED so why not. And, I went exactly as fast as I wanted to fall on the iced roads. Maybe THAT was the smart part.
Galen Gareis
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