Do speaker cables need a burn in period?

Yes, all cables require some 'break-in'.  Some needs more hours and some less. 

I sure believe so.

In my experience new cables sound worse at the beginning of their use, then settle down to their own sound.

Give them 300 hours of play, whatever you've got or going to get, and tell us what happened. The length of burn-in will vary, usually the better the cables the longer but not always.

Oh yes, don't pay much attention to how they sound during this burning in period unless you want to have fun. Give them a time.

Yes. Heed the advice of everyone here. You'll notice the biggest changes in the first few days to a week and gradual changes thereafter but it will take time.

All the best,
Nonoise

My Audioquest speaker cables were purchased used, so i am guessing that they are already broken in. So far, all the responses are in agreement that they do need time to settle down, whereas from what I have read elsewhere there were more nays than yays. I thought I would ask a proper hi-fi community the question. Thanks for all your replies. 

Burn them in at 110db with analog source only !
Just kidding. But use various music. Don't assume that they were fully burnt-in. Do you know how many people, not audiophiles, sell their new equipment because in fact it was not properly burnt-in and naturally they didn't like the sound !

Inna, are you suggesting I play my music quietly? I compete with low flying aircraft when i play my 'digital' music haha, I do have turntables, one is orf elsewhere (LP12), the other is still its box and not seen the light of day (MF round table), and the final one actually set up is a, wait for it......, a Music Hall USB-1 (stop laughing) for all those Goodwill vinyl purchases, of which I have bought many. lol.........

No, just play it any way you want to.
Low flying aircraft ? Hard to compete with. A few days ago there were a thunder and lightening over here and I thought - how can any audio system reproduce that ? Or record, for that matter. Crazy audiophile thoughts indeed.

IMO all audio equipment etc need a break-in (burn-in) period of time.

Your new running shoes will need more "burn" - oops! "break-in" than any speaker wire! 

My experience with the "break/burn In" is mostly yes it does make a difference. The Magnepan speakers took about 2-3 months before they came alive. I have a recently rebuilt before purchasing, Carver M500t amp that took quite a while to acquire that Class A musical kinda tubey sound. My 1 year old ART9 cartridge is still breaking in after about 350 hours of use and now sounds marvelous. 

Not sure how many of the time-line markers in the link below are data driven, one guy’s O-pinion or from wider-based experience. I too think speaker cables, actually all audio wire (even power cords - a surprise to me) and components undergo "burn in". Whether you are happy with the sound "post-burn in" is a different issue. Even if your AQ cable was used, sonic changes might still occur during a "settling in" period. How much any of this is purely physical and objective vs psycho-acoustic and subjective seems moot to me. The experience remains.

https://www.mojo-audio.com/blog/breaking-in-cables-and-components/

A long time ago, I decided not to agonize over cable burn-in.  I had read post after post about cables sounding good, bad, bright, thin, dynamic, flat, and then finally, and magically (always after something like 500 hours), sounding great.  Some folks even too listening notes to document their cable burn-in process. Why would anyone want to go through all that and how can anyone be sure that the perceived changes are due to burn-in and not the psychoacoustical effect of familiarization?

My solution was to research burn-in devices and to purchase an Audiodharma Cable Cooker, which I use to condition/burn-in all my cables, both those I make and manufactured cables I purchase.  I recondition cables if I change connectors and after they have been sitting unused for awhile.  After conditioning a cable on the Cable Cooker I simply do not think about burn-in since I have better things to do.

Another way to facilitate burn in is to use a CD test/break in treatment like Ayre's Irrational but Efficacious CD Treatment. I can get impatient with break in and plopping the CD in and letting it run for an hour or two on repeat can greatly speed up the break in process.

Before and after can be a real eye & ear opener. After hearing the results, I now do it 2-3 times with playing CDs in between to any new component I get.

All the best,
Nonoise

Even if they're been used before, or cooked prior to shipping, they still need time to "settle" in the new system.

Every cable needs burn in how long depends on the gauge.I just burned in new Furutech speaker cable about 200 hrs to sound its best.Anyone who says its bs never had a real high end system.

Components and cables seem to be affected by a 'breaking in' period.
What seems to be a simply electric path has subtle intricacies that, in the end, affect sound reproduction.
It seems like it would make a great thesis in EE.

For mere listeners, like myself, I just recognize the effect and play music.
When 'it' happens, I am a happy guy.
B

Absolutely! My QED Signature Spk. wire sounded pretty good from the start but it wasn't till about 150+ hrs. when "it" happened. Glorious sounding cable especially for it's very modest price. 

Yes! 

Yes

The most of the “good” speakercables takes about 200 hours.

This subject always made me grin. A friend who has a degree in electronic engineering laughed at these thoughts. He said speaker cables do not carry enough current to affect their physical nature. Also, what is "burn in" or "break in" anyway? What actually happens? What happens to the cable that actually changes the sound? I've yet to see that explained to the point where it makes any sense. However, if that is what you want to believe, so be it. What if the cable "sounds" worse after break in? A change in sound isn't always to the positive. Have fun!

Did milk squirt out of your engineer friend’s nose? One wonders if engineers are inherently closed-minded sometimes or if they’re taught to be like that.

My experience is that cables sound better after a week of not being moved, and a few hundred hours of playing time, whether purchased new or used.  You will know what you think in a week or two. Don't worry that electrical engineers cannot explain this. There is very very much that engineers and scientists cannot explain...

As we sailed into the mystic......

No, they don't.  Most burn in requirements are simply there to get you to keep the product beyond the return period.

@jl35  Bingo!! 🧐       @mitch2  @jnorris2005   Not so much.😔

all the new cables I have purchased came with a 30 day return period, and since burn in takes only a week or two, that was never an issue...and all the manufacturers said they would allow more time if needed...

I question whether it's the new cable that's burning in or is it the listener getting used to them?

Here we go again.....

At the very least a few hours of not being moved. 
Never heard anyone report cables sounding worse after a few hundred hours.

At least a week after cryo. When comparing cables at least two days.

Yeah, again. Let's add to it - silver or copper or alloy ? I prefer copper for interconnects and silver alloy for speaker cables with my particular speakers. Both are Purist fluid cables. Solid state equipment.

and for many who believe in cable burn in, we don't listen to the cables while they burn in for a week, so it's not getting used to the sound...

I prefer the sound of non "burned in" fresh cables so I can only listen to them for a short time, and have to either swap them out for new ones every few days, or simply disconnect them and replace them from a pile of identical cables that have sat around losing their mojo. I need to find a burn in reversing device that sucks the life out of cables, not unlike what this post might have done to this thread.

@wolf_garcia Thou art powerful and influential.  I'm sure you have sucked the life out of this thread!  This must be the 100th or so thread about burn-in.  Lifeless topic = Lifeless thread.  Good job!😝

changing the direction works the same as unburning them in...

yes, jl35 that is true.  When you change the direction of the cables all the old signals still use to going in the old direction collide with the new signals going in the new direction.  Well, you get it, its a bloody mess.

I called Morrow today to see where the cables I ordered were after having to hold the order until I returned from a vacation (on their way it seems), and asked them what I should do if I like the pre burned in sound...in jest of course...they did say I was the first to ask that...they told me to listen only a few minutes a day and un-plug them after. 

OK, here’s what you should do after purchasing any cables for best results.

1. Send them off to cryo lab. While many high end cables are cryod by the manufacturer, Cryoing twice is better. Once you get them back from the cryo lab give them about a week to recover from thermal shock before critical eval.

2. Establish correct direction.

3. Burn in using burn in track or burn in device.

4. Suspend cables from ceiling using fishing line and eye hooks to escape vibration and static electric fields.

5. Apply the contact enhancer of your choice to all electrical contacts.

Or, be a sane person and ignore all of Kaitty’s suggestions by simply plugging them in and enjoying them...you can establish correct direction by noting the direction indicated on basically every cable made...fishing line indeed, as if that causes them to escape the harmless vibration that travels through the air...also, what about the cables inside your speakers? Aren't they getting the brunt of the supposed negative impact of vibration? Ridiculous.  Cryoed anything is another unnecessary mythological scam generally NOT used by cable manufacturers, and the contacts, if clean, between what are often gold plated non tarnishing plugs, sound fine and work perfectly without supposed enhancement.

@wolf_garcia   You will be right at home in Post Modern America!😬

There seems to be quite a disparity between pro audio and high end audio these days. As lot of it has to do with attitude. Pro audio needs what we used to call a sanity check or attitude adjustment. As things stand pro audio isn’t really much of a force. No offense, Wolfie.

Never addressing what I actually said, Kaitty is nothing if not consistent in his predictably lame response. I was speaking specifically and obviously about my personal take on home audio based on many years of experience, but somehow Kaitty arbitrarily connects me to pro audio because I'm successfully professionally involved in that field as a live sound technician and mixer. However, pro audio provides sound for live music which is, in fact, an actually important force that is far more powerful and relevant than Kaitty's oft ridiculed and silly fraudulent tweak business, the general impact of which seems to be providing laughs for those inclined to check out his stuff. Perhaps it's a parody of tweaking, but more likely a scam. No offense, Kaitty.

Thanks for reminding me why I never read your posts.

I prefer cables isolated from floor on maple blocks/sticks, like Pro Gold on connectors,  never tried cryo.  always followed manufacturer on direction, current cables non-directional according to designer...

never tried fishing line

Your cable guy must not have gotten the memo. Also, nothing wrong with maple blocks but I don’t think they are doing much vibration wise since the maple blocks provide a clear path for vibration.