2. cables
  3. 1189509341

Interconnect and Speaker Cable Burn In

I am attempting to burn in a pair of interconnects and speaker cables and after reading the forums have a question

Do I need a load at the other end of the cable - or can I just hook them up to a cd player or old receiver? Same for speaker cables - do I need to speakers or some load on the other end.

I am looking to burn in cables without 24/7 of music on or spending to much money ($50 or less would be great), as well as not put undue mileage on higher end gear (vs old receiver or cd player).

Any suggestions would be much appreciated - keep in mind that I am somewhat technically challenged.
jwales
glory's avatar
glory
1,614 posts
 
I will burn them in a my Audioharma cable cooker for $35.00. If you live on the east coast shipping would be cheap. Zip code 32541 Destin FL.
dpac996's avatar
dpac996
690 posts
 
"Any suggestions would be much appreciated - keep in mind that I am somewhat technically challenged."

Careful with that assertion at any audio dealer.

FWIW, usually you would want some "load" present at the other end of the cable under test...

if you want to get fanatical about it you can go to partsexpress and buy 8 or 4 ohm 100 watt dummy loads, for the speaker cable load. Then you can blast the cables with musical signals or whatever 24/7 with zero sound (assuming you also did not connect the speakers)...

be careful not to cook your driving amp/load.

Have a blast with the dielectric thing.
shadorne's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
shadorne
7,467 posts
 
keep in mind that I am somewhat technically challenged.

From a technical perspective, cable burn in is totally unnecessary. I have never seen an engineering text book or scientifically peer reviewed paper that claims that burn in is required for an audio cable.

From a subjective perspective....there are all kinds of anecdotal evidence about burn in. Just when and why burn in stops after a few days, months or up to a year is still unclear.

If burn-in is real then the type of music, voltage and current levels used to burn in ought to be extremely important...
More to discover