{"id":110,"date":"2019-08-23T18:43:40","date_gmt":"2019-08-23T18:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iconoclastcable.com\/blog\/?p=110"},"modified":"2019-08-23T18:43:40","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T18:43:40","slug":"iconoclast-gen2-interconnect-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iconoclastcable.com\/blog\/iconoclast-gen2-interconnect-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Iconoclast Gen2 interconnect update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NOTE: <\/strong>This paper was originally written prior to the introduction of Iconoclast Gen2 interconnects, so while some references are to the future, that future is now….<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BACKGROUND:  <\/strong>To possibly improve the performance of\nthe XLR, to maybe achieve even lower L and C, \nwe would need to revise the current design\u2026and it will jump up the\nelectromagnetic complexity. The balanced of L and C would shift some but the\ncoherence will improve substantially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changing the \u201cconductor\u201d to a four insulated wire structure\nwill lower INDUCTANCE through signal phase cancellation. The star quad\narrangement will retain CMRR for NOISE reduction. Four smaller wires will\nimprove PHASE, and lower wire loop DCR to mitigate ground loops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>PROTOTYPE IMPROVED DESIGN:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Capacitance is the DISTANCE between\nthe plates (wires) and dielectric material(s).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inductance is two-fold;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • The electromagnetic field cancellation.<\/li>
  • The loop area between the wires changes inductance.<\/li>
  • For inductance dielectric doesn\u2019t really matter,\ninductance is DISTANCE.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    We will have the same nearly loop\narea in the design (C-C distance is the same) but each conductor in the new\ndesign will further remove signal electromagnetic fields based on the\ncancellation geometry. Inductance should drop compared to the single wire\nconductor system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The capacitance requires the same\nmeticulous attention paid to as the group dielectric. Since we are keeping the\ncable the same size so the capacitance HAS TO go up as we have more wires\nparallel to a dielectric (the center X-filler, beading and outer tube) , and\ncloser to the dielectrics. The conductor size and dielectric determine the final\nsize. The added wires and X-filler close to the wires are the main contributors\nto the required capacitance increase. But, lower inductance improves PHASE\nshift, and your ear is most sensitive to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The current coherence, the main\nobjective of the design with minimal L and C changes, is based on the skin\ndepth penetration changes going from 1 x 0.018\u201d wire to 4 x 0.010\u201d wire for\neach conductor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4 wire \u201cconductor\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Technically, four -wire per\nconductor will increase capacitance some as we have more wires parallel to a\ndielectric, but the  current coherence\nimproves substantially, time aligning the low to high frequencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    18214.4 \u03bc inches = 18.2 mils @ one skin depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    One skin depth is defined as when the surface current is 37% smaller going into the wire.\u00a0 If we had a wire that was 18.2 mils in size, the CENTER of the wire would have only 37% of the current measured on its surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Skin depth equation (below) is a\nsquared equation, so removing wire depth rapidly increases the inner current\nmagnitude. Dropping from 20 mils to 10 mils is a 4X improvement in current\ncoherence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The very good,\nand easier to make, current design does NOT use electromagnetic signal field\nreduction technology I developed for the speaker cables in the series 1 signal\nleads. The current XLR design relies on reduced loop area and uses AIR to\nreduce the capacitance to a minimum for a given tighter spacing to achieve\ninductance.  The better the dielectric\nthe CLOSER I can physically locate the signal wires for a given capacitance,\nthus lowering Inductance. The size of the wires determines the current\ncoherence, and with more uniform effect of the dielectric around each wire with\nrespect to frequency. The smaller the wire, the more uniform the velocity of\npropagation from low to high frequencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    An XLR cable\u2019s\nexternal noise utilizes CMRR based on all four noise signals being equal on\neach wire and which cancels those noise signals in a star quad design through\nelectromagnetic field cancellation. If we look at the four wires, and using the\nright hand rule (current out of the page). All the external noise currents in\nthe wire go CCW around each wire suspended in space. All the electromagnetic\nfields cancel adjacent to any wire and across from any other wire. All the\nfields superimposed onto one another forming a nearly ideal cancellation\ncircuit. Nearly perfect because stray magnetic fields would extends OUTSIDE the\nfour wires and reinforces the field. A first approximation says that this\ndoesn\u2019t happen. The stronger fields are closets to the wire and cancel most\naggressively. Theoretical outer fields are weak, and don\u2019t reinforce nearly as\nmuch as the inner fields cancel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    TWO WIRE FIELD CANCELLATION ASSUMING FIELDS EXTEND PAST THE CENTER BOUNDARY. MAGNETIC FIELDS WILL CONCENTRATE BETWEEN THE TWO WIRES, HOWEVER,<\/strong> AND CANCEL<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    OVERALL 1 X 4 WIRE CONDUCTORS
    ELECTROMAGNETIC SIGNAL FIELD CANCELLATION<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/td>\"\"<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

    We DO NOT see\nthis nearly \u201cperfect\u201d rejection of signal magnetic fields to reduce the\ninductance in the signal fields for series 1 RCA or XLR cable. We have a PLUS\nand MINUS balanced signal current direction whose fields are only partially\ncancelled. The partial field partial cancellation RAISES the inductance above\n\u201czero\u201d theoretically as we have a stronger field, and separated by the distance\nneeded to lower capacitance with any dielectric. The old design has ~36% higher\ninductance, and thus worse PHASE shift than series II (0.015 uh\/foot is reduced\nto 0.11 uh\/foot nominal). Lowering inductance directly lowers phase. See the\nQED phase analysis measurements on a variety of cable;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    QED \u2013 The Sound\nof Science www.qed.co.uk\/downloads\/qed\/soundofscience.pdf<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    OVERALL 4 x 1 wire XLR CMRR INTERNAL (signal energy)
    ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD CANCELLATION<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/td>\"\"<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

    The two MINUS\nfields cancel between themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The two PLUS\nfields cancel between themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But a MINUS to\nPLUS field REINFORCES the overall magnetic field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The reinforcement\nmakes the field stronger and the loop area effect worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    BODY –<\/strong>To make improvements, we need to\nreduce the signal electromagnetic field to ZERO, in theory, both from an\nexternal interference view AND an internal electromagnetic conductor view. To\ndo this, we need to BALANCE the music signal by SPLITTING each of the four\nSIGNAL wires into FOUR, or sixteen separate wires. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Making this\ncritical change will theoretically remove the signal field currents that\ninteract with the loop, creating inductance. It will also significantly improve\nthe dielectric group and Phase delay by forcing the dielectric to be seen more\nuniformly across the 20-20KHz frequency range with smaller wires. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To keep\ncapacitance low for a given loop area, we need to use AIR around the wires, and\nto make sure any plastics that touch the wire are super low dielectric constant\nmaterials (FEP mini X-filler and external FEP bead wire).  This is why the wires have to be BARE copper\nwith NO insulation around them.  Only the\ntangential surface of the FEP filler and FEP beading, the rest is air.\nCapacitance is dielectric AND distance related where Inductance is distance and\nelectromagnetic field strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Each of the four\nwire will be shorted together to make the typical four wires in a star quad.\nThe wires are 10-mil diameter 30 AWG for a total CMA of 4 x 102 <\/sup>=\n400 CMA. I used 4 x 0.018\u201d in iconoclast for a total 18 x 18 = 324 CMA for each\nsignal wire. 400 CMA is slightly lower DCR than the current design improving\nattenuation and mitigated ground loop voltages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The collateral\nfiller is foam FEP to manage capacitance. The power carrying signal braid\nshould also be as far away as possible from the internal signal wire QUAD\nstructure to lower the ground plane inside the cable, lowering capacitance.\nThis means making the outer belting thickness under the braid to the best fit\nfor an XLR connector, but not too big as the reduction in capacitance is a squared\nlaw variable, once a threshold is reached, more is not too beneficial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    The X-filler is FEP, as would the\n30-mil beading wrapped around the QUAD wire to lower the dielectric nearest the\nwire where it is most critical. The material issues all control capacitance,\nnot inductance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    The overall belt is solid FEP, with\na 36 AWG BC braid and a drain wire. A final solid FEP jacket finished the\ncable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    CORE \n                  0.230\u201d
    BELTING             0.030\u201d
    BRAID                  0.015\u201d
    JACKET                0.030\u201d
    TOTAL                  0.305\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Does it really work on initial Capacitance and Inductance measurements? The final design using the ICONOCLAST™ all FEP design for ultimate performance appraisals measured as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    SHIELDED\nCORE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lab Rqst-177575
    Sample ID \u2013 60156Y (PDC2842)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Requestor \u2013 Galen Gareis
    Report\nGeneration Date \u2013 22 June 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Capacitance @ 1 kHz<\/strong>\nper ELP 423, Agilent E4980 Precision LCR Meter, Belden 4TP Cap\/Ind Test Fixture<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Meas:  18.23 pF\/ft<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Inductance @ 1 kHz<\/strong>\nper ELP 424, Agilent E4980 Precision LCR Meter, Belden 4TP Cap\/Ind Test Fixture<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Meas:  0.10 \u00b5H\/ft<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    JACKETED\nSAMPLE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Lab Rqst – 177587
    Sample\nID \u2013 PDC2842<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Requestor \u2013 Galen\nGareis
    Report Generation Date \u2013 29 June 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Capacitance @ 1 kHz<\/strong>\nper ELP 423, Agilent E4980 Precision LCR Meter, Belden 4TP Cap\/Ind Test Fixture<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Cap @ 1 kHz\nSpec:  10.5 pF\/ft max<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Meas:  17.48 pF\/ft<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Inductance @ 1 kHz<\/strong>\nper ELP 423, Agilent E4980 Precision LCR Meter, Belden 4TP Cap\/Ind Test Fixture<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Meas:  0.10 \u00b5H\/ft<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Velocity of\nPropagation<\/strong> (VOP) per ELP 392, HP8751A Network Analyzer, HP VEE Instrument\nControl Software with Velocity of Propagation program and a GPIB card\ninstalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Meas:  85.3%<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    4×4 Design<\/td>1×4 Ref. Design<\/td><\/tr>
    231 pF\/12.67′ = 18.23pF\/ft<\/td>12.5 pF\/ft<\/td><\/tr>
    1.29 \u03bcH\/12.67′ = 0.10 \u03bcH\/ft<\/td>0.15 \u03bcH\/ft <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

    To really get better XLR\nperformance, both loop area and the field cancellation technology need to be\nleveraged, with the latter being most critical. The capacitance is all about\nmaterials and DISTANCE between them. Improving inductive field cancellation has\nthe added, and significant, benefit of improving signal coherence through four\nsmaller wires and phase with lower inductance while improving attenuation\nperformance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A cable with smaller signal wires\nand better coherence, low inductance (better phase) and slightly higher\ncapacitance will sound better sounding than a cable with larger signal wire and\nless coherence, higher inductance and lower capacitance\u2026as long as capacitance\nisn\u2019t too high!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The prototype run does indeed lower inductance with the\nexpected rise in capacitance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    0.15 uH\/foot (X) + X = 0.1 uH\/foot, X= 33% lower.
    Or the current design is 50% higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    12.5 pF\/foot (X) + X = 18.23 pF\/foot = 45.8% higher
    Or the current design is 31.4% lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Since the original design is working from such low L and C\nnumbers, the percentages are not really illustrating the advantages of the\nimproved signal coherence with much smaller wires, and an advantage that should\nplay out in audible performance.  The\n-3dB first order filter frequency is still well above the audio band so first\norder filter phase distortion is not going to be an issue. What must be the\nmajor contributor is coherence with the smaller wires. Rs response, while\nlower, is hard to quantify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Rs (swept frequency\nresistance) Values<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The 4×4 XLR lowers swept Rs (proximity effect) values\nsignificantly, and flattens the high-end linearity. Can you HEAR that\nimprovement, over the single the wire design? The truth is BOTH are\nsuperimposed when the wire is used, and pushing the XLR designs to as near\nperfection is certainly a better and better design. The lower DCR is evident in\nthe trace compared to the 1×4 25 AWG wire as is the flatter upper frequency\nmeasurements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    The RCA interconnect has also been updated with the new 1×4\n(ONE wire made with FOUR conductors) design. The reactive variables will track\nwith frequency like the single wire designs, but map to the altered L and C\nvalues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The following table shows the effects of changing the wire\nsize and number. The 4 x 4 has almost the same CMA as a single 22 AWG, but 1.82\ntimes more total circumference, which shows up only at increased frequencies.\nThe lowest frequencies are essentially DCR. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/td>\"\"<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

    The maximum Rs is lower with\nthe 4×4 design. Beta test feedback from customers on the 4×4 has been extremely\npositive and, consistent with the numbers, shows this revision to be a\nsignificant upgrade from the original Iconoclast design for analog\napplications. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    DCR INTERCONNECT LOOP CONSISTENCY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The interconnect cables of  a given wire design (single to single and\nverses quad to quad) have essentially the same loop DCR values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    From the Rs chart above at DC,\nwe see;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4×1 XLR and 1×1 RCA are 34.11\nand 39.19 Milli-ohms\/foot respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4×4 XLR and 1×4 RCA are 27.53\nand 28.79 Milli-ohms\/foot respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How was this done? The double\nbraid on the RCA was necessary to mitigate ground loop DCR variation between\nsources, and the DCR was designed to be near a \u201cfree\u201d return path for loop[\nDCR. The loop resistance ios the braid plus the \nconductor. But, the braid DCR is so low that the loop DCR is pretty much\nthe RCA center conductor. This is true for eother design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The XLR DOUBLES the number of\nconductors in each leg as a star quad. This reduces the DCR to one-half the\nconductor\u2019s value. Thus the two pairs in parallel are the same DCR as a single\nconductor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This was also done on purpose\nto make sure that the RCA\u2019s loop performance was as good as the XLR, and that\nthe RCA BRAID was essentially a ZERO DCR return path between grounds. If the\nRCA braid was insufficient DCR, we would see more divergence between the two\nsingel ended and balanced design. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    CONCLUSION<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    The measured XLR electricals are very good, and follow\ndesign theory perfectly. ICONOCLAST once again shows that proper engineering\nfundamentals are paramount to performance. Sound Design Creates Sound\nPerformance!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    NOTE: This paper was originally written prior to the introduction of Iconoclast Gen2 interconnects, so while some references are to the future, that future is now…. BACKGROUND:  To possibly improve the performance of the XLR, to maybe achieve even lower L and C,  we would need to revise the current…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2nd-generation-single-ended-rca-cables","category-xlr-interconnects"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iconoclastcable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iconoclastcable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iconoclastcable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iconoclastcable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iconoclastcable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/iconoclastcable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iconoclastcable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iconoclastcable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iconoclastcable.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}