Use Pro Gold or Detox.Both will keep your cables sounding great. |
Cables "wear out" over time probably because your connectors and jacks are getting dirty. Also, the surfaces of the conductors oxidize and the metal loses conductivity over a long period of time. But this takes years, not months. |
Sol322, You asked me to report back on my comparison. Before I started this thread, I started a thread called "Coincident or LAT or Madrigal". One of those that responded was Redkiwi, below is a copy of his repsonse and I found it to be exactly as he had stated.
"While I rate the Coincident highly, I find the (Meridian) 508-24 to be a tad laid-back, the JPS to be a tad forwrad, and the Coincident to be a tad laid-back. Hence changing from JPS to Coincident may not take the Meridian in the right direction - but only you can judge that.."
I will leave the JPS connected to my CD player for now and the Coincident to my tuner. Maybe when more break-in is done on the Coincident I can do it again.
The JPS cable is the SC original, not the SC+ or SC2. Both the JPS and Coincident are balanced. They are run through a ML 383. |
Re. "familiarity factor" in break-in. During the first 5 minutes I listened to my NBS Statements, all I could think was: this sound is so gigantic, so "over the top," so steroidal ... I wish I could have this sound ready "as a secret weapon" anytime I want in the future. Of course, as the cable broke in, the sound became more civilized. A good thing, since I would not have wanted to listen to a cable so big gestured as this for very long. And I have never fully been able to recreate the "first 5 minute effect" except by pulling the Statements out of the system and replacing them with something thinner sounding for some time and then putting them back in. --Another cable that is "all over the map soundwise" when breaking in is the Siltech. Try out their big powercord on any component in your system and you will think for the first few hours that someone disconnected your tweaters. --As for the Coincident IC, this cable sounded confused and disorganized out of the box (I mean, the bag). I broke mine in last summer for 336 (14 X 24) hours straight during vacation. I hooked them up to an old CD player and ran a very loud recording over them direct into a preamp 24 hours a day. When I came back back from vacation, the cable still sounded dry and overly tight in the midrange, so much so that listening to vocal recordings on it was unenjoyable. I broke it in for another 168 hours and it relaxed a bit further. I ran some comparisons between it and a few other cables on a Stax headphone unit and decided it was definitely a contender. I then used it as a phono cable for a few months on my TT set up (Simon Yorke w/ Transfiguration Temper Supreme). At first, I was pleased: it was clearly superior than a Fadel Art phono cable I had been using. But after awhile I decided the Coincident's weak spot consistently seemed to be with voices--too dry, not rich enough for my taste--and bass--slight lack of countour and shape. I eventually wrote the person I bought this cable from about these problems and eventually replaced the Coincident with another cable on my TT set-up. In the end, the Coincident IC got switched to my recording studio and performs superbly as an IC cable on projects that do not involve voices. |
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PS: In regard to the Coincident cables and 500 hours (that's a long time!). I would hope that they sound pretty good at 200 hours or so and that the rest of the time is just fine tuning. I have found many cables to sound "good" at 100 hours or so and then just get a little better afterward. I have also been off work the past year and listen to the systems a lot, so this situation is a lot different from coming home from work each day and just listening for a few hours in the evening (with a television blaring in one of the other rooms and the microwave oven going non-stop:-). |
If you have duplicates of any cable it is easy enough to test. I have already done it with Homegrown Super Silver IC's (had two pairs), Kimber Kable (had two double runs), BMI Whale PC's (have two) and Absolute PC's (have three and one of them has yet to be broken in). I will do a demonstation with the "virgin" Absolute PC for a friend the next time he stops by. I am currently breaking in a 47 Labs cable kit in one system and will be installing it in the future in another system. This cable has been all over the map sound wise in 150 hours of play. The silver IC's mentioned above were unlistenable to me for the first 125 hours, but have resided in my system ever since as they sounded great after 200 hours of play. The only cable that I have yet to use that seemed to form its sonic sound very quickly has been the micro wire digital IC from Mapleshade (it evened out in an afternoon of play, perhaps 4-6 hours). I would assume that another factor is how much current of signal is being passed through a cable in regard to break in (and what type of signal it is). If I were to break in speaker cable for instance at low listening levels, would it take longer than at higher listening levels and does the type of music or signal effect this as well? I have also discovered that allowing cable to rest for periods (instead of running it in 7/24) seems to speed up the break in process. What I do now it to run cable for 7 hours, give it a break for an hour or so and then run it for another 7 hours (around the clock). I was originally concerned about the CD sources getting too hot, which is why I allowed the resting peiod, and found out that the break in procees seemed to accelerate with this method over the 7/24 method. I have no idea why this would be, but having broken in identical cable this seems to be the case. |
Interesting, Liguy. When trying to gauge the effect of "burn-in" in the past, I would come up against a familiarity factor -- i.e., getting used to the sound of the new cable with time. In this respect, getting "better" (burn-in) could actually mean getting more "familiarised".
If (for the sake of example) "burn-in" is achieved slowly rather than in ear-catching leaps & bounds, the differences (again, assuming there are some such) would be small from one hr./day, to the next. Similarly, familiarisation may make these differences imperceptible.
I assume you've taken this into account long ago -- but your experience, being different to mine, is interesting.
Cheers! |
Brian, I have owned and listened to high end audio equipment for a long long time. My first high end equipment was made by GAS and I purchased it in the 1970's. I am amoung those who recommend the use of third party cable over the standard cables (IC, PC or Speaker Cables). I will be very honest with you and state with strong conviction that I have never detected a significant difference between cable that was burned in or not. To me, it is that simple. I know there will be those that disagree with me and I respect their opinion, but they should do likewise to mine. |
I have tried the JPS Superconductor+ nice cable.The Coincident works bewtter in my system. |
Very interested in your upcoming comparison betwee Coincident and JPS !!!! Keep us posted |
Let me add, the only reason I felt guilty was for leaving my tuner on 24 hrs a day.
On a side note, I am just in awe and greatly enjoying my tuner since the change. My first mistake was hooking up my tuner, Fanfare FT-1A, into the Lo input with RCA cables, I should of used Hi. I had read somewhere that best performance would come from Lo. I do not know what these circumstances would be. After hooking up the Coincident, which is balanced, and hearing a huge difference, I moved the RCA's to Hi to compare and I found it much more enjoyable in Hi rather than Lo.
My tuner does "appear" to be sounding better everyday. I am not sure if it just the pure joy I am getting out of it in comparison to what it was or the cable is getting better. One of these days I will hook it into my CD player (Meridian 508.24) and compare it to the JPS. When I first received the Coincident I hooked it into the CD player to compare, I felt I slightly prefered the JPS, but the "test" was not vey long. |
Hi Leafs, just trying to inject a bit of levity. The point was that wine does not continue to get better and better. After it reaches its peak, it begins a slow fading process. I do remember another post mentioning cable simply wearing out. I'm sure someone will jump in to say that the materials in a cable can't possibly wear out until the next millennium passes, but I do think that some cables lose something after a few years. This is only a suspicion, and I have no facts to back it up. Perhaps someone can enlighten me a bit here. I recently bought an interconnect that was burned in by the dealer. Well... all I can say is that it sounded like every other non burned in cable I have had, and I am going through my usual break in process. The XLO break in CD that Megasam mentions is excellent. Brian, I have no experience with the Coincident, but some of my cables sounded fine at around 85 hours, some took 200 hours. I tend to try to run in a cable for about 16- 18 hours a day. I worry too much about running it non stop. This doesn't seem to inhibit the break in process. |
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Bmpnyc, Is that what happens every few months that forces me to change something in my system? Cable "burnout". |
That is, until they are past their peak, and begin to fade. |
I have been through Coincident IC burn in and cable burn in.Dont break them in on a cocker or on a tunner.Listen to them and you will find as i did the joy that yu get from your system sounding better all the time.I find that week after week the sound got better and better.I have over 500 + hours on mine and it was great fun hearing them get better and better. |
It's like George Cardas says...it's like a fine bottle of wine...the longer you let it sit and don't disturb it the better it gets...as long as youre playing music. There is no finite break-in period, it just gets better and better... |
Following is aquote from, http://www.high-endaudio.com/index_ac.html. This person Arthur Salvatore wrote the following about Coincident IC. He knows more about them that I Know. I am looking to purchase a pair to experience myself how they are.
"This cable requires a long break-in to sound as I've described. It starts to sound similar to its full potential after 100 hours, but for total optimization, it requires around 300 hours. The sonic description above was after 300 hours of CD burn-in and actual play."
Hope this helps. |
Brian, most dealers have "cable cooker" which will do majority of break-in before shipping (never used for network cables like MIT) then a couple days burn in at home to settle in system should do. This is very helpful service.
Also at home a burn-in disc like XLO/Reference or Purist Audio Rev B will accelerate things. Most cables will have 90% of sound after 3-4 days burn-in and after 1 week very little additional improvement IMO. |
Don't (feel guilty). Most components and wires seem to be happier when playing music rather than when silent, IMO. Particularly so when said items are new on the job (i.e., allow for induction period). Items display happines through better sound.
I say, take a positive outlook: despite the elec bill, you can listen to music whenever you want w/out having to reserve time for warm-up, then stabilisation, then sitting down to listen.
Enjoy the tunes! |
