The Cables
Contents
Unlike other vendors, Iconoclast doesn’t have an entry-level cable. The goal was to build the best cable within the limits of science, physics, and manufacturing.
The design and geometry of each cable remain consistent. The only difference is your choice of conductor, connectors, and length. All cables come with a test report showing measured values for capacitance, inductance, and resistance.
All terminations are soldered with WBT silver solder.
Iconoclast Silver-Plated TPC (SPTPC) Speaker Cables
Price: $2,800 / 10 ft pair
Design Insights
- Speaker cable design goals primarily involves lower resistance. Using large gauge wires results in lower resistance but higher inductance and inconsistent current density.
- A large number of individually insulated conductors will help but will increase capacitance.
- With this braid configuration (conductors in the same orientation to the opposite polarity as one another) it’ll reduces inductance significantly with only a small increase in capacitance.
Specifications
- Electricals
- Capacitance: 45 pF/ft
- Inductance: 0.08 uH/ft
- Resistance: 1.2 ohms/1000 ft
- Geometry
- Each polarity leg has twenty-four, 24 AWG conductors.
- Pairs of conductors are extruded into Teflon “bonded pairs”
- The resulting 12 bonded pairs are braided (basket-weave)
- The two legs are then laid back-to-back with a nylon braid and FEP outer sheath.
- Conductor
- ETPC – Red/Black
- OFE – Blue/Black
- SPTPC – Blue/Black
- Terminations
- Cardas CGMS 7mm spades
- Cardas CGMS 9mm pades
- Cardas CABD banana plugs
Iconoclast XLR UP-OCC Interconnect Cables
Price:
- 4×1 – $1,950 per 5 foot pair
- 4×4 – $2,250 per 5 foot pair
Design Insights
- Inductance and capacitance are more important for lower voltage, line level cables.
- Star quad geometries are great for rejecting noise at the cost of higher capacitance.
- This modified star quad design offers superb common mode noise rejection without the high capacitance.
- The Series II uses tiny conductor geometry star quads reduce inductance further, with a small increase in capacitance.
Specifications
- Electricals
- Capacitance
- 4×1: 12.5 pF/ft
- 4×4: 17.5 pF/ft
- Inductance
- 4×1: 0.155 uH/ft
- 4×4: 0.115 uH/ft
- Resistance
- 4×1: 17.5 ohms/1000 ft
- 4×4: 15 ohms/1000 ft
- Resistance (shield)
- 2.5 ohms/1000 ft
- Capacitance
- Geometry
- 4×1 (Series I)
- 4 x solid copper wires. One in each of the four star-quad air chambers.
- Separated by a central spline, enclosed in outer FEP layer, bare copper high-coverage braid, and FEP jacket.
- 100-ohms nominal impedance (could be used for AES/EBU digital or analog audio)
- 4×4 (Series II)
- Four tiny star quads within a larger star quad (16 conductors).
- Separated by a central spline, enclosed in outer FEP layer, bare copper high-coverage braid, and FEP jacket.
- 4×1 (Series I)
- Conductor
- ETPC – Red/Black
- OFE – Violet
- OCC – Green (only available for interconnects)
- Termination
- Neutrik NC3MXX-B
- Neutrik NC3FXX-B
Iconoclast RCA UP-OCC RCA Interconnect Cable
Price:
- 1×1 – $1,750 per 5 foot pair
- 1×4 – $2,050 per 5 foot pair
Design Insights
- The best dielectric is air. These air tubes have an outer FEP jacket and double bare copper braid shielding.
- Instead of a single conductor, the 1×4 design uses four smaller conductors in a star quad. This produces lower inductance due to field cancellation between the four conductors.
Specifications
- Electricals
- Capacitance
- 1×1: 12.5 pF/ft
- 1×4: 17.5 pF/ft
- Inductance
- 1×1: 0.155 uH/ft
- 1×4: 0.115 uH/ft
- Resistance (conductor)
- 1×1: 33 ohms/1000 ft
- 1×4: 28 ohms/1000 ft
- Resistance (shield)
- 2.5 ohms/1000 ft
- Capacitance
- Geometry
- 1×1 (Series I)
- Single solid copper center conductor
- 100-ohms nominal impedance (designed for analog audio)
- 1×4 (Series II)
- Four smaller wires in star quad held by spline
- 70-ohms nominal impedance (designed for S/PDIF digital or analog audio)
- Dielectric is mostly air. Spiral glass-and-teflon thread keeps conductor centered.
- 1×1 (Series I)
- Conductor
- ETPC – Red/Black
- OFE – Violet
- OCC – Green (only available for interconnects)
- Termination
- Cardas SRCA
Gentlemen, thank you for the wonderful review on Iconoclast cables. We do indeed hope to turn the high end cable industry upside down by bringing Iconoclast to market. These cables are designed using real science by the leading cable designer in the country. He did this for what at first may seem selfish reasons. He did it for himself. Thankfully he shared making it possible for almost anyone to acquire cables that will truly let the rest of their audio system perform. Remember, cables can never add or increase amplitude. Cables usually just get in the way, shadow or just pain mask the signal. Iconoclast cables maximize each factory and more importantly, get out of the way! Interested customers or potential dealers may contact me directly at bhoward@iconoclastcable.com Thank you so very much again for the great review.
Great to have a standard in cables that will satisfy audiophiles and professionals. Will be great for the many young enthusiasts who want to upgrade, but are faced with 50 different brands and many confusing opinions.