Cable Cooking/Burnin

One cable maker told me that he didn't believe in breaking in cables on a cable cooking device. Something about it not being a true audio signal and how it affects and uses the dielectric to the point where it becomes a constant, of sorts, playing a greater role in the sound of the cable than it should.

After cooking, the dielectric takes a long time to dissipate the conditioning effects before you get the true sound of the cable. He recommended just playing music until it breaks in.

I have no idea myself but felt the need to chime in with what I was told.

All the best,
Nonoise

It very well might be an old wife's tale but on his site he offers cable cooking if the customer asks for it but told me he doesn't believe in it base on what he hears.

As for my self, I've gotten used to the routine of just playing music and witnessing the process. The biggest and nicest surprises come long after I think it's broken in and then it opens up another notch.

All the best,
Nonoise.

David,
I'd like to respect the privacy of the cable maker and not involve him in this. The last thing I'd want is to somehow hurt his sales or his integrity on this forum or other venues.

As for your generous offer, I have well over 300 hours on my speaker cables and love what I hear (although the highs slowly continue to improve) so I don't think I have much longer to go. Again, a very generous offer.

All the best,
Nonoise

I'm leaning towards agreeing with Sarcher30 on this. After removing the Herbies Big Foot dots from under my speaker and placing them directly (verboten!) on their sturdy maple stands, the sound improved in a big and positive way. More focus, better extension both ways, and a clearer soundstage.

This was with my newish Supra 3.4W speaker cables which I really liked. Just these past two days I tried some old Clear Day (24ga) and Tempo Electirc (16ga) silver speaker wire and thought I'd found audio nirvana, again. But both proved too much in the sense they spotlighted some parts and gave too sharp a presentation with some aft-shortening (did I just coin a phrase?) in the lower registers. Also, most of the romance of the Supras just disappeared.

In went my trusty old Mapleshade Double Helix and only then did I realize I was in audio nirvana for keeps. These thin walled copper speaker wires did all the things the solid core silver did without the spotlighting, aft-shortening, and romance killing. Delineation is pretty much spot on down low without the romantic bloat that the Surpa had and the highs are as detailed as the silver cables and exhibit none of the sharpness or etching.

I have just spent the better part of several hours judging the Mapleshades and find them lacking not a whit. Hello old friend. And these are very thin walled dielectric wires. Horses for courses, YMMV, but I'm back in the copper single core, thin coated dielectric camp, pitched tent and all.

All the best,
Nonoise

Good point.

Good point. Annealing has to allow slow cooling to strengthen the metal (or glass) and to remove impurities. This makes me wonder if it's doable with a high dose of cable cooking vs just playing music. It's probable that it all winds up the same in the end and only the quickness of the annealing process is accomplished. Smarter people than me need to chime in.

All the best,
Nonoise