Do speaker cables need a burn in period?

There is probably nothing more touching in the audio world than when one skeptic reaches out to comfort another skeptic. So sweet.

@lanceo and @azbrd   Living in the Post Modern World is gonna challenge you guys to your core.  Good luck with that!

Ah, the the resurgence of the Post Modern World Vision.  My goodness, I hope not...  "The bounds of science can not contain the human mind" (Toynbee).  

Well hifiman5, your hero was also credited with the quote, Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.  Seems to me that embracing a false reality, especially with how the physical world actually works, is far more threatening to social development.

So, back to the subject at hand: Do speaker cables need a burn in period?  Answer: Only if you believe the advertising written by Cardis, AudioQuest, SilTech, WireWorld and a few others.  I think Albert Einstein must have been in the midst of just this sort of conundrum  when he complained to a Princeton, NJ newspaper reporter, "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe."

Possibly. Objectively, speaker drivers absolutely have been shown to measurably change until they break in. The resonant frequency drops during the first 48 hours of significant play. 

How much this happens is very much driver dependent. Some may do so very little, some a lot. I'm a big fan of Scanspeak, and their woofers and mids will definitely change until broken in. 

I've also had experience with capacitors in the crossover breaking in, but that's harder to prove. I'm convinced, but I don't care if you are. 

Best,

E

Dont forget the effects of seasons. As sun’s rays get more direct in the summer the subtle effects of the photons make a tremendous difference in the sound.