Burn in time for Virtual Dynamics Cables

The P3 is simply three runs of solid 12AWG "Romex"-like conductors in cheap dielectric sitting in over a pound of S110 steel shot! I tore one apart a month ago. The 1/8" wall vinyl tubing makes it really stiff, too, and the use of ferrous magnetic filler is a serious mistake, IMHO, helping produce its tonal character away from neutrality. The connector choice and fit 'n finish are quite nice, though, so it looks great and has "high-mass" appeal. For $80 you could do worse. I understand that the Nite also uses a ferrous filler...maybe even magnets themselves! Sheesh....

Darrylhifi: I am learning that cooking may make things worse. May be better to just let them run-in on your system. See my post http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?fcabl&1051933644&read&3&4&

I agree even if their cooked , they still take a long time to burn in. For a full month My Nites sounded way to bright......now awsome !

VD power cables seem like good value. but their ic's and speker cables are very pricey. i am using elco sgi-999 rca's (paid $275) and stealth FR+PC biwire combo for speakers (paid $450) with my unico. highly recommended. check elco, stealth and pure silver sound for cables.

Buckingham definitely knows his VD cables. He and a few other of us were early customers of Rick's. I tried out four Power 2s about a year ago and was so impressed, I upgraded to the full cyro'd Audition Package a few months later.

For me, they took about a month for full break in. I would say within the first week you should get roughly 70% of the cable's potential. The huge, precise soundstage and excellent clarity are there immediately, but what happens over the long run is that they lose their iciness and sound much more natural once burned in.

I went through the same process when I upgraded my digital cable from Audition to Nite, and added a Nite extension cable in front of my Auditions lasy summer.

Prior to the Audition Package I was using a hodgepodge of very good cables, but could never find a scheme that was smooth yet detailed, natural yet spacious. To be honest, I'm not sure if my success is due to the Virtual Dynamics brand, a unified cable package or both. But I'm happy!

I have the complete Audition package. They are very good cables. For the price they are hard to beat. I find them to be a bit lacking in air on the highest frequencies. Deep Purple's Machine Head which has lots of tape hiss from the original tape virtually disappears with this cable package. Which means that they aren't quite neutral. However, I haven't missed any treble on most other discs I listen to. Cymbals come through as they are supposed to but without, perhaps, the decay of the note that one would expect. Bass is there in spades and mid range is solid. Not the last word on soundstaging but realistic enough to enjoy - I love a deep soundstage but hate it when it sounds artificially deep. I think perhaps that the IC's are the weakest link in the package being a little on the dark side but they could be changed down the road if desired. One can never have enough good IC's. If you can afford the more expensive product like the Signature or Nite you may prefer that all on it's own. Said to be very good by the folks who frequent this forum - but too expensive for me, especially as I have to pay in Monopoly money ($C).

Go ahead and buy the Audition package, I don't think you'll regret it. It will make a great foundation for experimenting afterwards - I intend to try a balanced silver cable between amp and pre to return a bit of the HF air but am happy enough with what I have now that I'm in no rush at all.

Burn in will take a good month. In point of fact your cables may sound so bad in the first few days that you may wonder what you 've gotten yourself into. Patience grasshopper. All will be revealed. The cables start to stabalize around the three week mark. Good luck.

Paul, I think Rick will burn in the cables for a small fee but your cables will still require burn in after installation into your system, especially if cryo'd. I highly recommend upgrading your speaker cables as this is probably what is causing most of your 'brightness' issues. I found I had the same problem when using the Nite/Reference cables in my system with a cheaper pre-power interconnect. After installing a Reference Interconnect from VD the brightness issue went away. I started buying from Virtual last year and now have my system cabled with the Reference and Nite series. I now feel that I am done with cables and when my friends talk about cables I can just block it out :)

has anyone made a deal with rick to get lower end cables pre-burned?

I know an entire system (speaker cables, interconnects and power cords etc) will dramatically improve your system. I think Rick at VD will offer a 30 day money back guarantee which is hard to beat. For an entire system as Tok20000 suggests it will probably take at least 300 hours to burn in. In my opinion Rick ought to use his cable burner on everything he sells to make it easier on the purchaser.

300+ hours for VD cables to burn in.

Speaker cables make a huge difference, and VD speaker cables will improve your system sonics buy a large margin (especially if you can shorten that run, 20' is pretty lengthy).

KF