Belden ICONOCLAST Interconnects and Speaker Cabling

Cables
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Good Morning All, as “downtheline” referred to, this is the time, that last year we introduced a sale on “previously auditioned” cables offering a 25% discount. Actually, that sale never ended and is a permanent part of our offering.

Many times customers will audition more than 1-variant of copper not wanting to question whether or not they made the right decision or choice for what works best with their components, speakers or room. When this happens (quite often,) 2-go out and 1-comes back. We also have a liberal 1-year “trade up” policy allowing customers who make a purchase (within cable genre) to move up the chain receiving 100% of the money they paid to make a purchase of a like cable in a more expensive copper variant. So, their previously used cables come back. The same sometimes applies to cables sent for evaluation or review purposes.

All of these cables that come back to our Seattle plant are thoroughly inspected, tested and repackaged as “previously auditioned” cables. Many times you would never know they had ever been connected before. These cables are discounted as previously mentioned at 25% off and carry the same 30-day return option if for any reason, you do not love the cables and wish to keep them.

At the start of last years sale, we had nearly 100-pairs of cables. They were quickly depleted but during the year, cables come and go allowing a great opportunity to purchase a perfectly great set of cables at an even better price than for a new pair. SPTPC and UPOCC cables are exceeding rare.

If anyone is interested in this type of opportunity, please email me personally at bhoward@iconoclastcable.com I am happy to see what we have that might interest you.

I/we at BJC and Iconoclast wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving and a safe holiday season.

All the best!!

Bob

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2823

Iconoclast Review in Process

I am permitted at this point to announce that Douglas Schroeder of dagogo.com is performing a very extensive review of both BAV and Iconoclast cables. For those of you who are not acquainted with Doug, he is hands down one the “White Hats” in our industry. By that I am referring to one who possesses immense integrity, calls the shots precisely as he sees them and is in absolutely no way rewarded financially or otherwise for his review of equipment.

By “White Hats” I am dating myself by referring to the commonly known practice (in the old days,) in western shows and movies, of always identifying the good guys from the bad guys by what color hats they wore. Well, the “good guys” always wore a white hat while the bad guys usually wore black. If Douglas Schroeder was the star in an old western, he would without question, wear a white hat.

Doug has a prolific vocabulary and a beautiful writing style unique I believe in the industry. In his latest review (November,) far down on the 2nd page he makes mention of Iconoclast and what may be to come. I don’t know what he will say about Iconoclast but I am betting that he will love them. Doug believes that in a proper review of any component, speaker or cable that it is absolutely necessary to use that component, speaker or cable in a variety of system configurations to make a proper assessment. Doug sure must be in great shape moving gear in an out to set these systems up. Never, have I seen an audio reviewer who completes his or her tasks in such a thorough manner.

I sure wish there were more Doug Schroeders in our hobby and industry. If you would like to take a look at Doug’s latest review, you can use this link. https://www.dagogo.com/wells-audio-cipher-tube-dac-review/

And to learn a bit more about Doug, here is a short profile. https://www.dagogo.com/author/doug-schroeder/

When you are ready to try the very best audio cables on the planet, get in touch. You will learn what your audio system and recordings “really” sound like. As always, I wish everyone the very best!!

Bob

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2824

Bob, ‘White Hats’ term is still widely used in the security industry as ethical hackers that help find and fix vulnerabilities.

Thanks for posting the links. I recently upgraded from TPC to SPTPC (TPC are up for sale) and couldn’t be happier. When I originally auditioned the different versions my system was not up to resolving the differences and I didn’t appreciate them at the time. 2 years later and am happy to say the SP is really a crowning touch to my system.

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2825

Thank you very much Brett! Put those TPC’s on the for sale section of this community forum. I bet they sell very quickly…

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Thanks, yep, been posted there a week. Slow time with holiday spending perhaps. I’m sure they’ll go to a good home at some point.

Be well

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2827

I’m just dropping a random thought…

I was thinking about my experiences earlier this year listening to the OFE and SPTPC speaker cables, and wondering what it might sound like (assuming bi-wireable speakers) if the OFEs were driving the lower frequencies through the midrange, and the SPTPCs the higher range. :thinking:

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Sounds like an interesting experiment. The OFE cables made my system veiled if one liked warmer bass the mix might be the ticket. I really liked OFE ICs in my system. The differences perplexed me a bit versus why they worked as IC but no go for speakers in my set up.

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The OFE speaker cables in my system never sounded veiled compared to the SPTPC. Maybe our terminology is the same, maybe not, but I would say the SPTPC was a tad more open in that it seemed to favor bringing out the higher frequency harmonics in my system. But the OFE was still able to resolve microdynamics just as well as the silver plated.

I should have tried this when I had all these cables in my house. I get “real audiophile” points taken away from me I guess. :wink:

2830

Another question that came to mind is what if you use both TPC and SPTPC cables on the same set of terminals (double sets of cables on the same speaker and amp terminals)? I have a couple of sets to try and may give it a go this weekend or next depending on some other scheduling issues.

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2831

I’ve got a set of 7’ TPC with large spades in the marketplace if interested

https://forum.psaudio.com/t/for-sale-belden-iconoclast-tpc-7-speaker-cables-large-9mm-spades-on-both-ends/20086/2

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My impressions of the SPTPC vs OFE speaker cables:

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2833

[@John_H, your impressions are similar to mine, but I must admit that sense of an extra bit of HF extension or “air” from the SPTPC was rather nice. That’s why I wondered above if a mix of the two would work - on bi-wireable speakers of course.

You also use(d) SX ICs as I do. I’d like to get some further thoughts of yours on your switch to the UPOCC, especially with regards to frequency extension, control, and articulation.

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Hi Tony,
In the frequency amplitude accuracy department, both the Audience SX XLR and the Iconoclast UPCOC 4x4 are similarly adequate and meet/surpass the usual audiophile hurdles. As you must have read from my observations, temporal accuracy, and the resulting realistic portrait of instruments in the soundstage in their proper relative position and size is where the Iconoclast excels in spades.
John

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2835

So it turns out I got my own set of Iconoclast cables a couple of days ago. :grin: A pair of OFE speaker cables, and OFE and UP-OCC ICs. Now I love my Masterbuilt cables on my Von Schweikerts, but in the past I passed up some great deals on adding Iconoclast cables to my arsenal. I wasn’t about to let that happen again. IMHO, Iconoclast cables are good enough (and by that, I mean so good) that they can compete with some very big hitters. As things change in a system, who knows when an Iconoclast might be just the thing to add? :slightly_smiling_face:

In any event, having tried the UP-OCC ICs (which I had not tried before), I am mightily impressed. In my system, replacing the Audience SX, they do as you say, John, but they also lift what was to me at that point a surprisingly light veil from the music. I’d have never used the word veil when describing SX ICs, but however slight, the UP-OCC made me see it was there.

Now, I will say they are not the ideal match for my current MB speaker cables. Ironically the SXes still are. I know that sounds odd from what I just said, but the MB are already so open (not HF tilted) - yet excellently balanced in frequency - that the OCCs are just a bit “too much” for the MBs. However (and here’s where we get back to Iconoclast! :smiley:), I remembered when I had the trial OFEs in my system early this year that that bit of “less transparency” was one of the things that swayed me to the MBs. It’s almost like the UP-OCC was made to go with the OFE speaker cable. So that’s what’s set for today’s listening session! System is cooking as we speak.

I like what @rower30 has done. I like the unyielding investigative, but always science based, approach to his work. I like that Galen knows he can’t yet explain every little thing with the science we currently have - but I like even more that he keeps trying to figure how and what science can. I like that @BobBJC and Blue Jeans have given Iconoclast a setting for sales. Of course I like their more realistic (though let’s face it, still not inexpensive) pricing. During the early prototype phase some years ago when I was part of the beta test team, I frankly didn’t think those early cables were good matches for my system. I was pretty clear in why the cables didn’t work for me, and Galen took all my comments objectively. Iconoclast kept working on things. I think the new designs have greatly surpassed those initial efforts and like I said, are very much competitive with the big boys. It just comes down to finding the right match among the choices available.

Whew! I didn’t intend for this to be such a waterfall of opinioning!

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2836

Hi all,

Got my early Xmas present, a Samsung TAB S7+ tablet. WAY better keyboard than I had before, and the camera is top center for VIDEO work. I didn’t really want another “PC” to maintain. A tablet is easier. Ya, I know, I like the Samsung OS even though there are haters but for what I use and do it works great…like this site! So the TAB S2 goes to the basement to run my PC music streamer. I used a TINY Motorola phone before.

Yes, the copper frustratingly is different. So, so weird that is. I do have some speaker cable series II on the paper board (tons of calculations mostly). The math does say what to do to make them better, not easier, to make! Funny how that works. The changes are rather complex but can be done well. This is LONG range stuff, though. Can we design it (yes), can we make it (don’t know), can we manufacture the assemblies (don’t know), can users accept the design (don’t know).

The series II interconnect were TOUGH to set-up, but the data says they are a better analog spec design. Most that listen to them agree. So again, the math pointed the way. What I knew I was changing did respond in kind listening to them. I have a more extensive paper on that on the iconoclastcable.com web site. You can ask me for it, too.

The tough part is that the math points to the structure, like it or not. A faster car isn’t maybe easier to drive. I have my ears to suggest WHAT needs to be improved, too. So we have that.

Like it or not, I can only make what I hear as my ears aren’t everyone’s! And yes, there is no reason to accept what the MATH says the ideal structure is…this is entertainment. No offense taken on that, and why? We all enjoy way different speakers after all. So why not cable too. I just enjoy making them purely to the math and so far this approach, although way different than most, works for my ears. I see no more repetitive way to get to success.

Mixing copper will be with us awhile as the copper response is also different between the speaker and IC cables. So if you think you know what to expect based on the IC, you won’t be accurate on the speaker cables.

This is why we are pretty lenient on trials, we know this is true. I also know the cables get better and better the more they match what is REAL and can be calculated and measured. The unknowns tertiary response has to also improve with the fundamentals.

So no, enjoy mix and match with anything. My approach is just that, and approach. Even if I could make an undeniably “right” cable, should this mean everyone has to like it? Certainly not. No two people like the same concert hall with the same music to the same measure. Enough said there.

Best all,
Galen Gareis

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2837

Better? Better? :open_mouth::thinking: Can you whet our appetites a bit more?

As to the trials, yes I think kudos are well deserved to you, Bob, and the whole Iconoclast team for the extremely generous trial period.

As one engineer to another (although I work in higher frequency ranges :artificial_satellite:), I salute your drive to improve our audio enjoyment!

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2838

Tony,

The good news is those that can use the design can use your older cables, still. But, the changes are pretty new to how cables have been looked at, and we have some patent issues to work out as a result. The current design is really important to HOW it all works. The mouse trap needs to catch more difficult mice, though.

Once patent stuff is all done, we can go to the CONCEPT stage where we ALL look at the MATH before we make the product. Do we agree that what we see is proper? Few take this important step. It matters.

After that we put the paper work into trial production and see if any changes will destroy the effort to duplicate the MATH in volume. There are steps that need to be taken doing it right.

No, this won’t be a cheaper cable at all, it will be more expensive I’m sorry to say as the design is much more complex in order to work right. Yes, it has a real basis for the change and construction. It isn’t a guess on HOW it will work and only the extensive design of the current cable make this even possible to TRY do. The complexity is on OUR part, not yours. You just plug and chug.

This will attack the issue of cable and amps from two more important directions. This is still a passive approach. It is incredibly cool to review the data on the approach. This is REALLY new stuff that hasn’t ever been properly explained or offered. Why? Easy, “Can you hear that?” stops most analog cable improvements.

I’m after improving the calculations and math, I don’t have that limitation of audible doubt. How good can we get passive cable? Second, when is it indeed inaudible? That won’t change the superiority of the design. It is what it is like a tweeter that plays above 20 KHz is technically a better tweeter. We aren’t that good yet on passive cable.

Best,
Galen Gareis

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I can’t find the proper drooling emoji. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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:drooling_face:

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2841

Galen. I just want to say thank you for creating such great cables. I’m now at full loom and the improvements are very satisfying.

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