What are we listening for during break in?

Rouvin, thank you for the thoughtful answer. Honestly, I don't think cable burn in is anything other than each listener's own perception. If someone hears a change in their cables after their hard fought burn in, that's fine with me. If another calls it bunk, that's fine with me also. It would take a lot more time and effort than I'm willing to put into it to find out for myself. My system sounds fine to me. There's no inclination for me to listen critically enough to hear the "sonic signature" of my interconnects.

Timrhu said it all. If you take the time and it is of interest to you one will conclude that cables do change with burn in. If it seems like a waste of time and you dont care, then that is fine and I completely understand why one thinks cable burn is all in the mind.

I would not say every cable sounded better in my system after burn in. It depends on the system and your sound preference. Some cables may change to the point they upset the balance one likes in a system. System is now to bright, not enough bass etc... My only point is they change and give a new cable a little time before deciding it's not for you.

I have heard some engineers or technicians say that wire is actually a capacitor so that in itself would cause some change. Now whether the wire (tail) is wagging the component (dog) or vice versa, I don't know? So in effect evertime you change out a wire you are changing the capacitance between two components? Even if a component is warmed up say after 2 hrs. and then you switch wire you are supposed to give it a few minutes to settle in. Some wire has better immunity to RF and therefore has a blacker backround right out of the box.

I must admit I am at a loss on how all of us cant agree on this one. Every cable I have owned changed over some burn in time with a system. I have owned many, many cables over the years.

this is a copy of an e-mail from kimber cable that should settle this dispute, it is a fact that cables do break in period!

----- Original Message -----
From: hemidakota@sbcglobal.net
To: support@kimber.com
Sent: Monday, September 05, 2005 2:45 AM
Subject: ** Kimber Kable TECHNICAL SUPPORT Request **

The following person has made a request for TECHNICAL SUPPORT:

***** PRODUCT INFORMATION *****

Model: kcag
Length: 1/2 meeter and 1 meter meters
Termination: rca
Problem/Concern Description: do cables actually break in/burn in and actually sound better over time? is this possible or am i crazy in stating that my system sounded better after being broke in/burned in for a week solid while i was out of town? if its possible, what exactly happened? thanks for your input.

Thank you for your inquiry. Kimber Kable products generally sound great right out of the package. However, Kimber Kable speaker cables do take approximately 50 hours to begin sounding more like their original design objectives, after which continued improvement is realized over the next several hundred hours. Kimber Kable interconnect cables begin to sound more like we intended after about 100 hours of significant signal flow. They continue to improve over the next 500 hours or more of use. Burn-in time varies due to the design and the materials used as well as the location within your system and the signal strength involved. The higher the systems overall quality, the more the effects of a longer burn- in period will be realized.

With our considerably equipped test facility we have been able to measure the effects of burn-in. Our research has led us to believe that burn-in is an altering of the dielectric as well as the possibility of the metal having an altered state. The voltage present in a signal has the ability to slightly alter the dielectric properties of the insulation.One analogy that has been used to describe burn-in is that of water flowing down a river. As the water flows down the river, the small stones that line the bed of the river are smoothed over in the direction of the water flow. The water finding the path of least resistance. Many books have been written on dielectrics and conductive materials without a definitive theory on burn-in having been established. Measurements and microscopic analysis have brought us closer to truly understanding this very real phenomenon, however making definitive statements on this topic may still be a bit misguided at this point in time.

Sincerely,

Todd Walldorf
Product Support & Sales
KIMBER KABLE

Vindication?

Only problem with Kimbers 'explanation' and river water analogy is that electrical current in wire DOES NOT flow in only one direction as a water current. So whatever 'change' brought to the wire due to one way current flow will be 'reversed' when the current reverses, won't it?. This especially true with PC where the 'current' reverses 60 times a second.
Curious, what cable company claims to not need break in?
Bob P.