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Most of us here have heard, or heard of, the benefits of cooking cables...

71.222.178.174
Posted on April 25, 2010 at 15:58:20
kenster
Audiophile

Posts: 4523
Location: New Mexico
Joined: April 24, 2002



and this idea may belong in the Tweakers Asylum but what about cooking passive preamps??

It occurred to me that since I use a passive preamp which utilizes an autoformer for attenuation, there is no actual gain above what the CD player can put out, it would be beneficial to cook the small range of autoformer taps with the Audiodharma cable cooker 2.5 that I mostly use in my listening habits which are at the most 3 of the 24 available taps.

What are your thoughts on this? I'm thinking it would be beneficial but I may be overlooking something and would appreciate any thoughts, comments, questions or just plain ramblings from my fellow inmates.

~

 

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Unfortunately, posted on April 26, 2010 at 00:04:11
unclestu
Dealer

Posts: 5851
Joined: April 13, 2010
 it is true. Noticed this on a CJ Premier 17.The most often used setting sounded good but a few steps up or down and the signal was noticeably degraded. Good thing the CJ uses only a dozen resisters in series and or in parallel to derive the 100 steps. I placed it the lowest setting and ran my break in disc with good results.

Stu

 

Cable Culinary Arts?, posted on April 26, 2010 at 00:23:29
Squonk
Audiophile

Posts: 1886
Location: Indiana
Joined: August 17, 2005
 I like mine with not so much Spam.

.
Photobucket

 

RE: Cable Culinary Arts?, posted on April 26, 2010 at 15:26:19
kenster
Audiophile

Posts: 4523
Location: New Mexico
Joined: April 24, 2002
 I guess you covered the rambling part... ;-)

 

Yep., posted on April 26, 2010 at 16:29:28
alan m. kafton
Manufacturer

Posts: 5285
Joined: April 7, 2000
 A number of customers have successfully conditioned autoformers and other transformers on the Cooker, in addition to various capacitors like Mundorf, Audience, V-Cap, etc. One of the key things to determine is the gauge of the wiring, and the taps (you would certainly want to connect your 'formers in the correct direction).

If you let me know the gauge of the wiring, I can better advise on which circuit the autoformers should get conditioned, and for what duration. Extremely fine wire might be better on the interconnect circuit, for instance.

 

RE: Yep., posted on April 27, 2010 at 03:42:33
kenster
Audiophile

Posts: 4523
Location: New Mexico
Joined: April 24, 2002

Hi Alan,

I'm using the Sonic Euphoria passive preamp in the main rig and I would hook the cooker up just as I would if I was cooking directional cables thru the inputs and outputs with 2 sets of IC's.

Not sure of the gauge of wiring but it looks to be in the 20 gauge range...

~

 

RE: Yep., posted on April 27, 2010 at 12:27:13
alan m. kafton
Manufacturer

Posts: 5285
Joined: April 7, 2000
 The Sonic Euphoria has been conditioned successfully....if it's 20-gauge wiring (or 22, 24, or 26), it will be fine. The low-level circuit in the Cooker will handle up to 40-gauge conductors without a problem.

Beyond that gauge (which is rare....only a small handful of cable offerings use whisper-thin gauges), step-down resistors can be used to reduce the current component in the multiplex signal.

Just like your other cables, I'd give the unit at least 24-36 hours for a recharge....perhaps 48 hours due to the amount of wiring.

 

What about using a digital out into 75Ohms to cook?, posted on April 27, 2010 at 13:08:38
sbrians
Audiophile

Posts: 1455
Joined: March 4, 2002
 I just thought of using a digital coax output and put a cable into a digital input at 75 Ohms. That would put more current through a cable than normal IC usage. Any thoughts on that burn in technique?

 

There are various theories, posted on April 27, 2010 at 18:01:54
unclestu
Dealer

Posts: 5851
Joined: April 13, 2010
 about burning in cables. Some feel that the high current is answer (Hagerman) and that the high current molecularly reorients the cable molecules to a certain degree. His device has frequency steps, as do several other such devices (the Duo Tech comes to mind).

Most take a demagnetization approach. Those cartridge demagnetizers usually employ a tone burst with a controlled decay. The Gryphon people marketed such a device which you could plug into any of your preamp inputs and it basically sent a 1KHz tone burst with a 45 second decay, if memory serves me right. It was called the Exorcist, IIRC.

The most sophisticated one I've seen has been the Purist Audio Break In disc. Perhaps because every time you would move their fluid jacketed cables the sound would change, they came out with a disc of what they claim are 125 test tones to demagnetize the most common materials found in the signal path ) aluminum, copper, copper clad aluminum, silver, silver plated copper,iron wire, etc., for example). Listening to it is like having the robots from star Wars going mad i your listening room. There are beeps, tone bursts, tone sweeps, and all sorts of weird effects going on.

I've experimented with running a tape degausser down the length of my speaker cables, and there is definitely sonic improvement, but that improvement fades rather quickly, within a few minutes. The kind of audible improvement is consonant with using the Purist Audio Disc, but their method lasts considerably longer. They recommend once a month but I find that with heavy listening two to three weeks is more appropriate.

George Cardas used to recommend playing a nature recording with a lot of running water. He claimed that water sounds were a good source of full frequency white noise.

YMMV, of course


Stu

 

RE: There are various theories, posted on April 27, 2010 at 20:46:40
wirewizard
Manufacturer

Posts: 836
Location: N.E. Ohio
Joined: July 3, 2009



I still use the Duo-Tech CE1000 today, and it burns in cables just as well as the others even though it doesn't have as many features or connections as some of the other burn in machines.






I do it all in the name of music!!!

 

Oy vey...., posted on April 28, 2010 at 02:45:50
alan m. kafton
Manufacturer

Posts: 5285
Joined: April 7, 2000
 and it burns in cables just as well as the others

Uh....not really. The Duo-Tech was first produced approx. 20 years ago, and had a rather short manufacturing life span. In 1999, the MOBIE came into being, and completely trounced the performance of the Duo-Tech. Unfortunately, the MOBIE had a short manufacturing life span as well. Time marched on, as did the technology.

I purchased a Duo-Tech years ago on the used market, and had it analyzed by a 'scope jockey, who found it produced a rather ugly set of inefficient square waves (as shown on the 'scope). The speaker cables adaptors were a rather nifty idea at the time, even though they plugged into the same circuitry as the interconnects.

Your Mileage Does Vary....but as long as you enjoy the results, keep using the unit.

 

RE: Oy vey...., posted on April 28, 2010 at 08:39:51
wirewizard
Manufacturer

Posts: 836
Location: N.E. Ohio
Joined: July 3, 2009
 "Uh....not really. The Duo-Tech was first produced approx. 20 years ago, and had a rather short manufacturing life span. In 1999, the MOBIE came into being, and completely trounced the performance of the Duo-Tech. Unfortunately, the MOBIE had a short manufacturing life span as well. Time marched on, as did the technology".

Just because something didn't have a long life span doesn't mean it wasn't good...it's all about timming, and the Duo-Tech was ahead of it's time.Technology hasn't changed all that much as far as devices such as your Cable Cooker go...and if so enlighten us.

As previously stated I had one of your Cable Cookers, and even though it was built better, it didn't burn in cables any better than the Duo-Tech, in fact it took longer to properly burn cables in on your Cooker.

"The speaker cables adaptors were a rather nifty idea at the time, even though they plugged into the same circuitry as the interconnects".

The Duo-Tech has two different circuits; a circuit for interconnects and a circuit for speaker cables. The principle is the same as you burning power cords on your Cable Cooker through the speaker cable circuit.



I don't want this to turn into an argument, but come on Alan...of course YMMV...you have a financial intrest in this topic and I don't. There is no motive for me to claim either is better, but the same can't be said about you.

Show a little homage...if it weren't for Duo-Tech, you would not be in the market of selling Cable Cookers.




I do it all in the name of music!!!

 

RE: cook'n 36awg UPOCC, posted on April 28, 2010 at 11:25:23
Cpk
Audiophile

Posts: 1518
Location: PA
Joined: May 13, 2005



for a tonearm

 

RE: cook'n 36awg UPOCC, posted on April 28, 2010 at 14:04:18
alan m. kafton
Manufacturer

Posts: 5285
Joined: April 7, 2000
 Now that's a cool pic! Of course, there will be those who will insist upon filling the glass with an adult beverage. :--]

By the way....are those titanium-plated alligator clips????

 

Most of us and the benefits of cooking cables..., posted on April 28, 2010 at 14:05:43
CJ Larson
Industry Professional

Posts: 39
Location: West USA
Joined: May 15, 2008
 "... I use a passive preamp which utilizes an
autoformer for attenuation, there is no actual
gain above what the CD player can put out ...

"What are your thoughts on this ?"

"I'm thinking it would be beneficial but I may be
overlooking something... "

- - -

1. Why are you using a passive amplifier ?
2. The 'autoformer' [for attenuation] is air core
iron core ?

If you are cooking to acquire the 'details' of the audio signal
you would want to pass-on the CD-player's signal un-attenuated
espeacilly by a 'transformer'.
The manufacturing of this type of transformer is quite a complicated
work.
Audiophile grade transformers no matter how 'good' are stil band
limited. Iron cores attenuate the higher frequency details.
We have found that 100 to 200 kHz band pass is required to support
the higher 'details' in audio signals.

Also, any connection that is not isolated from 'common-ground'
or is not a ballanced circuit-connection, 'ground-noise' in being
induced into the CD's signal.

It will be interesting to see what differences you can hear.

Cj





Curtis J

 

RE: iridium ;-) /t, posted on April 28, 2010 at 15:00:52
Cpk
Audiophile

Posts: 1518
Location: PA
Joined: May 13, 2005
 z

 

Let me introduce you to, posted on April 28, 2010 at 17:20:31
Cpk
Audiophile

Posts: 1518
Location: PA
Joined: May 13, 2005
 The manufacturing of this type of transformer is quite a complicated
work.

Mr. Slagle, best transformer mfg there is

 

So, Kenster......, posted on April 30, 2010 at 18:16:48
alan m. kafton
Manufacturer

Posts: 5285
Joined: April 7, 2000
 ....how did your Sky's turn out with the Cooking time I recommended?

 

RE: So, Kenster......, posted on May 1, 2010 at 01:30:56
kenster
Audiophile

Posts: 4523
Location: New Mexico
Joined: April 24, 2002
 Hey Alan,

I cooked them for 48hrs and the results were outstanding to say the least, way above what I was anticipating and that's what got me thinking about cooking the Sonic Euphoria.

~

 

Good to hear. :--) nt, posted on May 1, 2010 at 11:38:47
alan m. kafton
Manufacturer

Posts: 5285
Joined: April 7, 2000
 nt

 

RE: Most of us here have heard, or heard of, the benefits of cooking cables..., posted on May 14, 2010 at 21:52:22
wirewizard
Manufacturer

Posts: 836
Location: N.E. Ohio
Joined: July 3, 2009



My interconnects burning in on the good'ol trusty Duo-Tech CE1000.


I do it all in the name of music!!!

 

Du-Tech CE1000 for Power Cords?, posted on February 3, 2011 at 08:35:47
sdmark3d
Audiophile

Posts: 7
Location: San Diego
Joined: December 10, 2009
 Hey Wirewizard, I noticed in some of your photos you have adapters for power cords - are those standard equipment or did you make them? I bought a used Duo-Tech here (they're so cheap who could pass it up) but no A/C adapters came with it.

I'm going to make my own - just use the + and the - and don't use the green ground right? Use it on the Speaker selector rather than the Interconnects?

Thanks in advance for your help - I'm a little late in the game considering its a 15 year old product but I'm a budget cable conditioner newbie.

 

RE: Unfortunately, posted on April 21, 2011 at 20:49:17
Fastslappy
Audiophile

Posts: 5
Location: Nor-Cal SF Bay Area
Joined: April 20, 2011
 soo if one was new to burning in cables & wanted to burn in cables. what would be the easy & inexpensive way to get that done ? with a device that one could use & not have to put his Audio equipment in limbo while all this is done .. in short is there a device that I can get to do this ? Noob to all this & on a steep learning curve . my humble apologize from a noob

Mike
M L P CasaSlappy @ SlappyVille

 

RE: Unfortunately, posted on April 23, 2011 at 13:20:37
Mr Lin
Audiophile

Posts: 55
Location: NJ
Joined: November 21, 2007
 Can you solder? If so, the Hagtech "Frybaby" is a good option, that's what I've been using. When you buy the half-kit the price is much lower than that of a pre-assembled one. Mine cost me less than $100 to put together, and I think the pre-assembled ones are around $300.

 

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