Quote:
Originally Posted by decooney
It's possible and a common goal many seem to strive for with these nicer amps and I could not help but notice your quick jump back to "cables".
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There's a reason for this. The Von Schweikerts arrived first. When I hooked them up to the 600R and my then current cables (the “newer” white/clear version of the classic Kimber TC), I knew the Kimbers had been outpaced. I was happy enough with them running my beloved Shahinians (although back in the day it was the blue/black), as Kimber cable seemed to be made for those speakers. So I borrowed some MasterBuilts from Leif, and various Iconoclasts from Blue Jeans (who now sells them). I was an original beta tester for the Belden Iconoclasts and knew they had potential. Anyway, so the original scenario was in finding the best match for the 600R and VSA, all the while knowing if opportunity arose I would move to Pass amplification. My XP-20 and XP-17 have served me very well for some years, and I had many great years listening to the X250.5 in my friend’s system. Seemed an easy call for Pass amps to drive the VSA, as Leif owns an INT-250 and uses it often when listening to his own speakers.
So a used pair of X260.8’s pop up and the seller accepts my offered price. On the heels of new speakers I have a mint but used pair of monoblocks sent to me. Based on my conversations with the seller they’d had several hundred hours put on them. Since arrival here I’d estimate an additional 120 hours or so, with the amps never being flipped into Standby. The speakers thus far have over 400 hours on them.
My standby IC between preamp and amp has been a Purist Audio Venustas. Is it the best match for this new arrangement? I don’t know, but my logic is - what did I change? Speakers and amp. The likely first place to start would be with speaker cables. I know the sound of the Venustas well, and felt that’s not the first place to start changing things. IC between digital source (PS Audio DS DAC) and preamp is Audience SX. I like it there.
So I have three different Iconoclast speaker cable types, all provided as true biwire (separate cables) pairs. I’m trying each type as biwire and using a single run to the VSA’s. The MB is a single run only. I’m not find the difference between biwire and single run of the Iconoclasts to make me change my mind about my feelings for each type.
That’s the scoop so far. Still a bit of work left to do.
Oh, I have plenty of other speaker cables in my left over stash box (Analysis Plus, Siltech, Cardas, Monster, a few others) that of course I tried. The speakers and amps outclassed what I had on hand. So it was time to find something more suitable.
