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Belden ICONOCLAST XLR Cable Review

Rate this cable

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 152 53.9%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 86 30.5%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 21 7.4%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 23 8.2%

  • Total voters
    282

Head_Unit

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I took a sort of pride in recommending BJC so many times over the years.
Yeah, this really bothers me. What is supposedly better? I read the letter from the Belden guy but that didn't really stick. Maybe Belden has just realized "OMG we can make SO much money off this stuff, let's make way fancy versions!!!" I might just ASK Blue Jeans what is up with this...
 

GXAlan

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We are focus on the second sample to detect what is different. We listen differently, hearing more detail and report that as the better sample.

To add to that comment, the second time you hear music, you know what to expect. “Oh, in a few seconds we will get to the part that I didn’t hear clearly the first time ________,”.

As a thought experience, take your favorite song that you have listened repeatedly and try to write out the lyrics? Now try with your second or third favorite songs? There are professional singers who forget the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner.

Now look up those three songs and see if you can better recall the lyrics 30 seconds later?

The fact we are more familiar with musical content alone makes a difference. I *think* much like looking at photos, we gravitate toward the voices. So hearing specific words enunciated or rhythms will catch our attention and then when we hear it the second time, we want to hear it more closely.
 

Glint

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that looks like the red plenum rated cable that was all the rage years ago....the more things change...
 

mattanderson

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Yeah, this really bothers me. What is supposedly better? I read the letter from the Belden guy but that didn't really stick. Maybe Belden has just realized "OMG we can make SO much money off this stuff, let's make way fancy versions!!!" I might just ASK Blue Jeans what is up with this...
Yes, the L. Ron Hubbard approach.
 

Head_Unit

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Yeah, this really bothers me. What is supposedly better? I read the letter from the Belden guy but that didn't really stick. Maybe Belden has just realized "OMG we can make SO much money off this stuff, let's make way fancy versions!!!" I might just ASK Blue Jeans what is up with this...
Never mind, read here https://www.bluejeanscable.com/articles/iconoclastintro.htm though I'm still feeling from a brand image this may be a shoot-themselves-in-the-butt moment for Blue Jeans. Still, such easy return & refund, might have to give it a shot.
 

BDWoody

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John Travolta is going to fly over your house and dump out Tom Cruise

I bet he will feel MUCH better after that. Gotta be damned uncomfortable.
 

Justruckin

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I use Mogami cables and their speaker wires from Worlds Best Cables. I have no complaints, the XLR cables are very nice, and their Mogami coaxial speaker wire, in my simple mind, did sound better than my home made OFC. More bass to my ear, I had to do some retuning after installing them. Something happened.
 

Emlin

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I use Mogami cables and their speaker wires from Worlds Best Cables. I have no complaints, the XLR cables are very nice, and their Mogami coaxial speaker wire, in my simple mind, did sound better than my home made OFC. More bass to my ear, I had to do some retuning after installing them. Something happened.
It's remarkable what imagination can do to you.
 

Justruckin

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It's remarkable what imagination can do to you.
I don't think it was, these coaxial cables did seemingly make a difference in the sound vs my home made OFC cables. I asked the question regarding coaxial cables vs OFC cable, and received the same smart ass remarks on another AV "Science" forum. I then asked asked over on an audio FB page that I partake in, the same question, OFC vs Coaxial, and actually received an answer that actually made sense scientifically. Seeing as Mogami is one of the few cable manufacturers that actually posts their specs, there should be something there. So, this engineer, don't know if he is, said he was, and he took a look, and here is his comment...

"I am amazed to read DC resistance per metre is soooo low. Also the net cross sectional area is 2.6sq.mm. This is very good. 0.054ohms total cable resistance for a 3 m cable to a low of maybe 6ohms impedance on a nominal 8ohm speaker. My mental arithmetic says that you lose less than 1% signal power through the cables. Irrespective of construction methods, that is why they are so good. Target is zero resistance, capacitance and inductance. These figures look very close."

Tell me, is this guy full of shit too? And I do not believe in this cable nonsense, I like Mogami, because I know what I am getting. And I cannot tell the difference between one of these inexpensive Mogami cables vs a $100 cable. In fact, I have never heard a difference in a quality cable vs an exotic one, even an Amazon Basic, and I own more than a few of those too. Until, I heard these coaxial wire speaker cables, and found myself readjusting things in my system, that I have not touched in months. Something happened, and I am sure it has to do with the coaxial cable vs the OFC in the way the signal is delivered to the speakers. Simple question, science site my ass.
 

SIY

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Tell me, is this guy full of shit too?
Pretty much.

"Coax vs OFC" is equivalent to "V8 engine versus green paint."

Conductivity is pretty irrelevant for an interconnect. In one listening test, no-one could distinguish between copper and a potato.

A shielded twisted pair will not be coaxial. Use a standard coaxial shielded interconnect and stop reading audio sites about wire.
 

Descartes

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Blue Jean cables are jumping on the bandwagon of the AudioQuest unscrupulous companies ripping people off! Very disappointing
 

uwotm8

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I definitely like how my current active speakers sound with AudioQuest interconnects (definitely better and more refined compared to sound with grocery store/amazonbasics-grade crapwires), and I nuch liked how my previous passive speakers worked with AudioQuest speaker cable (pretty old Slate, modern equivalens should be AQ Type/CV/Rocket lines). Again, for cleaner, solid, refined and overall "settled" sound. I overall prefer comfort sound, such as Dynaudio concept of "a bit bassy and easy-listening version of flat" and definitely don't like, say, KEF (boring and sterile nobass) or cheap JBLs (how even listen to that).

So at the end I see nothing bad in spending $ few tens to few hundreds if that makes any good changes to lovely system or a feel of such changes at least. Tried few times to live with some grocery-grade interconnects (including DIY) when I had no good cable options with required lenght and hey, that was definitely not that best sound, so here we are.
 

BDWoody

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SIY

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I definitely like how my current active speakers sound with AudioQuest interconnects (definitely better and more refined compared to sound with grocery store/amazonbasics-grade crapwires), and I nuch liked how my previous passive speakers worked with AudioQuest speaker cable (pretty old Slate, modern equivalens should be AQ Type/CV/Rocket lines). Again, for cleaner, solid, refined and overall "settled" sound. I overall prefer comfort sound, such as Dynaudio concept of "a bit bassy and easy-listening version of flat" and definitely don't like, say, KEF (boring and sterile nobass) or cheap JBLs (how even listen to that).

So at the end I see nothing bad in spending $ few tens to few hundreds if that makes any good changes to lovely system or a feel of such changes at least. Tried few times to live with some grocery-grade interconnects (including DIY) when I had no good cable options with required lenght and hey, that was definitely not that best sound, so here we are.
Can we assume no basic controls for the evaluation?
 

DonH56

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Billy Budapest

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I definitely like how my current active speakers sound with AudioQuest interconnects (definitely better and more refined compared to sound with grocery store/amazonbasics-grade crapwires)
Enlist a friend to help out with an ABX test and it will soon disabuse you of this notion.
 
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