Cable Break In for the Naysayers

Those who claim absolutes seem rather narrow minded and ignore real science as it actually has shown us many things and will continue to do so. As as touched upon by another poster all there is is a lot of energy and maybe just a tiny bit of mass in the universe. Look into it, amazing way to spend your time instead of nay saying something you may not be open minded enough to comprehend.

My personal "belief" as in all things I am aware of are subject to change as I learn more each day I live. I do not know anything, only believe somethings, glad to adapt as I experience a new perspective.

Do cables burn in? I believe it is quite likely just based on actual science(I read a great deal and watch incredible videos of highly regarded scientists, doctors, engineers, etc...)

Is there  bit of snake oil involved in some of this? I am quite sure there is but I am not going to try to prove or disprove it. I will just enjoy the level I choose to participate in having some fun, DIY and lower cost, building cables, speakers, etc....I enjoy the bobby and the music, probably hobby more but it is only one of many I have.

If I were to recommend anything it would be to give up on trying to change someones mind either way, not likely going to happen so the time used up is basically just pissing in the wind, surely there are better things to do.

Beware, having an open mind can be a disturbing experience, science, politics, actual history, religion and more are not often close to what most believes as fact.

Rick

Anyone who thinks if cannot be a possibility if it cannot be measured has a bit of a head in the sand(or a darker place)issue as we have barely begun to even design test gear capable of such measurements, let alone fully understand some of the most advanced things we actually use. We are in the dark ages compared to where we will be going in all things and I believe this particular civilazation is going to make it, unlike at least 4 before us.

I also believe, not know, that once past a certain point, break in, design, cost....the law of diminishing returns hits pretty hard, mostly what we start getting into is differences and those can be quite profound and enable that synergy so often talked about. I choose to do so strictly DIY as can save a fortune on it, even when I had ten times the income as I do now I still practiced that way of doing things.

I agree absolutely with getting the room right is far more important than cables can possibly be whether they make a difference or not. As for cables, there are things we just do not know and might not for generations to come, real science is a bunch of theories tested until something works out and tested again and again to find improvements. It is a never ending cycle thus we are not at the end of any of it yet and should never assume we know all there is, about anything. It is not a dead end Dogma which happens far to often in nearly all things humans do and it is only a tool to maintain the status quo, not to further enlightenment into the yet unknown.

Are there those that cannot hear a difference, sure, why not, good for them actually. Are those that can, I am sure there are, good for them as well. Are there those that believe there is a possibility of improvement, sure there are, I am one of them and have personal experience to the level I am comfortable in.

Instead of arguing over such a trivial pursuit it might be wise to invest some of that time and energy into things far more critical to the betterment and survival of all things living which includes everything. 

Rick

Not sure I have written about this here but I have plenty of experience in test gear use as spent 20 years in the US Navy as first a Data Systems Tech then it was merged with Fire Control Tech and re-titled that. The most complex gear I worked on, one out of two left still in use, no training on it, cannot say to much but it had a large number of critical circuits that the block diagram was 20 pages long. The most important aspect took 4 scope probes to look at and if dialed in according to specs which was very difficult and hugely time consuming to do, the whole system did not work well and it was absolutely critical to the operation of the whole battle group. What did work, tuning it by ear, then it was so good we broke ever record of reliability by a far margin. 

 Testing is good, great in fact, it just does nor cannot measure everything we can hear (or otherwise sense) but maybe someday gear will be invented than can do so.

 Those that refuse to believe we may not yet know everything we think we do might one day be surprised to learn there really are tooth fairies, not saying I believe there are but if so I bet they would not call themselves that:)

Rick

I recently took a look at some rather good threads on that site and found there are those that are far more open minded than I thought would be the case. Of course there are those that are very closed minded as well. I believe all things are possible unless proven otherwise and then that is only until someone comes along and figures it out.

The gear I worked on took a great deal less time to make it work well beyond original specification tuning by ear even though it would not pass inspection going by the "book". I was flown around the battle group a few times, while at sea, to take a look at other ships newer versions systems which were much smaller and even some were tiny in physical comparison and had few if anyway to tune them though they met specs....best I could advise was retuning couplers, which other techs said were in tune, sometimes that improved things and my advice was from listening to the signal, not using a scope, etc. I used to get in quite the heated debates over this but when we set records so high we had a high level week long all they way up the chain investigation, VERY high level, that we came out great in...just saying, our ears can be quite the judge:)

Not sure I will post this stuff on ASR but anyone wanting to quote me by all means do so.

Rick

My only experience in turning a cable 180 degrees, the only one I have done and it was an error, not an experiment, was using Star Quad DIY cables, of which I always make up and use. I attach the shield at the input end and cut it back and tuck it into the jacket at the receiving end, the idea being any noise picked up goes back to ground at the equipment up instead of down the chain of gear. That made sense when it was suggested to me and what I always practice and never have noticeable noise in my systems. I cannot say I ever noticed a change swapping it back to the right orientation but that might of been so, it has been well over 20 years ago.

If a cable is specifically designed to go one way then I would just use it as such, if not I would have to hear it in person to agree it made a difference which ever way it was installed. Not saying I do not believe it would or not, I just do not know.