Belden ICONOCLAST Interconnects and Speaker Cabling

Galen says that the Iconoclast line is gaining some traction both inside Belden and in the community. I guess the shirts at Belden got the message when a studio contacted them about Iconoclast because they tried some loaners and were raving about them. Wanted to know if Galen could design super high end microphone cables for them, too… Abbey Road Studios. ← [not true, fake news, my bad!] 5/17

So, yeah, they’re a hit.77_gif

Anyway, Belden has put some effort into trying to market the line by hiring a new manager who is an audio industry veteran. I hope Galen takes the industry, he deserves it. The patents are starting to roll in for him as well. The dude is just design powerhouse.

Here’s another discussion:

http://www.audioshark.org/iconoclast-cables-203/iconoclast-cables-11912.html

I don’t agree with the moderator’s opinion that the TPCs are inferior, though. I find the differences to be subtle and the TPC is just a stupid bargain for the quality that you get.

Great news Will!

Good news, I’m just about to purchase some TPC IC (XLR) so I’ll chime in down the road from Down-Under.

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My bad. The Abbey Road comment was a rumor. I had spoken to Galen quite a while ago about this and had either forgotten or flat out misunderstood that there was some “mystery” surrounding the origin of this story. Dammit. Hopefully MI6 agents will not abduct me to a black site for questioning…

The audio shark thread linked above doesn’t seem to be there.

I’m going to have several iconoclast cables in my system soon and if it all works well I might have something very interesting to announce here.

Anyone seriously interested in listening to these cables PM me.

Mine are ordered , 5’ XLR pair for DS-PRE and 25’/27’ XLR pair (slightly different lengths to get to each mono) for pre-power amps. Wonder how long they will take to arrive, I have to wait to be notified of arrival by authorities, then pay the duty (10% of landed cost) + processing fee - then they finally will be released to internal post/courier.

Could be a while.

Well, well, well. The AudioShark link leads to nowhere now. The website is owned by a potential retailer for Belden. Maybe it didn’t work out?sorry_gif

frank7036 said

Good news, I’m just about to purchase some TPC IC (XLR) so I’ll chime in down the road from Down-Under.

Hi Frank, what's the price of the XLRs in AUD? And where did you order them from?

And just a general question for all, I know their XLR cables are starquad arrangement but does anyone know if the outer shielding is connected to pin 1 or to the XLR connectors or not connected at all to the ends?

And are the copper conductors silver plated?

AFAIK there are only one or two places to purchase - both in USA. I ordered from Hanson AV. pricing is as per the figures in this thread a while back. USD only so you get hit with currency conversion, shipping and 10% GST + processing fee.

on their way!! laugh will get hit with the tax & processing bill before they will be delivered frown

Cool. Let us know what you think when you get them. I think you’ll be pleased.

They’re so good, they’ll make the water go down the drain the RIGHT way!4_gif

Came across these on Audiogon…if anyone is interested…

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/interconnects-iconoclast-by-belden-up-occ-rca-2017-06-06-cables-45429-kettering-oh

Postal services are not our friends are they? Two boxes made it here after a few stops along the way. One box had a big hole in it - repaired along the way - sealed with clear packing tape.

Both Iconoclast boxes sides split with handling along the way ( on top of one box with the big hole). At least it is all cosmetic but …

after a while of wrestling with 27’ cables - these things are stiff and have memory after being coiled I got them installed. Left them playing music alone yesterday. Starting to listen a bit today.

Will say more in the near future.

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They are a bit unwieldy, although far from the worst. It will be fun to learn what you think.

I had to get used to the changes from Huron 1st.

The Iconoclast interconnects provide more of everything. On good recordings My brain perceives the bandwidth is greater, in other words the bass has greater weight when the recording has this encoded. The overall balance is clearer, music is crisp, better s/n, increased separation and very little fatigue. The top end and detail is beautifully presented. I guess this is due to improved coherency of signal transfer between the DAC to Pre, Pre to Amps which then flows to the speakers. They are keepers. I just wish we had a distributor in Oz - perhaps it could be a retirement job?

Excellent!

Great news! Glad you like 'em. Galen has been working on refinement of his designs both for home and studio. He sent me a trial set of new interconnects but my Bridge II is in Boulder and I still can’t hear sh!t due to my recent ear infection so I’ll have to wait to really audition them properly.

wglenn, you can always send them to me, only way I’ll ever get to hear them. I suppose they are balanced, my preamp is all single ended.

They really do seem to be something special.

Frank brings up an interesting point, here in Milwaukee, I think Guitar Center or some of the other instrument stores, are the only place I could go for any Beldon cable. The only two high end stores I visit, one is all Audioquest, the other Kimber, and some limited selections of Mogami ICs.

I bought my first specialized cables from the Kimber store, after reading Corey Greenberg’s 1993 review of the PBJs. Two sets of PBJ, now long gone. I eventually bought two runs of the old 4TC, which I later sold due to a bad glare in the upper midrange. The only Kimber I wish I had kept was a .5m of AGDL silver digital cable.

Although from the literature someone, maybe you provided, I wonder if Beldon could make enough of the Iconoclastic to support a nationwide dealer network.

I remember in the '90s when Legacy sold only factory direct. They had customers around the country who would allow interested buyers to come over to hear their speakers. Whether they got paid or a deal on the speakers, I never found out. I know there are a couple of companies that still do that.

Hey Frank, could one guy cover all the stereo stores in your country? I get the impression from TV shows that everything is quite spread out. I suppose you would only have to make the trip once or twice to do the demos, after that it would be mostly receiving and shipping. If you didn’t have to put out any money, it could be a sweet gig. Around here, the price would scare off the Kimber guy, and the other thinks DBS is a must have in a cable. When I told him I got a pair of Rocket 88s sans DBS, he first said they aren’t really Rocket 88s, and offered to send me home with a pair of them with DBS. Why bother, I couldn’t afford them anyway. They are real, I got them from Music Direct. Supposedly a Russian dealer special ordered a whole bunch of them, and then backed out of the deal. So they sold the whole lot to MS.

wglenn, it would be nice to know what Galen thinks of DBS.

@jeffstarr: No worries, I can hook you up with Galen if you like. Belden offers trial sets for free but they are still trying to figure out marketing to the public which, to say the least, is not their game. I’ll PM you.