Trying to find someone with a cable cooker in Metro NY

Thanks for the response. It sounds like a great deal of fun.

insearchofprat,

I have no recommendations. Someone may have some experience with contacts etc. and may chip in.

Slightly related to this, but nothing to do with cable cookers or freezers, I recently (a couple of months now) bought speaker cables. At some point, I disconnected them. I forgot why but I took whole thing apart. Everything was dusty except speaker cables. For some reason, they seemed not to have attracted dust at all. Just the other day, after maybe two or three months of not touching anything while being mostly away, I tried to clean them. No dust. Amplifier connectors, all other cables, shelves, floor, everything around them, was covered with dust but not speaker cables.

If I could only cover the whole place with whatever those cables have...

...they are now resting under a quilt... Please recommend fluid/s to wipe down (bare wire ends) and insure "clean/ed" connections.

insearchofprat,

"...and lying straightened out on the floor in the stereo room, resting."

Another thing that selectively gets neglected in all these talks around here is what dust will do to whatever piece of equipment is discussed. I have no answer but, if any assumption about cables, fuses, etc. being significantly influenced by direction or cooling/burning is correct, ignoring the fact that dust can negatively (and possibly positively) affect the final outcome seems too cavalier.

I am not trying to make it all seem irrelevant and not worth considering. Instead, I am trying to point out that some simple things get ignored while one could make a case why they could matter.

If I were you and were experimenting as you are now, I would at least cover those cables so they do not get dusty.

I don't know what to expect - that's why I'm experimenting with it, before I consider spending a lot more $ on another "guess" ... You/I can always spend more - I' m trying to maximize what I've got.
I don't/won't really know until I install the second set of wires so the speakers are truly bi-wired; beginning treatment on 2nd set now...
May compare single set with jumpers (installed now) against double bi-wires...

As a side topic, I would love to hear a well set-up Klipsch LaScala or Klipschorn (or maybe better yet a restored/upgraded Altec VOTT or similar) played through a nice medium-powered tube amplifier.  I believe I may have taken the wrong path 20 years ago by not starting out with a pair of high efficiency Klipsch speakers.  The whole amplifier thing would have been so much easier by not needing high power and I suspect the dynamics and life-like realism of live music would have been easier to approximate in my home.  I am currently having a pair of SOTA 600 wpc +/- amps built for me so I am too far down the road to switch to horns now, but if I were starting over.....

" How much is Klipsch paying you to go to this school? "
  What this is is a way for the Klipsch Museum in Hope to raise money. The Klipsch museum is run by volunteers and is self supporting through memberships and special events. Roy Delgado current chief Klipsch engineer who learned much from Paul Klipsch and worked with him for years agreed to teach up to 50 people for two days and the money goes to the museum. Roy does not do this often with the last time being some years ago around when the Jubilees got released.  So in a nutshell I pay them to go and get to support the museum and learn from one of the true masters of Audio. Plus it is a gathering of serious hands on people so they also share knowledge. Every attendee on the list so far has serious cinema gear for their home theaters or builds speakers or both and every name on the list I know does build. This is of particular interest to me since I currently manufacture a set of machined aluminum replacement tweeter lenses for two types of Klipsch speaker tweeters and I am working on my first complete speaker build with the intent to sell them also.

mahlman,

How much is Klipsch paying you to go to this school?

What are you expecting to change or improve through the  "freezer" treatment?
Cold and cryogenic treatment has been shown to improve the conductivity of copper but even "cold" treatment is typically considered less than -150 degrees F, and cryo treatment at least -310 degrees F or lower.  I cannot find any support (outside of audiophile forums) that any length of time in a residential freezer would change the crystal structure, electrical conductivity, or any other metallurgical property  of copper whatsoever.

Getting back abit closer to topic: homemade speaker cable of 12g solid core copper wire, simply twisted, is now out of the 'refrigerator' and lying straightened out on the floor in the stereo room, resting (along with the short lengths to be used as jumpers)... After I put the "treated" speaker cables and jumpers into the stereo system, I will repeat the "freezer" treatment for the other pair of speaker cables I have been using ( so I can compare system with jumpers vs true bi-wired...)

I get it. You had a lobotomy. 😳

geoffkait,

I am as serious as a sticker on the window. Just wait and listen.

Thanks for the illuminating responses. So witty.  I gnu I could count on you! 🙄

geoffkait,

I do not have a dog.

I have not given up yet. I get my inspiration for slightly mysterious approaches to audio reproduction from these forums. Sticking Post-It notes under the furniture is not much less efficient than sticking stickers on windows. It may just be a little less of an eye-sore.

At the same time, I am working on a concept of Cable Friteusse. If cooking does molecules miracles, frying should elevate it to another level of sound delicacy.

Glubson, is your dog writing your material now? Have you completely given up? Are you confined? No need to respond, they’re rhetorical questions. 🤡

"Like you mentioned how do you condition air?"

I see a business opportunity right here.


geoffkait,

Quick, get to Staples for some Post-It notes. That is the start. Green ones for clean Alpine air. Yellow ones for those living close to rivers. Pink ones for dense urban areas of major hipster conglomerates. Etc. Stick them under the furniture, it helps with undecided ions. Someone will buy it. 

delkal
But scientifically I don’t buy the dielectric needs to burn in for a cable (a wire with insulation) and AFAIK no tester has ever shown a difference.

>>>>Emphasis, one assumes, is on “AFAIK.” How could you know what ALL testers have shown? In fact, can you find ONE tester who found no difference? One thorough tester, that is. 

It should be mentioned that cables, especially low signal cables like interconnects and tonearm wires, never have sufficiently high signal levels (amplitude) passing through them to burn them in completely, even over long periods of time. It is not cumulative. That’s the real advantage of using a burn in track or Cable Cooker. So, even after only a couple of days of proper burn-in you can easily surpass results from using only music to burn-in cables.

geoffkait....... " That’s a good point, but only in the sense that cable burn-in is fairly well agreed, you know, scientifically, that’s it’s actually the dielectric that’s changed by burn-in, not the wire. For fuses, who knows what burn in accomplishes? The solder joints? The air?"

Capacitors (and to a lesser extent tubes) are scientifically shown to need a burn in. You can hook them up to a tester and the differences after use are obvious. The cap manufacturers even state this and you can find it on their spec sheet. So I agree some components need burn in. 100%.
But scientifically I don’t buy the dielectric needs to burn in for a cable (a wire with insulation) and AFAIK no tester has ever shown a difference. Whether a person can hear something no machine made by man can detect is the debatable part. The dielectric in a cable is an insulator that can usually hold thousands of volts and I don’t see how a small voltage is going to change anything. But that is just me and I still had enough doubt to make a cooker and try it out (for free its worth it, I’m not paying $1000).

I made a burner for interconnects even though they carry an extremely low voltage/ current. I hooked up my speakers directly to the RCA output of a tuner and I had to put my ear to the speaker to hear anything. Even with line level CD output you had to be a foot or two away to hear anything. This got me wondering how this small amount of a current would ever effect a dielectric capable of taking 1000+ volts. But YMMV. Lets just leave it as there is no way I believe a phono cable needs burn in. They don’t carry enough power to even be audible directly connected to a speaker. How will that current ever change anything?

To further complicate things I also made my interconnects. I used small gauge wires (solid or stranded, pure copper or pure silver) and put them into an oversized Teflon tube. The wire is just randomly hitting parts of the Teflon and the the rest is just air. Like you mentioned how do you condition air? I am not sure this design even needs a burn in. But I did it anyway. If you believe the cable cooker spin I put at least 10,000x more voltage / current as you would get from line level in a couple of days listening to music (OK, I started drinking Scotch and the music got much louder than recommended at times). But now I know they are burnt in, no voices in my head giving me doubt and I can relax and compare my designs.

" One more day in the frig as the dwell down continues... Tomorrow afternoon the wires (and short jumper lengths I made) will come out and lie around in the stereo room, resting (like the recommendation for oven roasted meat) for a couple of days before they go back into the system.

geoffkait: will the treated wires need a break-in period again? if so, how long do you recommend? I am presently running another identical set - so should I Immediately hear a difference once I swap them in? "
  Love your sense of humor! Frig is priceless.

... One more day in the frig as the dwell down continues... Tomorrow afternoon the wires (and short jumper lengths I made) will come out and lie around in the stereo room, resting (like the recommendation for oven roasted meat) for a couple of days before they go back into the system.

geoffkait: will the treated wires need a break-in period again? if so, how long do you recommend? I am presently running another identical set - so should I Immediately hear a difference once I swap them in?

delkal
For the record......Scientifically (and I am a scientist) I don’t believe you need to burn in a piece of wire. But I still made a DIY interconnect cooker just to stop that little voice in the back of my mind saying it will improve things and sound better without having to wait 200-500 hours. For me it was worth the 1/2 hour to solder a few parts together from my junk bin.


>>>>That’s a good point, but only in the sense that cable burn-in is fairly well agreed, you know, scientifically, that’s it’s actually the dielectric that’s changed by burn-in, not the wire. For fuses, who knows what burn in accomplishes? The solder joints? The air? 🤡

Whether or not cable cookers and burning in cables actually do anything is irrelevant.  What it does do is remove any doubt you have about your system and make it so you are confident you are doing anything you can to have the best sound.  

For the record......Scientifically (and I am a scientist) I don't believe you need to burn in a piece of wire.    But I still made a DIY interconnect cooker just to stop that little voice in the back of my mind saying it will improve things and sound better without having to wait 200-500 hours.  For me it was worth the 1/2 hour to solder a few parts together from my junk bin. 


If someone needs to spend $1000 to make the voice go away I might shake my head a little but I understand.

e.

f. your music plays backwards

Pop quiz (multiple choice): What happens when you burn-in cables on the Cable Cooker in the reverse direction, directionality wise?

a. The induced magnetic fields reverse direction
b. The electrons flow in the reverse direction
c. The polarity is reversed
d. The photons hit a brick wall
e. It doesn’t matter which direction the cables are burned in

mitch2,

Regarding the link you posted...

Clayton Audio, Aerial Acoustics, Curious Link, McCormack-SMc, Claylamac, Sound Anchor, Isoclean, Cables....... DIY with Copper in Cotton or PCOCC, Western Electric, Mac mini, even Cable Cooker

How many Cs can you fit in one stereo system?

geoffkait,

"It comes as no surprise to your humble scribe that you’ve never heard of it."

I tend to refer to humans as "someone/anyone/etc." rather than "it".

So, I have heard of "it" (cable cooker) but had never heard of "anyone" (who owns or used one).

Uh, you mean one of these.....
https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/3813#&gid=1&pid=27

(to see the rare contraption, go to picture 27 if it doesn't open automatically when opening the link)

It comes as no surprise to your humble scribe that you’ve never heard of it. Oh, by the way, are you a shut in or something? 

I am aware of that website but had never heard of anyone who owns or used one. Even on this thread, with all the convictions pro et contra, there is not many people who have experience with it. On top of that, no audiogon members in NY metro area with one to spare?

I saw many things for sale on Internet. Not all of them existed, or sold in any number worth mentioning.

Are you pretending to be dense? Because if you are it’s very convincing. 🤡 

https://www.thecablecooker.com

That means that such devices exist and there is, if I remember correctly, two people on this thread who have seen one. Not counting the person who constructed his own.

I know Alan and watched him do it. The cables were burned in on at least one machine for a couple of days. Cables and cords were by Jena Labs and the dude from NSA or whatever.

geoffkait,

Have you seen the actual machine, or you were told it had been done?

The fabulous system I was invited to participate in at the Tuscany Hotel in Vegas in 2002 used the Cable Cooker to burn in all the high end cabling just prior to the show. Now, whether that was responsible for the system getting Best of Show is anybody’s guess but it probably didn’t hurt. 🤡 Know what I mean Jelly Bean?

insearchofprat,

"I would think this could be the Big Holiday Gift (LOL!) for the person who has everything and knows everything..."

This is a fabulous description. It gets to the bottom of existence of cable cookers and similar machines/devices/tweaks.

At the same time, if it is only $1000, I am surprised that you did not get any good-natured no-money-involved offer to try. This is the underworld where people talk about $5000 cables and $3000 phono cartridges as if they are a bargain. If this disputed cable cooker works, even slightly, it would be one of the cheapest things in/around some moderately serious audiophile’s music reproduction system. Where are they? What happened? How many people on this thread have actually seen one? Is it a Nessie in audiophile fog? Talked about, disputed, sworn it was there, but in reality missing in action.

I am not sure how it applies to any theory here, but in food preparation if you freeze something and then cook it, it is cooked. It seems that people, in general, agree that things taste better when they have not been frozen before. Fried ice-cream comes as close as I can think of to this "cryo treatment before cable cooker" procedure. Thankfully, many people like fried ice-cream so there may be something to sticking wires in the refrigerator before cooking them.

I will explain it anyway. The reason I mentioned Hydrogen is because a lot of people believe that the home freezer at -10 F or whatever is not sufficiently cold 🥶 to be effective OR permanent for audio related stuff. So, the question is, if the home freezer isn’t cold enough to be effective or permanent how low does the temperature have to be? Some people say just put some dry ice in the freezer to bring the temp down to -70 F or whatever. Is that cold enough? Or is - 300 F nitrogen cryo cooler required? If so, then the question is, is even colder better than liquid nitrogen? In the high stakes game of high end audio one can’t help wondering why nobody is using Hydrogen cryo coolers at -423 F. Are they not available? Are they too dangerous? It all comes down to what I intimated earlier - that the physical changes produced by these thermodynamic processes are NOT (rpt NOT) responsible for most or all of the sonic benefits.

Send it off to both of them. Each cooker will be slightly different and you need to make sure your cables are fully baked. Then send it through again to remove any residual unbaked areas. If it does not sound right keep doing so until it does. Since it might wear off go ahead and do this with two sets so you always have a good one in reserve. Also don't let this get around any magnetic fields or you might have to do it all over again. Make sure to hook it up in the right direction to or else you might have to send it back and get it redone again. Do not install or use around any heating or cooling vents as your AC might harm the cook job. Make sure you do not accept your cables unless they were certifiably delivered and transported in temperatures above 60 degrees because cold can harm the cook job. Make sure your Microwave is not running if you move these through your kitchen as the MW resonance frequencies can harm the cook job.

glupson


It appears this is a very specialized piece of equipment that costs New about $1000 ( +tax and shipping? no vintage availabe LOL!!);  no idea how many out there but for an audiophile, I would think this could be the Big Holiday Gift (LOL!) for the person who has everything and knows everything...

Only 2 replys REALLY EARLY in the forum replys. Closest to me ( in Jersey City NJ) said he could do it for $200 (I assumed the price was for an 8' pair of my homemade speaker wires and an interconnect) and then he suggested that he could let me have a REAL DESIGNED speaker cable for a reduced price of $350 (used or old? - unknown; 8'WireWorld normally $500...) ...

Still wonder why cable mnfs. don't just do this as part of their process...

And in this corner representing the mossbacks... 

" Are you ever going to tell us why wire is directional?
Is it because electrons can be polarized? "
  All wire used in audio is directional. From the outlet to the audio file source. From there to the amp or dac or whatever and from there to the speakers. Some may have many devices in the stream but they only work one way and the wires are self aligning to the devices and if nothing works you have the wrong sequence of devices hooked up. Sarc off.

  OP it is hard to tell if someone is really looking for information, or just looking for validation of a poor choice they want to make or have made that does nothing but cost lots of money like cable cookers.  Research what engineers have to say and level headed audio guys who demand proof of concept in ways that can be independently verified. The high and audio market is full of things meant to part people from their money and give scant rewards for the dollars spent in exchange. What causes ridicule and sarcasm is the number of people who believe this stuff while being unable to prove its worth and then angrily defending their bad choice. The ultimate rebuttals typically are you don't have trained or acute hearing ability (the fabled golden ears). You are just jealous because you can't afford what I can. My favorite is just because you cant measure it means nothing because I can hear it. How can that be since if there is a difference it must be quantifiable therefore measurable. There is a placebo effect though that does say I spent gobs of cash and therefore it must be better and gosh, I think I can hear it now.

  Cable cookers do not work and will never work and there is no one that can prove they do work. Buy any measuring tool you want and do a before and after and get back to me on what you find after you get a cable cooked and I think I know what you will say.
  Get a UMike and learn to use it with Room Equalizer Wizard, a free program and you can begin to learn to actually measure what your equipment is producing and how sound reacts to your room. You will be able to measure every REAL change and also measure and discover there are a ton of expensive things that do nothing.
  I would also recommend you go to forums like DIY where very serious and knowledgeable people who understand the electronics of audio and in many cases are also builders with hands on experience can tell you what does and does not work. Don't be a sucker for slick promotional $$$ dollar extraction machines. Become an informed buyer.

Going back to the original post, is it really possible that there is nobody with cable cooker in metro NY area? That is many people and not one has a cable cooker, visits audiogon forum, and is nice enough to offer the cooker?

How many of these devices sell anyway? Is it tens, hundreds, or thousands? Is market saturated?

...and mailman: if you ever achieve what you propose in last paragraph of 10/10 -11:56 - PLEASE contact me...

geoffkait: thank you for your quick reply - and thanks for not being snarky or making me feel dumb...

Are you ever going to tell us why wire is directional?
Is it because electrons can be polarized?

The idea that cables will break in the same no matter which way they’re oriented in the beginning is an old wives tale. 🧟‍♀️ We know this after twenty-five years of experience. Its because the wire is not symmetrical. It’s the same with fuses. Even fuses that have been in the system for many years might sound better if you flip them around. What are the odds?

For speaker cables or interconnects that are not (rpt not) marked for directionality how do you know both cables of the pair are the same directionality wise?

" The cable cooker will not work with MIT network boxes. The network box does not allow for the signal to properly flow through the cables. I know this because I have had this problem with MIT cables. "
  You mean to tell me that a 60G + cable thingy can't be cooked? I find that VERY disturbing that it would be impossible to create a mono crystal conductor.
  " geoffkait: I'm wondering: Once I install the speaker cable, have I now made it directional for future use? Do I need to tag the direction of connection ( like my interconnects are labelled directionally)? "
  I think your cable cooker, you do have one don't you, can adjust for this. Read your cooker manual and they will no doubt have directions on how to re-align your directional audio cable.
  You guys have me wondering if I should get my 14g zip cord transformed into a correctly aligned directional mono crystal audio super conductor so I can hear the full liquid fidelity of superb tonal neutral  corrected sound burbling out of my speakers.

... Speaker wire is now entering the DWELL PHASE IN THE REFRIG for the next couple of days...

geoffkait: I'm wondering: Once I install the speaker cable, have I now made it directional for future use? Do I need to tag the direction of connection ( like my interconnects are labelled directionally)?