Waiting patiently like everyone else for the first shipment of bulk cable to arrive from Belden. Looks like it is in Seattle but the carriers are significantly backed up on deliveries because of last week’s snow. Snow removal equipment is scarce in Seattle. Keep in mind that the initial availability will be in TPC. The next order is for SPTPC and it will be some time before it is in our hands. We are also working to define the trade in policies. Up to now we have not had to address trades from a series or a generation. We always allowed trade “ups” (within 1-year) within the same “genre” and series, and at a cable length that is the same or longer as the trade and in a step up grade of copper. We also do our best to work with anyone who wants to move up by sometimes bending the rules “a bit” so that “everyone” benefits. Remember, cables that come back must be inspected, tested and offered with a 25% discount.
Galen’s significant research and ultimate conclusions (measurable, documented and very audible) that a single cable design can perform equally through all portions of the bandwidth is an incorrect assumption.
In my years at Legacy Audio, Bill D would bring in countless drivers for evaluation. They were stacked on long metal shelves in the lab. In those days we used mostly Eminence from California, Eaton from Germany, Audax from Germany and Foster and Panasonic ribbon tweeters. Enclosed manufacturer specifications on drivers would always specify the “range/bandwidth” that the driver would play. Bill evaluated and measured each driver across the claimed frequency range.
Even though a given driver might indeed perform as advertised, there was “actually” and “always” a “sweet spot” where the driver would perform better and sometimes much better than others over the performance range. Even though there were other considerations in evaluating and selecting drivers for a speaker design, that sweet spot performance and the ability to be blended through the overall cross-over network was a primary focus.
Historically, speaker manufacturers have many times offered designs with at least 2-sets of binding posts for bi-amp/bi-wire applications and a few offer 3-pairs.
It is worth mentioning how the Series II design came to be. Over 2-years of conceptual design went into this cable. Building upon the Series I design the overall research and math was to say the least “extensive.” Very few understand the incredible complexity and pure volume of considerations that go into a cable design. If you make a slight adjustment to one component or parameter of the design you change sometimes multiple others. I call that the ripple effect. You get it “as good as you can” and then comes the final step of “making” the cable.
You don’t go to Amazon, drive to Walmart or do Google searches on the net to acquire a “wire machine” or a series of what’s found on the line at Belden. The bonded, twisted pair designs of the Series 1 cable are not easy to produce. Here is a sampling of what is involved in manufacturing a cable. This video is showing how Belden makes the "easy stuff. It will give you some idea.
When the design “on paper” was “finalized’” it was then time to start the Belden “engineering review” process. This takes weeks and brings in a team of what I consider the best in the industry of process and manufacturing engineers to go over every aspect of the product design. Lots of questions are asked. As I sat and listened to this board grill Galen about this and that I was clueless about 95% of what the heck they were talking about. As always, Galen could almost immediately provide data or a slide and provide responses that often left the team of engineers glassy eyed and sometimes appearing that they too were as clueless as I was. Sometimes the periods of silence were worrisome especially since Galen likes to talk “a lot” about his work. I have yet to hear “anyone” provide an inkling of discrepancies in Galen’s science.
The rubber hit the road a month or so back when Galen would again drive to one of the Belden production lines to personally assist in setting up the machines to actually run the first samples of the Series II cable. He started on a Monday. Each day samples were produced for Galen to take to the Engineering and Design Center for measurements and analysis. I can only summarize by saying that at the end of the first week Galen was back to the drawing board to make an adjustment here and there since he was not happy with the results. Things that show on paper don’t always turn out as expected. A couple of days into week 2, Galen and I spoke and for perhaps the first time I detected that Galen may have questioned his direction. The design runs were improving each day but not to the level that would warrant a true production run and the investment from BJC to pay for that run and subsequent cable purchase. It actually cost several thousands just to set up the machines and run samples. Even worse, we were reaching the limits of what and where Galen was taking the design in terms of manufacturing capability.
It seems that we had only one more thing that could be attempted that would “completely max out” the capabilities of the production line. There would be no other place to go.
Then, it happened. It went click and the stars lined up. Kind of like watching the mad scientist after years at work throw his arms in the air with a giant smile and claiming “It’s Alive!” OK, maybe I’m being a little melodramatic but Galen was really excited. All this time I had been receiving and reviewing the process data. When I saw the end result I was excited as well.
Please reference Galens 2-graphs on velocity of propagation. Series II cables start the impressive “improvements” at approximately 500 Hz. Up to that point the Series I speaker cable is the winner.
For bi-wire/bi-amp applications you will use Series 1 on the bottom and Series II on the top. The larger opportunity is for audiophiles who have smaller “bookshelf/speaker stand” type speakers where the base is rolled off to a powered sub. These audiophiles might consider Series II and a set of Iconoclast IC’s for their subs to maximize the potential of their system.
I apologize for the long winded post. The story of Galen’s work on this speaker cable deserves to be told. I only hope I have not disclosed too much. When Galen is able to really let the cat out of the bag I know you will all be amazed. The science behind this new product is Galen’s baby. We decided to not fry everyone with the 23-pages of data and discussion but rather to try to spoon feed the info and in a language that many will understand. Like most… there is only one thing I need to know.
I’m ready to finally “HEAR” the cables in TPC. Galen promises I will not be disappointed.
