Belden ICONOCLAST Interconnects and Speaker Cabling

UI love their website. You get a popup that says “order now.” There are no products listed and no prices given. I must have not been good in a past life. Someday, I want to have a business where my customers are willing to make orders for products that I have not marketed, advertised, or even merchandised. No pain, no gain! This makes no sense at all. If this product is as good as you all are saying and value priced, why on earth would Belden not market the hell out of this product. I’ve heard the “they are a billion dollar company and this is a small business unit that is inconsequential to their bottom line.” Again, this makes no sense from a business point of view. Darwin is turning over in his grave. If this unit is so inconsequential that they can’t provide a modicum of support for the product, then I as a consumer have no interest in supporting them or purchasing the product. It’s the principle of “skin in the game.” They are not standing behind this venture, so neither will I invest in it. To me, it’s the complete opposite of the PS Audio business philosophy. My advice is run for the hills.

Ouch. Yeah, we engineers are not really known for our marketing skills. Hey, I tried to warn you. Really, if you can get past it the cables are worth it. (and if you can get past the packaging when it arrives, which is nothing more than a plastic bag and a sheet of paper with the logo and as-built test specs for the cable you’re holding in your hands. But there’s no fancy box or anything, so that might turn you off, too.) I can’t blame you for feeling that way, and I wish there was a way I can convince you to at least try them for the 30 day free trial.

But, Will, make a note and send it to Galen and Bob and see if they want to reconsider reformatting the web page . . . .

Galen monitors this forum and passes the comments on to marketing. Belden has never done retail marketing and they need to get up to speed. They have developed imo one of the more significant products in audio AND THEY NEED TO SELL IT. So far, I seem to be their marketing division but they won’t let me on the corporate yacht…:laughing:

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They need to SHIP or get off the YACHT. Sorry, I couldn’t stop myself. Perhaps, Belden needs to spin-off this product line so that someone who is competent to captain the enterprise can take the helm. Why not license the product to PS Audio for exclusive distribution since this forum seems to be the primary marcomm channel?

I still don’t understand the rationale of developing a product and not supporting it. In fact, if I was on their board of directors I would have a major problem with this frittering away of corporate resources.

Last time I checked building a simple ecommerce site with products listed with prices was not a difficult task to accomplish.

I reiterate something doesn’t smell right in the hold, maties.

When I tried them a couple of years ago, they had a dealer who was quite helpful, and they do have some skin in the game as the cables are returnable within 30 days.

Did you keep them? No website = no skin in the game. There are 1-man mod shops that have better websites. Not great ones, mind you, but they are in business to succeed. Belden clearly does not give a ship about this product. I don’t see the 30 day return policy published anywhere. What century are we in?

I returned them. They sounded very clean and natural, but I couldn’t deal with 12 feet of tightly curled cable. I’m using Kimber 1126 again, which don’t sound quite as good, but at least are straight and flexible.
P.S. - if you want to see a truly horrible web site, try jenalabs.com - it’s about 1992-level. Excellent cables, but you’d never guess it.

This has been a problem from the beginning. Is Hanson still a dealer? I had a bit of trouble getting their attention at first but once I did they were fine. (They did offer 30-day trial, not that I needed it once I got them installed.) Others seemed to be less lucky with Hanson. I also don’t recall either the speaker cables or the interconnects (all the gen 1 basic TPC cables) being particularly tightly wound, although they did have a bit of a natural curve. Maybe I got lucky there too. Galen is a great guy as well as a great engineer and it’s a shame Belden won’t provide basic marketing support.

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When I say tightly coiled, I’m referring to the balanced interconnects, which had a diameter of 10-12", and were not interested in being straightened. I also concluded that straightening them would certainly displace the wires inside their channels, so I didn’t try very hard as I didn’t want to damage them.

I did not have the problem with my balanced interconnects or speaker cables as far as I recall. Or if I did i just plugged them in and straightened them that way. One interconnect pair does have a half-loop because the distance between the two components is much shorter than the cables. The other runs most of their length so that pair is pretty straight. I had to wait for my cables to be made so they might not have sat around in a wound-up state as long as some others. In any event it sounds like this is something they need to address.

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The stiffness is intentional. Teflon was chosen for it’s durability and it’s ability to maintain the design geometry that helps to hold the conductor suspended in air (which is the preferred dielectric) and it’s stiff stuff. It is a PITA if you have tight spaces but it will straighten with gentle teasing in the opposite direction. The prototype microphone cables are very flexible and use a plastic foam type material that is self healing. You can bend the stuff at right angles and it will come back to spec without cramming the conductor permanently against the material. My understanding is that the performance is not what is afforded by the Iconoclast, though, but that may be splitting hairs.
Nothing afoul at Belden, they just are like fish out of water with retail. I’m not sure if Hanson is still carrying the line. They are a big dealer for “That other cable company with Nordic names” and I think that they had a choice to make.

EDIT: I changed the material to Teflon instead of Mylar. My bad, Mylar was wrong.

Oh. Was this new interconnect design an “Iconoclast” or something else? I was of the impression it was a new Iconoclast interconnect that was cheaper than Version 1.0. Or did I misunderstand?

Sorry for the confusion. Separate products. The Iconoclast line has new versions of balanced and single ended cables on the works. They are also developing pro audio cabling based on the research that went into Iconoclast. The needs of the recording industry are different and therefore different materials.

OK, that was my original understanding. That’s OK if I have to wait a couple of months for the new ones, as I’ll still have to pay for the speaker cables first.

Thanks.

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BTW, I just checked: if you go to http://info.belden.com/iconoclast and click the dealer locator, Belden now have TWO dealers (one of which is Hanson). Their retailing is advancing at a truly terrifying pace.
6^)

I just clicked on the links to the two dealers. Neither of them mention the cables on their websites. This could be a HBS case study in what not to do.

Sad, but true.

“Neither of them mention the cables on their websites.”


Do you see the Iconoclast link at the left? If so, click it.
Use the telephone. These are made-to-order, and 30-day returnable.

The home page has a link for Iconoclast. They don’t list Belden. I didn’t realize they use a different brand. Thanks for the link.

However, the link takes you back to the Order Now link button on the Iconoclast website. Sigh.

Instead of the Order Now button, click the Dealer Locator button.