Do speaker cables need a burn in period?

@geoffkait

The wire in cables and fuses is physically asymmetrical. That’s why resistance measures slightly lower end to end one way than the other. Guess which way sounds better.

My understanding is that the premise is the asymmetrical directionality is a result of how the wire is drawn. I have not looked into whether there are measurements showing a repeatable difference in resistance with wire direction although I seem to remember some here citing the HiFi-Tuning fuse test results as one example. I have seen stranger things and do not doubt there could be a metallurgical basis for asymmetry based on the manufacturing process so I would not refute or even spend time arguing Geoff’s assertion of directionality but it is the "sounding better" part where I become a skeptic. There are just too many other things going on in every system for me to believe that a typical person could discern differences in wire directionality by ear. It would be like hearing a fly’s wings flapping in the backseat of your car going 60 mph down a gravel road or, in terms of water, the effect of a stick on the flow rate of the Mississippi River, IMO.

mitch2
I have seen stranger things and do not doubt there could be a metallurgical basis for asymmetry based on the manufacturing process so I would not refute or even spend time arguing Geoff’s assertion of directionality but it is the "sounding better" part where I become a skeptic. There are just too many other things going on in every system for me to believe that a typical person could discern differences in wire directionality by ear.

>>>>>Of course there could be reasons why someone might not hear directionality. I’ve always cautioned that negative results of directionality, like anything else, must be taken with a grain of salt since there are quite a few things that can and do go wrong with evaluations and make it difficult to hear differences. You know, things like mistakes in the system, hearing issues, and errors in the test procedure. I think it’s safe to say negative results for cable directionality are relatively rare over the past 25 years and can be thrown out. How many customers of (directional) aftermarket fuses are there since they first came out 15 years ago? 100,000? That’s a whole lot of typical people who can hear wire directionality. It’s not rocket science. You listen. Hel-loo! 

mitch2,

+1
Case dismissed.

What a maroon! 🐰 

"How many customers of (directional) aftermarket fuses are there since they first came out 15 years ago? 100,000? That’s a whole lot of typical people who can hear wire directionality."

As with any epidemiological approach, it would be interesting to see the changes in new-fuse-buyers incidence in general market and their relationship to current marketing trends. Often, probably always, objects of hallucination are related to common names/events surrounding the affected subject.

100 000 new customers over 15 years is between 6000 and 7000 a year, assuming that someone actually knows how many different people bought such fuses. It would be hard, if not entirely impossible, to know how many individual buyers exist. However, given the very specific nature of such a purchase and obvious dedication to the subject, it is safe to assume that each buyer has bought more than one fuse. Which would greatly decrease the number of people interested in fuses and hearing those differences.

In the world where number of iPhones may be approaching one billion, a few thousand people who, for whatever legitimate or not so acceptable reason, hear differences in fuses can hardly be considered "a whole lot of typical people". To begin with, people who buy aftermarket fuses are not typical and carry a heavy burden of, admittedly good-natured, potential bias on their findings.