Simple way to burn in phono cable w/ din ?

You can do an internet search for the "pin out" configuration of your DIN, then buy a super cheap RCA-RCA interconnect from Radio Shack and cut the RCA connectors off one end.

TIn these ends with solder (or if necessary) solder some fine solid copper wires to serve as pins and plug them into the DIN.

The DIN is four connectors plus ground. The four wires in the RCA pair are four connectors without ground. Don't worry about the spare ground for the break in process. Obvously, the pins on the RCA are left and right + and left and right -. (Same as your DIN).

Plug your original phono/DIN cable into a high level RCA input on your preamp and plug the Radio Shack RCA end into the output of your CD player.

Put in any disc you please in the CD player and play with repeat on. A CD player is about 1 volt output, much higher than a phono cartridge and the bandwidth of the music on the CD is sufficient to speed up the break in process.

In my own system I do exactly as I am suggesting you do, I even have a pair of RCA to XLR burn in wires made from Radio Shack cables.

Thank you Albertporter. Though I've never soldered anything before, tinning the ends seems easy enough, but I'm a little confused as to where the right and left "pins" are inserted into the female din. One site I visited shows a head on view of the female din, with the holes at the peripheral of the din located as follows: hole #1 is at the lower mid-left, then upward clockwise is #4, followed at the top by #2(ground), next is #5 on upper right, then #3 below it is at mid-right. Also, please pardon my ignorance, but when I'm using a cd player or any other burn in device (I have a FryKleaner Pro) does the preamp stay on or off, and either way, does it remain disconnected from the amp[s] ? Thanks kindly for your assistance.

Think I've got it. A chart indicates in/out/ground numbers (pin holes in female din) associated with various components listed under peripheral/connected. All ones and threes, whether in or out, are "left" indicated, while all fours and fives, whether in or out are "right" indicated. So, left "pins" from rca cable are inserted into holes one and three of the female din; right "pins" from rca cable are inserted into holes four and five in the female din. Am I correct ?

Opus88, I have not looked up the wiring diagram for a DIN in ages, that's why I suggested you do an internet search. Your description sounds correct though, I seem to remember the numbers jumped around like that.

An easy test is wire it up to the ones the chart says are correct, play a CD through it and listen. Begin with your volume completely off and raise gain only one click at a time until you see if signal is correct and free of noise.

Once you determine you have the wires in the correct order, run signal through the cable with the preamp and other components powered off unless you want to listen. There is no improvement in the break in process, regardless if the system is on or off.

I used this method on Albert's recommendation recently to break-in the wires on a Triplanar, with a little twist. Instead of doing any soldering I picked up a package of test wires from Radio Shack that have alligator clips on both ends. I connected the tonearm wire to the tonearm but plugged the other end into a line-level input on my pre, not the phono stage. Using the test wires I connected a pair of interconnects from the cdp to the cartridge clips on the tonearm. You just have to be careful that the alligator clips are securely fastened on the interconnect end and are not exerting any stress on the fragile tonearm wires.

This method works great, but I do think there is a bit of settling in that occurs once you start playing records.

Another great suggestion from Dan_ed that accomplishes the same thing.

Dan's suggestion also deals with the tonearm lead, which is particularly challenging to break in. There'd be a market for a reasonably-priced "adapter" to allow you to attach the cartridge pin clips to something with two male (or female) RCAs hanging off it.