Do speaker cables need a burn in period?


I have heard some say that speaker cables do need a 'burn in', and some say that its totally BS.
What say you?


128x128gawdbless
I hate to judge before all the facts are in but it appears the bobbyd38 dude hasn’t been paying very close attention to how this thread has developed. Hint: we’re off the copper thinggie. We’re onto the dielectric thinggie now.

Did the marketing guy at Audioquest get fired after this?

For an undecided prospective customer, this says "don't bother buying something expensive".

I think you might have misunderstood the purpose
of that article. The excerpt was taken from an
article regarding to their DBS system. It's an
active dielectric bias system that conditions the
dielectric so that the cable will sound optimally
regardless its state. Unlike regular cable, the
dielectric may not perform optimally if not being
listened in awhile. The DBS system will enable
the cable to sound optimally even if it was left
unused.

andy2,

You are right but, from some marketing perspective, creating a story around a subject is desirable, too. Adding some sort of mystique is probably always positive in marketing terms. Expensive cables, whatever "expensive" is at that moment, are not aimed for majority of people. Majority would agree with your statements. Fancy cables are aiming at small group with its own ideas and personalities. Just read how stubborn both sides on cable threads are. That group needs more of a story than just "it is great". Call it a "marketing psychology" or something like that. Make it seem like they have to work for it. Restaurants with long waiting lists (weeks and so on) have been using that kind of approach for the longest time.

It is not to say that burn-in does or does not exist. It is just why it would be a good thing for a manufacturer to talk about it. Not to mention that, in case cable does not sound phenomenal, they can always say "they need a really long break-in, months".

andy2,

I might have misunderstood that article, but so would anyone reading it who was not deeply familiar with what you mentioned. To us, it simply says "no matter how hard you try, you are not going to get there".