What does HiDiamond recommend as the minimum amount of use for burn-in and how do they recommend that you do it...
HiDiamond Diamond 3 XLR IC's - Burn-In Time?
I recently switched to a VTL 7.5 iii preamp (a mighty unit!). It has RCA and XLR I/O's, but the mfr. recommends XLR cables over the RCA. As a result, I recently bought a pair of the HD D3 XLR IC's to run from pre out to amp in. (My Krell 300 cx amp has ONLY XLR inputs; I had been using adaptors with my JPS Aluminata RCA's. Sounded fab.)
The HD's are beautifully constructed, highly detailed, lively cables -- a bit TOO lively so far - more than I am accustomed to or like. I want to give them a chance because the sound is so good in so many other ways. They have about 40 hrs on them so far.
Any experience on the expected burn-in time before they approach their mature sound? Switching pre's and cables is very traumatic!
Thx. Neal
The HD's are beautifully constructed, highly detailed, lively cables -- a bit TOO lively so far - more than I am accustomed to or like. I want to give them a chance because the sound is so good in so many other ways. They have about 40 hrs on them so far.
Any experience on the expected burn-in time before they approach their mature sound? Switching pre's and cables is very traumatic!
Thx. Neal
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- 26 posts total
Zd542, Here is some tech info from the website. Technical Discussion Although it is not yet fully understood scientifically, the phenomenon of cable break-in has been experienced by many audiophiles. Interconnects, speaker cables and even power cords seem to go through a conditioning period when used in an audio/video system, and will sound better after many hours of in-system use. The sonic differences between wiring that is broken-in and wiring that is not are very audible in high quality audio systems. The break-in process is believed to be due primarily to current flowing through the conductors of wiring components. Dielectric stress caused by a voltage difference between the conductors is also believed to be of some benefit. The fact that it takes many hours of in-system use for wiring components to break in is primarily due to the low-level nature of audio/video signals from normal program material. As an example, let us take an interconnect used to connect the output of a preamplifier to the input of a power amplifier. The typical maximum signal level for full power output of the average power amplifier is 2 volts peak. The average signal is much less. The typical input impedance of a power amplifier will be 10k ohms at the (very) low end for consumer gear47 to 100k ohms is typical for a solid state amplifier, while several hundred kohms is not unusual for a tube power amplifier. Taking the (unrealistic) best-case values from the above examples, the maximum current seen is 2 volts/10k ohms = 200 micro-amperes and this would not be continuous current, as the voltage value is a peak value, not an rms value. For the sake of demonstration and comparison we will describe a use value consisting of the current flowing through the wiring component according to the above equation, multiplied by the total time this current flows. We will refer to this use value as CTV, or Current-Time-Value. Playing an interconnect cable in an audio system for one week (168 hours) of continuous use would expose it to the following use value: 168 hours x 0.0002 amperes = CTV of 0.0336 The CABLE COOKER was designed to produce signal levels far in excess of those seen in normal audio/video system use. Internally, the device contains a sweeping square wave oscillator that drives a very high-efficiency H bridge MOSFET switching circuit. The output signal includes a swept square wave calibrated from 0 DC to over 40KHz (plus harmonics). Output voltage is 12 volts rms. The current through the wiring component is determined by the load at the input connector of the CABLE COOKER. In the case of interconnect cables, the measured current is 120 milli-amperes. Installing an interconnect on the CABLE COOKER for one week results in a CTV of: 168 hours x 0.12 Amperes = CTV of 20.16 This is a value 600 times greater than that obtained under the most ideal of audio system conditions. The stress on the dielectric of the interconnect is also much higher than in normal use due to the higher output voltage. It should be readily apparent why results with the CABLE COOKER are often quite audible after as little as 24 hours of use. The same powerful signal described above is also produced at the speaker cable output binding posts. The load at the speaker cable inputs, however, is designed to draw a continuous 1.88 amperes of current through the wire. With a potential of 12 volts, this is equivalent to a continuous signal level in excess of 22 watts!! It must again be emphasized that this is a continuous condition (i.e., rms). This extreme continuous-signal level, produced in an audio system in a regular listening environment for any length of time, would force us from the room due to the highly uncomfortable and intensively-loud volume. One can now correlate the impressive signal level produced by the CABLE COOKER and the benefits derived by its use with the cabling in our audio/video systems. |
http://www.audioexcellenceaz.com This is the website where Ozzy's information came from. I included it because there is a lot more information and pictures at that website. |
- 26 posts total