Blue Jeans Cable goes High-End

[semente]

They're now asking $2k for a pair of 7ft speaker cables... (cue loud wailing from the alt-objectivist brigade)

 

https://www.iconoclastcable.com/story/index.htm

 

Introducing Iconoclast Cable,
from Belden and Blue Jeans Cable

Are they expensive? Yes, certainly, in relation to our usual offerings; in relation to the "high end" audio cable market, not so much; in relation to the high cost of developing and producing these designs, not at all. Are they worth it? Obviously those of us with more modest systems can find other cost-effective ways to improve audio quality, and as we've said above, there's no denying that conventional designs work very well indeed. But if you are one of those who is reaching for the utmost in audio quality, and you're interested in whether wire and cable can play a role in that, please give them a try.

We've had many opportunities over our years in business to associate ourselves with one line or another of "high-end" audio products; we have bins full of samples sent to us by factories and sales representatives. But we never took any of these proposals very seriously, until one day Steve Lampen, then a sort of technical-rep/evangelist for Belden, whispered to us that there was a real cable engineer at Belden who not only thought that different audio cable formulas sounded different, but thought he knew why and was going to do something about it. A year later we met Galen Gareis, and here we are with the most well-engineered product we can imagine.

Interested? Read more at iconoclastcable.com and, while you're there, look into Galen's design papers, found here.

[PeterSt]

Galen Gareis makes it easy on himself because he talks about analogue application only.

 

The R, L and C thing do not even come to the same result in my personal (hardly experienced) book, because L and C contribute to shielding aspects and are therefore "absolutes" already.

VP would even be my explicit thing because this is all about current spread (no matter how minute for audio and now "not-measurable").

 

Ricardo, what was your idea with this thread ? too few cable threads ?

haha

[semente]

35 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

Ricardo, what was your idea with this thread ? too few cable threads ?

haha

 

BJC is bandied as a serious company. Now it looks like they're seriously after a slice of the lucrative high-end cable pie.

Can you think of anything with a higher added value than high-end cables?

Saffron?

[Solstice380]

Just now, semente said:

 

BJC is bandied as a serious company. Now it looks like they're seriously after a slice of the lucrative high-end cable pie.

Can you think of anything with a higher added value than high-end cables?

Saffron?

 

Let us not conflate added value with profit margin!  They are not necessarily correlated, as we all have discussed ad nauseum.

[semente]

3 minutes ago, Solstice380 said:

 

Let us not conflate added value with profit margin!  They are not necessarily correlated, as we all have discussed ad nauseum.

 

Thanks for the correction.

Can you link to a page that explains the difference?

[PeterSt]

The problem is the so-called justification. "The material is not that expensive, it is all the development".

Well, generally true, but not to these extents IMHO. Otoh, when I laid out the other day what all constitutes the cost price of a Lush Cable (all bought by the spool) it initially comes across as quite unbelievable. But still that is true. I suppose it depends on what one brings across (or tries to) and what seems plausible and what just for sheer profit. Often way too much in our views.

 

Still (these days and and of quite late(ly)) I wouldn't have any problems with thinking on how analogue cables could be improved. Still, however, I would work with those parameters, though quite over the top. And not with materials as such. Still materials have function and may imply higher cost. Example is the shielding of one size we just ran out of. The bill of the spool shows me 600+ euros (ex VAT). This is about material like tinned copper) but also about the coverage (like 110%). This (I think) can be justified. Gold or anything does not justify anything (again IMO), especially not if one says "it sounds warm".

Oh well ...

 

[Solstice380]

1 minute ago, semente said:

 

Thanks for the correction.

Can you link to a page that explains the difference?

 

Sorry, didn't think we needed a "formal" definition.  Added value means that there are greater benefits that come with an increased price.  Profit margin is the "mark up" and can be whatever the market will allow.  Does that help explain my statement?

[McNulty]

Iconoclast started in 2015 and there is another thread on AS regarding this cable brand, see: 

 

[Ralf11]

7 hours ago, semente said:

 

BJC is bandied as a serious company. Now it looks like they're seriously after a slice of the lucrative high-end cable pie.

Can you think of anything with a higher added value than high-end cables?

Saffron?

 

but Saffron is hard to harvest and tastes really good - I call "BAD ANALOGY"  !!

[AudioDoctor]

57 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

 

but Saffron is hard to harvest and tastes really good - I call "BAD ANALOGY"  !!

 

You can’t decide until you’ve tasted the cable and tried to make one...

 

Clearly. 

[mansr]

10 hours ago, semente said:

Can you think of anything with a higher added value than high-end cables?

Saffron?

Saffron-filled audiophile fuses.

[SuperRoo]

Added Saffron to the Trader Joe's list today.

[plissken]

This isn't new news. Sad but honestly if they can make $$ off of it... I'd be tempted.

[Richard Dale]

1 minute ago, plissken said:

This isn't new news. Sad but honestly if they can make $$ off of it... I'd be tempted.

What on earth is 'sad' about this news? There are detailed papers online where you can read about the engineering that went into the cables. Small production runs of cables with unusual geometries are expensive to make. But then not everyone has to buy them, and Blue Jeans still sell their more affordable cables.

[Ralf11]

1 hour ago, SuperRoo said:

Added Saffron to the Trader Joe's list today.

 

Ah... but was it Taliouine Saffron from the east/south side of the Moroccan Atlas Mtns. ???

 

 

This is sad news b/c it illustrates the triumph of BS at BJ cables.

[SuperRoo]

Oh please, BJ cables makes good quality cables at a reasonable prices.The new stuff is a separate thing, they even brand it differently.

[AudioDoctor]

2 hours ago, mansr said:

Saffron-filled audiophile fuses.

you know your gear is properly warm when you can smell the Saffron. 

[AudioDoctor]

44 minutes ago, SuperRoo said:

Oh please, BJ cables makes good quality cables at a reasonable prices.The new stuff is a separate thing, they even brand it differently.

I am 100% BJ cables here, I like them a lot. 

[Ralf11]

I am going to eliminate ALL my cables and use this:

 

https://phys.org/news/2019-12-energy-space-quantum-weirdness.html

[AudioDoctor]

33 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

I am going to eliminate ALL my cables and use this:

 

https://phys.org/news/2019-12-energy-space-quantum-weirdness.html

I’m not sure how this is new information. If heat didn’t radiate out through a vacuum then Apollo 13 would not have been cold soaked after turning off the heater, heck they wouldn’t even need one. Another question is how did they keep the astronauts from getting cooked by the sun or freezing when not in sunlight?

 

so many questions...

 

I understand space isn’t a perfect vacuum but it’s sure as hell empty enough that normal modes of heat radiation won’t work. 
 

maybe I should have paid more attention in Physics classes. 

[Ralf11]

quantitize your thoughts...

[Teresa]

1 hour ago, Ralf11 said:

...This is sad news b/c it illustrates the triumph of BS at BJ cables.

 

Problem is Blue Jeans Cable may go the way of Monster Cable. IIRC back in the early 1970's the price of original Monster Cable speaker cables was 50 cents a foot, and when they introduced interconnects somewhat later they were $20. Compare that to their prices now.

[AudioDoctor]

12 minutes ago, Teresa said:

 

Problem is Blue Jeans Cable may go the way of Monster Cable. IIRC back in the early 1970's the price of original Monster Cable speaker cables was 50 cents a foot, and when they introduced interconnects somewhat later they were $20. Compare that to their prices now.

pure speculation. 

[SuperRoo]

They are two different operations.

[Jud]

1 hour ago, Ralf11 said:

I am going to eliminate ALL my cables and use this:

 

https://phys.org/news/2019-12-energy-space-quantum-weirdness.html

 

57 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

I’m not sure how this is new information. If heat didn’t radiate out through a vacuum then Apollo 13 would not have been cold soaked after turning off the heater, heck they wouldn’t even need one. Another question is how did they keep the astronauts from getting cooked by the sun or freezing when not in sunlight?

 

so many questions...

 

I understand space isn’t a perfect vacuum but it’s sure as hell empty enough that normal modes of heat radiation won’t work. 
 

maybe I should have paid more attention in Physics classes. 

 

It's a different phenomenon than radiative heating. But I can't see that it's very surprising. There are all sorts of forces/particles being interchanged all the time in the "vacuum," and why should phonons carrying heat energy be an exception?

 

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casimir_effect and https://phys.org/news/2018-07-uncovering-interplay-famous-quantum-effects.html .