A question on cable burn in

[JahJahBinks]

If I connect the cable from the source to the amp without amp being turned on, when I play a CD will the cable be burned? I ask this question because I noticed that when you plug in a cable to headphone/line out on your computer, the music will stop going into your speakers. Since the floating end is at 0 volt, and the end which is connected to the source is at higher potential, there will be a flow of current. Is my thinking correct?

 

[Hirsch]

Yep. If you're running from source to amp, there's no need to turn on the amp to burn-in the cable.

 

[JahJahBinks]

cool, that would save some lifetime on tubes.

 

[JahJahBinks]

How many hours should an interconnect be burned?

 

[Gopher]

and on the topic of cable burn ins, is Kimber for real with the reccomended 500hr burn in on the 8TC speaker cable? My rigs been going for like 4 days straight and is still changing sonic character to the extreems (although in one instance I discovered it was an issue of sheilding (braid).

 

[Bostonears]

When I purchased three pairs of Kimber Hero interconnects last year, they initially sounded awful (thin bass, and harsh highs). This did not jive at all with the reviews I had seen of these cables, so I set them up to burn in continuously. I listened about once a day during the process. They gradually improved for the first four days, and on the fifth day, I noticed a considerable jump in sound quality. I stopped noticing further improvement after seven or eight days, but I left them burning in for a total for two weeks before turning off everything.

My set up used the interconnects from CD to preamp, tuner to preamp, and preamp to power amp, so the preamp had to be on the entire time, but the power amp was only on during listening.

Before this experience, I never believed that cable burn in was a real phenomenon, but after the change I heard in these Kimber interconnects, I've been burning in everything new that I get.

When I got my Cardas replacement cable for Sennheiser, I burned it in for 10 days. The improvement was definitely noticeable as an broadening of the soundstage, but it was more subtle than the dramatic tonal change in the interconnects.

 

[kpfeifle]

Quote:

How many hours should an interconnect be burned?

JahJah:

My Zu Cable OxiFuel's are still changing after 100 hours. I really think that different cables react differently, did not need that much time on my Kimber PBJ's.