Cables "Burn In"


Please,how many days should I wait before my Siltech G3 interconnects are burn in?The sound will be very different?Thanks.
famaraca
Pbb, while i have watched and measured the differences in electronic circuitry "settling in" using test equipment, i had thought that "wire burn in" was a complete joke. I found out differently and the results were undeniable after some first hand experimentation.

I have also burned cables for multiple others that have had the same thoughts and experiences. Every one of them BECAME a "believer" after hearing the results. One guy was going to throw some cables out they sounded so bad in his system. After burning, they are now residing within the confines of his system and he is quite happy with them. Is he fooling himself ? Given my past experience using the same procedure and getting similar results, i sincerely doubt it.

Others have sent me cables to burn for them and kept identical "unburned" cables at home to compare. The results ? The "burned" cables always sound fuller and smoother with greater transparency.

Bottom line: You really don't know until you try it for yourself

Grandpad: I've never tried "burning" a power cord with any type of "special device". My beliefs are that the only way to burn in a cable is to put it into a situation that is above and beyond what it would normally be used for. To be exact, you would need increased voltage and current draw. Even just increased current draw would help speed things up but i don't know by how much. As such, no "cable burner" is capable of doing what you would need to burn a power cord. As such, it is really just "marketing hype" and a feature that has no real merit in my opinion.

If you wanted to speed up the process, you could try making up an adapter to use on your fridge, etc... This is a high current device that cycles quite frequently. As such, it should offer some benefits in terms of "advanced break in" of PC's. Just a guess though based on my other "burn in" experiences.

I would agree with your observation that cheaper cables seem to really come to life when cooked. This may have to do with the fact that less expensive cables typically use lower grade dielectrics than more expensive cables. It is possible that "burning" is more effective at "curing" ( figuratively and literally ) problems with absorption and "junk" dielectrics. Since Teflon has such a low absorption factor as it is, the benefits may not be as noticeable or drastic on "fancy" cables.

PsychicAnimal felt that devices such as the Mobie were a threat to the Hi-End cable industry. After burning various grades of cables for him, he felt that the differences in performance between cheap cables and expensive cables was drastically reduced. I would tend to agree and i think that your findings support this also. I know that Bob Crump has also had similar findings as he once told me that "a Mobie can make Bat guano sound good after 30 days" : )

Having said that, i still believe that a cable that uses superior materials and superior geometry will always perform better given the same amount of "treatment" that one gives a cable of lesser quality and design integrity. With that in mind, we can't QUITE turn a sow's ear into a silk purse, but it is getting pretty close to that. Sean
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Pbb, I understand your point on the last sentence of your post---I posted my response to Famaraca in Portuguese and it didn't get posted (I knew it wouldn't). Doesn't matter, I emailed it to him...

What I am going to write you're not going to like it--but "truth is a virus":

You lack good hearing--either clinically and/or cultivated.

I bought a pair of used Tice interconnects and I noticed the sound opening up after a few hours of play. At first I thought this was weird--weren't they TPT treated? I called George Tice and he told me I was hearing right--that it would take about 5 days for an old interconnect to open up.

If I can hear that imagine my reaction after Sean cooked some of my interconnects on his modded Mobie! Truly an amazing difference--even on my digital cable.

BTW, I am strongly anti-Voodoo--just read my analog posts defending a true turntable against the cult crowd.
Sean: Why dont you start a business? If you or someone you know has one of these machines, I would love to send one set of my old PBJ Kimber out to you (while keeping the other set "virgin"). Love to see if I hear anything I like.
(I am sure it might have negative results on some cable.)

Why don't the manufacturers use these machines?
Actually, some manufacturers do burn in their cables.

I do.

However, there is no precise and scientific basis that has yet been determined for what (if anything) is actually happening. My ears tell me something is happening.

Even after saying that, it seems that sometimes merely shipping the cables appears to "negate" the effects of the break-in process. One mfr I know has told me that he has changed his packaging and this seems to have negated the negation of the shipping process.

Keep in mind that today shipping can mean exposure to extreme cold, heat, x-rays, cosmic radiation, RF energy and magnetic fields.

Why any of this should effect the sound coming through wires is still very unclear - indeed some deny that it happens at all.

But, I do burn in all the cables that I ship and have found that cables auditioned here, virgin vs. burned-in do sound rather different (although in reality this is a subtle difference, best heard on a system that is very clean and neutral) but audibly so.

_-_-bear
Thanks for jumping in there Bear. It is good to have input from the professional side of the camp too. Like you, i've always wondered whether someone that has shipped me cables for burning was hearing the same thing that i've heard here. In other words, how much happened after i've shipped them back to them ??? Evidently, they must be hearing something pretty similar or at least enough to let them know that there was a noticeable difference / improvement from what they originally sent me.

Gumby: As to burning cables as a business, i have plans to build and possibly market a commercial grade burner. Just have to make the time to design and build it. I've already picked up most of the hardware but need to get down to the nitty gritty. If i could just drag myself away from the puter, i might actually be able to start doing something productive with my time : )

In the meantime, i would be glad to throw a set of your PBJ's onto the burning system that i'm currently using. That is, so long as you can spare a GOOD amount of time away from them. While differences DO occur overnight, i prefer to burn them for as long as possible. In other words, a week or two is better than a few days, etc... Since you have another pair that you could use as a baseline, one would not have to worry about auditory memory coming into play. If you are interested in doing something like this, drop me an email so that we can make arrangements. Sean
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