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Do WBT spades need break in?

OK - I know I sound like a crazy audiophile.  

I bought new WBT spades to replace my old school banana connects from about 5 years ago.  I just acquired a pair of kef reference 1's and the old bananas fit poorly and were not in line with the quality of the speakers.  I removed the old connects, fit the WBT's and screwed the wire in tight.

They sounds a bit hollow and confused.  Is there such a thing as spade break in?
Using harmonic tech pro11 cables.  Hegel h360 amp.  

Thoughts?


cshadow
jagjag's avatar
jagjag
89 posts
 
@lak     spot on.
The other could be the solder ( does what need solder) 
Why go commando and use bare wire? No termination issues. 
cshadow OP
21 posts
 
Thanks everyone for the comments and advice.

This exploration of cables and connectors has been educational. I ended up replacing the cables all together and went with silnote morpheus II's.  I have been a cable skeptic, but I do get weakest link in the chain.  It was a night and day difference with the new cables.  5 mins out of the box it was obvious there was something "off" about the harmonic tech pro 11's compared with the silnote's.  Wether it was the new spades, or the cable itself, I will not be going back to those old gardenhoses...

Thanks again



mkgus's avatar
mkgus
324 posts
 
I realize I’m a bit late to the party. Thought I’d share some recent experiences. I have recently made a number of DC power cables to go between a preamp and a power supply. At the same time I have been swapping interconnects around. What I have noticed every time is that the sound is off after making new connections. Imaging is most noticeable with instruments taking up too much of the sound stage and being too in your face and with an odd sort of “phase” issue that sounds very unnatural. There is another effect where piano notes and stringed instruments have weird overtones that make them sound a bit harsh to the ears. Each key strike comes with a slight insult to your ears. After several hours of letting my system play, this all seems to go away. The most noticeable aspect is that the instruments become more pinpoint and move back in the soundstage. That harsh sound with piano keys and stringed instruments clears up. This all happens in under a day of playing. There may be a longer, more gentle break-in process still going on, but I find the first 4-6 hours to be especially noticeable and required before the music sounds right enough to happily listen and stop worrying that you made the wrong cable decisions. If things don’t sound right after a few days, then I begin to worry and consider my next steps. 
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