Is it worth it to buy the Cable Cooker?

Now, otoh, someone I have a lot of respect for, and from whom I bought some speakers a few years ago (see the website at signals.demon.co.uk), does recommend some kind of cable cooker. So, you never know.

What would be interesting here is if someone with scientific and/or engineering credentials could offer a reasoned explanation for why one of these devices might make a difference.

Ok psychicanimal, you say "Cable cooking improves cheap cables to the point they are very close to expensive ones." Do you mean very close to uncooked expensive ones? What happens when you cook the expensive ones? And which expensive cables are you talking about? You dont need to answer, but what is the value of any of these comments? Has anyone done a controlled experiment, double blind with a trained/knowledgeable panel of listeners? Every product or tweak mentioned in this forum has its advocates. How should one decide to give any weight to one point of view or another?

Paulwp states: "Every product or tweak mentioned in this forum has its advocates. How should one decide to give any weight to one point of view or another?"

I would suggest simply reading responses from those that post / respond on a regular basis. If you find that one / some of those poster's comments and experience match your own on a regular basis, then believe them.

Having said that, the people that you don't agree with might not necessarily be "wrong". There might be variables involved in the situations that caused your point of view / experiences to differ with theirs. That is why it is important that we ENCOURAGE different points of view. This can only help us to break things down to a point that we can analyze and learn from the various and different observations that have taken place. As a case in point, that is why i asked YOU to post YOUR comments when you disagree with what i've posted.

As to my experience with "cable burning", the results are not hard to tell between identical "burned" and "unburned" cables. Keep in mind that my comments are in regards to interconnects.

I was supposed to have a "straight wire bypass" device some time ago that would allow me to do SBT and DBT, but that fell through as our schedules didn't jive. This device allows you to put multiple active OR passive devices in series with the main system and let you switch them in and out of the signal path in a controlled or random fashion. I've got to contact the individual that has this device and see if i can still purchase it from them. I just dumped quite a bit of money this weekend on a bunch of small purchases that have really added up, so this might be put off for just a bit longer. If i do pick this up, i'll be sure to let you know : ) Sean
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Paul, I did go and check out the "snake oil" section of the website that you mentioned. The owner of this shop seems quite level-headed and respectable.

Quite honestly, i was a HARDCORE skeptic about some of the "tweaks" that i take for granted now. Many moons ago, my brother and I had a "knock down, drag out" dispute about AC cables with a gentleman by the name of Ozzy and a select few others over on Audio Review. While Ozzy and his "crew" were preaching the benefits of aftermarket AC cords, my brother and i kept handing him the same lines that most AC skeptics use even today. The only thing that came out of that was a runaway thread and a lot of smoke coming from everyone's ears. I'm sure that Ozzy can remember this "dispute". He may even chime in with a few words as i know that he sometimes frequents these forums.

The funny thing about that thread was that i was talking out of the top of my hat i.e. i had never experimented with "fancy" power cables. After trying a well designed cable out for myself, i could hardly believe that i REALLY could hear a difference. In fact, the difference was SO noticeable that i have now invested a couple of thousand dollars in test equipment so that i can try to analyze / design a power cord that is more effective than those that i currently own & use.

Needless to say, i am now one of those that believes that science should be able to explain why something happens, not tell you that it can't happen. I've seen too many "impossible occurances" take place in the electronics field to discount ANY point of view. After all, a lot of the money that i make comes from being able to improve circuits /designs that are already "theoretically perfect". I've even had the President of one of the largest communications manufacturing facilities in the world fly in from the Orient with his head EE ( Electrical Engineer ) and ME ( Mechanical Engineer ) just to see "impossibilities" that were occuring on a daily basis with their products. Not only did they not know that such problems could have ever occured, they did not know how to correct them once they saw that they did exist. That's why they came to see me in person : )

Obviously, i'm not saying that i have all of the answers. If i did, i'd be able to whip out a formula that explained our existance and why cables go through electrical changes when voltage / current is passed through them ande how they react in any given situation. While i doubt i will be able to make a dent in the "why are we here" part of my last statement, i'm hoping to be able to at least measure and document some of the phenomena that many people don't believe exists on the latter part of that statement. Sean
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Being too dumb to build one for myself, I've just got myself a cable cooker from Alan. I have a pair of interconnects cooking right now, which lead from my tonearm to the Aesthetix IO. I've chosen those, because I expect here the most noticeable difference, if any. I shall report in about two days. Cheers,

I have used a cable cooker on all kinds of cables. Expensive speaker cables, inexpensive speaker cables, expensive interconnects, inexpensive interconnects etc... Everyone involved agreed on every cable that it made a substantial difference. I wouldn't be without one. I usually cook the cables every 6 months. I cook a cable for 1 week for the first time on a brand new cable. Then 3 days for each "tune up" every 6 months. I really wonder about the people that say they can't hear a difference. I hope this helps you and I hope I didn't offend anyone. Happy Listening! John