Another Cable Burn-in Question


I've checked the archives and I'm still not certain about this. I want to burn-in a new ic cable between CD player and preamp. I set the CD player to repeat/play but does the preamp need to be turned on? I'd rather not leave my tubed pre on during burn-in if I don't have to.
jc4659
Blindjim,
It takes current through a cable for it to break in. I think all of us could agree to this. First, the cable must be connected to a source that is on and has a signal. For example, this source could be a CD player or tuner. Second, it must be connected to a load which has some input impedance such that it will draw a current. This could be a preamp. Preamps present an input impedance whether they are on or off. If you don't believe this, just measure it with a ohm meter. The lower this impedance, the more current is drawn and the faster the cable will break in. If the preamp is off, it just doesn't amplify the signal that it sees.
OP here. I did not have a component other than 2 CD players with balanced outs to break-in the cables otherwise I would have used my tuner. I left the preamp off during most of the burn-in but occasionally listened to music I was very familiar with. The cable changed over the course of 100+ hours and as it became more listenable I continued the burn-in by playing CDs and listening to music. I can no longer detect changes in the sound therefore I feel I have a pretty good idea about the character of the cables in the context of my system and set-up. This thread wasn't intended to be a review but I will say that the Signal silver resolution cables do some things extremely well and overall, for the money, I think they are a bargain. I thank all those who posted above for a very interesting discussion.