|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
12.65.174.104
In Reply to: Cable Burn-in Question posted by Cpwill on November 27, 2006 at 17:52:51:
I have gone through hundreds of cables over the years and I cook all of them for 300-400 hours. For i/c you can use any source like a tuner, CD player in repeat, even the headphone jack of a boom box, etc. The load can be a preamp or a 10k resistor. I caution against cookers since they can over-cook the cables. I would not run cables more than 24 hours on a cooker due to higher current/voltage. Generally I just hook up the cables and listen as they burn in.
Follow Ups:
Do all "cookers" over-cook the cables? I'm asking because I was thinking of buying the kit to build the FryKleaner, which seems to have been well received on this forum, but if there is a chance that this will over-cook my cables, perhaps I'll reconsider. Any input on this matter would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
Chris
Not all "cable burners" operate in the same fashion, nor do they produce the same results. I think that you can find a few books worth of info in the archives here and at Agon on the subject.With that in mind, my experience is that a cable will never sound as good as it can unless it is used with a good quality cable burner. I use a Mobie and a couple of other DIY devices of my own design for such purposes.
The key here is to get the voltage up to a point that is well above what the cabling would ever see during normal use. This helps to form the dielectric in the cabling and "condition" the crystal structure of the metal conductors. You don't want to go too high on voltage, and more importantly, current levels must be kept reasonable too. This means terminating the cable into an impedance that will be equivalent to, or just BARELY less than what it would normally see. Digital cables normally operate into a nominal 75 ohm load with RCA / XLR based interconnects typically see at least a 5K ohm load. Speaker cables can easily see a 2 ohm load ( maybe lower ) and as far as power cords go, you need a somewhat heavy load on them. Several hundred watts of consumption works best.
My experience is that a solid 30 day "burn in" for interconnects on such a device nets very audible sonic gains. This is basically the same conclusion that Bob Crump came to prior to his passing. Having said that, Bob and i both noticed that some cables simply sound like crapola, regardless of how long you cook them for. In my experience, some silver / silver plated cabling will always sound harsh and bright no matter how long it is "burned in" for, what brand it is or what it costs.
I've burned in cables that people have had in their systems for many, many years and hours of use. In every single case, i've always been told that the results were not only very noticeable, but also quite superior. In one instance, i had a dealer do comparisons using identical cabling i.e. some that was brand new, some cabling that had been used for a long time and some cabling that i had "burned in" for them. In every instance, they always prefered the "burned in" cabling and were easily able to identify it from the other two. After hearing these differences for themselves and demonstrating the differences for customers, the dealer ended up purchasing a "burner" for their own use. In the long run, it was a cheap investment that helped to better serve their customers. Sean
>
Especially since the cables in question are actually based on your recommendation in reply to my inquiry of a couple weeks ago. I have now had them between an FM tuner and a dummy 20k load for about 48 hrs. They will reach 84 hours Saturaday morning, then I will simply insatll them between my Emotive Prima and Welborne Laurels and start playing music. Thanx again.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: