Why three is a crowd is because amplifiers are still sensitive to the reactive type load and three sets will be a bit much on the reactance. Some amps, like Richard Vandersteen’s need a “window” of reactance so as to allow circuits with no oscillation mitigation in the amps to improve the overall “system” of sound. He knows the amps, speaker and wire relationship so he can do this, but don’t changes the speaker cable outside his requirements or the amps will overheat under oscillation. Other amps are sensitive to the cable load, not just his.
Amps with reactance mitigation are still less stable if we run the inductance too low and or the capacitance too high. ICONOCLAST parallel is recommended for mono amps or stereo amps placed where there are shorter runs. You can’t cheat the physics of how parallel cables work reactively.
Used as described in the tech paper should be fine on most amplifiers. If you have an amplifier that needs specific cable loads (the speakers matter too), they will usually give you the parameters you need to stay within.
Thanks Galen. For the most part it was a poorly worded joke, which is lost on most via the internet. Yes, I am aware that too much reactance can wreck havoc on amplifier performance. I’m also aware that selection of cables in general can be very speaker and amplifier specific. What Iconoclast offers is a clear clean window allowing one to hear “into” the music with minimal reactive load while also maintaining low DCR. Yet another brand that relied on speaker cable inductive load for stable operation was the early (1980’s) Naim amplifiers, and Exposure. I had the amps for a time as well as the NACA 5 speaker cables. I found the cable not well suited for other speaker/amp applications. I’d love to pair up the SPTPC speaker cable with my PAP Trio15 Classics, but the cable is just too stiff for me to be comfortable with the arrangement. Maybe a second single ended Ultra Pure Ohno Continuous Cast interconnect pair is in my future once I upgrade my preamplifier.
Has anyone seen this? I’m kinda disturbed by these claims, and not crazy about them using iconoclast cables. I have so appreciated the openness with which the tech behind iconoclast has been discussed, to see this happening with no explanation behind the possible reason some fancy “quantum” treatment can make all music sound magically better really sets off my bs radar.
FWIW, they do offer a 30 day money back guarantee.
As someone who learned a TON auditioning Iconoclast cables in my system (I own OG SPTFC speaker cables) and QSA Lanedri cables (I own a couple power cables) in my system, there is no substitute for hearing different geometries and materials and figuring out what makes an impact (and doesn’t make an impact) for you.
I have no idea what the QSA treatment is or does (which is beyond frustrating to the electrical engineer in me), but the impact I hear is material. I would love if folks with proper measurement setups would take some of these cables and measure the before/after. The SQ changes are stark enough that I strongly suspect changes in the cable would be measurable.
As frustrating as the verbiage describing the tech is, there is something going on here, we just don’t know what it is yet. I have suspicions, but all speculation right now. I love what I’m hearing though.
I get your concern. The flip side is that QSA has a track record of excellent products being the fuses. Until we hear them I suppose we’ll not know how good or otherwise they are.
Good tertiary unknowns and untested elements need properly weighted fundamentals we can certainly measure and calculate with industry accepted procedures to work their “magic”. A material without that fundamental design supporting is off to a bad start.
I tend to want to show the proper design decisions,and move to materials after that, as I have a proper base to see what they ?magic? may be able to do. Second, I design for COST. ICONOCLAST is designed to be cost effective and for most of us the choices are fewer than higher for the performance to cost.
People asked for a proper design at reasonable costs. We all still tend to want more and more even though we argue for a better value (series I TPC are a killer value and are supposed to be) and want series II and even those in parallel with series I to further elevate the measurements. Sure, we can do that but at a higher cost and for whom?
That’s OK to be top tier, but we are holding the value line that I think 80% of us really want to evaluate first. Is more “better” really better in our systems? We give the transparent steps to test that up, or support it on a system to system basis.
I stick to our knitting and the balance of the market is all fine as is. Buyers just have to evaluate the products and how they are presented in design, and may offer a value for those design arguments that are made and supported, somehow. I don’t need another product to describe and market ICONOCLAST. None at all. I need physics, and measurement.
I will have a presentation for AXPONA 2023 to go over RF to analog cable properties and how what we think we know impacts cable. All cables, not just ICONOCLAST. New materials be damned, the physics are still stubbornly there.
It will be two days I believe in the master class schedule of events. I have about 45 minutes to get from RF to DC. We’ll see what we can do in that time frame!
I’ve gotten it to 15 slides and my big mouth. Lots to try to move through but it will be fun as many aren’t really aware of how cable’s work. This is 100% non denominational, and applies to all cable.
For us who live on the other side of the world, please any member so kind to record a video in that occasion to be shared here on the forum? I would appreciate so much, really really thank you.
I will make every attempt to record the presentation and post it on our various social media. I hope to see lots of you in person in Chicago, it will be our biggest event yet!
I wonder how Galen’s master class is going to be taken by the many sorts (both manufacturers and audiophiles) in the hobby who either promote or believe that some exotic high end “magic” is needed if one is required to take something seriously? I expect you can deal with anything, Galen, but still - get your flak jacket and counter battery artillery ready.
Tony, Galen’s presentation is not an Iconoclast ad but rather a brief look inside the science and math as they apply to any and all “cable designers.” Attendees will walk away with a “clear understanding” that Galen has no peer.
There are still many of those naysayers who claim to be engineers that still don’t have even a remote understanding of the knowledge Galen will present, the test parameters or the equipment to even properly measure the data necessary to properly make an opinion. These are those who mostly make their living being naysayers…
The challenge is for Galen to work with the time allotted, If anyone can do it then he will do so. He has some great material for those who are interested.
I expect you can deal with anything, Galen, but still - get your flak jacket and counter battery artillery ready. 