Huron this weekend!

Iconoclast next week if customs release them. 

Huron in and it's very good. Just put on DSOTM SACD - oh boy. It's like someone added a subwoofer but without giving up anything, anywhere else. My ESLs have never played this album as good as this. 

Next weekend the new cables arrive too!

The Belden Iconoclast cables arrived.  Two boxes, one with obvious transit issues which had been taped over to seal the shipping box.  Luckily all cosmetic damage but it is just frustrating.  Contacted Belden and they have said they will ship out replacement boxes for the cables - hopefully they don't also get damaged.

Belden use very stiff cardboard as their box materials - hopefully because they are ecco-sensitive, but could also be cost savings.....  

Lots of dense foam padding inside the cable boxes to protect the cable but I think they missed a base layer, the hole punched in the box went straight through the base.

A data/measurement sheet is included for each cable.

 

The Sound - have to listen a bit longer and then revert back to the old cables.  The system sounds nice atm, musically well balanced, great depth and soundstage. Updated to Huron OS on the DAC so that is also making a difference, hence will listen for a while longer then go back to old 7m interconnect.

 

Iconoclast are staying. 

Edited July 6, 20178 yr by frankn
Clarity

And the old cables were...

1 minute ago, Rob181 said:

And the old cables were...

 

.....a memory.....

He'll probably try to fob them off to me :-)

 

In all seriousness, I have a fond memory of  his old ribbon speaker cables as they sounded pretty good at my house when they last visited.

Edited July 7, 20178 yr by christosd

Cables is a plural term Rob181 Grizzly.  ie can be used for 'multiple'.

Edited July 7, 20178 yr by Benje

The new Belden Iconoclast speakers cables have been in the system for almost a week now. I sure they will stay. 

I’ll get a couple of ppl over sometime for a comparison between them and the Lenehan FoilFlex (the thick ones) but I can’t see me swapping back. 

 

After seeing/hearing the Anti cable interconnects at Frank's place many moons ago I have always wanted to try them, I even tred to make a DIY copy, now I have a pair and will get them into my system soon, where would you recommend Frank?

1 hour ago, frankn said:

The new Belden Iconoclast speakers cables have been in the system for almost a week now. I sure they will stay. 

I’ll get a couple of ppl over sometime for a comparison between them and the Lenehan FoilFlex (the thick ones) but I can’t see me swapping back. 

 

Congratulations Frankie, have heard a lot of good things about the Belden cables and checked them out some time back but didn’t have the necessary beer vouchers to go much further . Very interesting, did you have to procure from OS?

@Darren69 hi Daz, luckily I was in LA a couple of weeks back so I got Blue Jeans Cables to make a pair and ship them to my hotel. 

BJC are now terminating & marketing the cables. Ex Belden’s engineer & designer (Galen)  of the cables and the ex marketing manager (Bob) have left Belden and joined forces with BJC to bring the cables to market at more realistic pricing. Still exy but much less than before. 

 

21 minutes ago, frankn said:

@Darren69 hi Daz, luckily I was in LA a couple of weeks back so I got Blue Jeans Cables to make a pair and ship them to my hotel. 

BJC are now terminating & marketing the cables. Ex Belden’s engineer & designer (Galen)  of the cables and the ex marketing manager (Bob) have left Belden and joined forces with BJC to bring the cables to market at more realistic pricing. Still exy but much less than before. 

 

Wow!! Quite a steal for BJC and a very deserving steal too, a great mob. Very interesting, thanks for the info mate and hope all is going well for you and yours. ?

Here is the new pricing ; about a 25% reduction I reckon over previous...….that was a lot to pay for fancy packaging!

BJC Belden Iconoclast V1

 

And now of course there is V2...………………………… does it ever end??

Edited November 10, 20187 yr by frankn
add

Doing some turntable tweaking, got Bruno in for a 2nd opinion. 
Moved the rug to be directly in front of the speakers. 
Will be adding some Vicoustic DC2 multifusers to the ceiling above each speaker to quieten down slight edginess. 
Was talking to Bruno about new valves as it’s been a couple of years (maybe as long as 5??? ) then remembered I had two unused (matched) NOS Tungsram PCC88 7dg8 so put them in the BHK pre-amp - that made a difference!

Probably have to do the BHK-300 mono’s too, but will give it a week to get used to the pre-amp changes.  
Might end up with different tubes in the GA Reference phono amplifier - have to hear what changes that makes. 
Other stuff in the works but that’s down the road. 

If these were the Tungsram 'Hungary' tubes, they are significantly better than the stock tubes originally provided with the BHK preamp.

 

During the short (6 months) time I owned my BHK pre, I thought the sound via stock tubes was ordinary, and certainly not what you'd expect from an $8k preamp.  The 'Hungary's made the BHK into something very good, approaching Accuphase standard IMO. The improvement was immediate and profound.  And yet, at those prices you can easily justify having a look around...

@gemini07 if I am approaching  Accuphase territory I’m happy. 
The system sounds pretty nice. 

Got the tt up to a decent height now. The pillars and tubular metals have all been filled with either expanding foam or that + blast grit to dampen unwanted resonance. 
Perhaps a better set of feet for the tt in future?

Edited January 20, 20224 yr by frankn
Added info.

Looks great @frankn, perhaps a tad uncluttered for my tastes! 😉

What's the deck BTW(?), to save me searching back.

8 hours ago, evil c said:

Looks great @frankn, perhaps a tad uncluttered for my tastes! 😉

What's the deck BTW(?), to save me searching back.

Clear Audio Avantgarde Magnum with ceramic magnetic bearing. 
Re clutter , give it time. This is only 3 days after putting it back together. 

Playing some tunes through the DS DAC direct to the March P451 Mono-blocks and Gale S402 speakers.  Giving them a run before boxing up and sending them back to Brisbane to a mate. 
Sounds blooming good. Better than I expected. 

Running in and ripping discs while I get Qobuz sorted out. 

On 14/10/2022 at 7:55 PM, frankn said:

Running in and ripping discs while I get Qobuz sorted out. 

Nice addition Frank, I'd be keen to hear how you go with them in your system. Cheers

Home made jobbies being run-in.  Not completely finished but Sound very good indeed. 

On 16/12/2022 at 3:23 PM, frankn said:

Home made jobbies being run-in.  Not completely finished but Sound very good indeed. 

 

I see the recent earth tremor at Echunga took out a couple of your cable risers.....