Cables are normally compressed when new and will open up with hours played. I personally believe since you are a novice that experiencing the changes in your system over the weeks is a worthwhile experience without going out of your way to do anything special. If you are in a hurry to burn them in and since your seeked help you are welcome to send them to me and I will burn them in on my Nordost cooker. ( Please this offer is for this one situation only I cannot burn in all the cables for everyone reading this posts.) But let me explain that even after 4 days of cooking as Nordost suggests the cables will still take about a week to properly settle in your system. So if you take into consideration shipping time, money for shipping both ways, and then the time for the cables to settle in you are looking at a minimum of 2 weeks. In that time if you play your system 24 hours a day at a whisper, as not to bother anyone, that is over 300 hours and your cables should be on their way to being well burned in. Remember part of being an Audiophile is experiencing all the little subtle nuances and not so subtle. Good luck.
Arsonists - Please help me with cable burning
As an admitted novice who is getting in to higher-end audio, I respectfully seek learned responses to some very basic cable burning questions. Realizing that many of you have been all through this before, I promise that if you teach me, I will step in and do the same in the future for others so that you will not be similarly bothered! :-)
Based on the limited amount I have READ, I am in the camp that subscribes to the notion that cable burning DOES make a difference. PLEASE do not turn this thread into a debate of this issue. I WANT to try this and if I ultimately waste time and electricity - it is MY time and MY money. That being said, I have a lot more time than money, so buying a cable cooker is just not an option. So, unless there is a CHEAP way to speed up the process, I am willing to invest the time it takes otherwise. Also, I know my cables aren't "end-all" quality, but after they settle in I can later decide if I need a change or upgrade.
OK, then, I have two new Zu Oxyfuel interconnects (one between my CD player and preamp and one between my preamp and amp) and a pair of new 8' Cardas Cross speaker cables. In my zeal to burn these in and get to listening, please help me with these questions:
1.) For the interconnects, are there better options than simply running the cables between the CD/pre and pre/amp, putting in a CD on repeat mode and just letting it run throughout the day?
2.) Does it make sense to use my separate A/V receiver and run the two cables between, say, tape1 "out" and tape1 "in" and tape2 "out" and tape2 "in", as dummy loads? If so, does the receiver need to be in tape1 or tape2 mode for this to work for both cables at once?
3.) For the speaker cables, if a signal is being sent from the amp to the speakers, does the volume need to be at any certain level, or any level at all, for the burn in to work?
4.) In the case of any cable, does it matter what kind of music is "sent through" or is, for instance, white noise between FM stations the same in terms of HOW the cable burns in sonically? Someone told me that one should send something heavy in bass as a signal but it seems to me like this should make no difference.
5.) Finally (I know, thank God it is FINALLY), is there a cheap method (sans a cooker) for speeding up the process that can be accomplished with somewhat limited (obviously) electronic knowledge? I can follow mechanical direction, I just probably won't know WHY what I am doing is effective! :-)
Thanks to all who respond.
Based on the limited amount I have READ, I am in the camp that subscribes to the notion that cable burning DOES make a difference. PLEASE do not turn this thread into a debate of this issue. I WANT to try this and if I ultimately waste time and electricity - it is MY time and MY money. That being said, I have a lot more time than money, so buying a cable cooker is just not an option. So, unless there is a CHEAP way to speed up the process, I am willing to invest the time it takes otherwise. Also, I know my cables aren't "end-all" quality, but after they settle in I can later decide if I need a change or upgrade.
OK, then, I have two new Zu Oxyfuel interconnects (one between my CD player and preamp and one between my preamp and amp) and a pair of new 8' Cardas Cross speaker cables. In my zeal to burn these in and get to listening, please help me with these questions:
1.) For the interconnects, are there better options than simply running the cables between the CD/pre and pre/amp, putting in a CD on repeat mode and just letting it run throughout the day?
2.) Does it make sense to use my separate A/V receiver and run the two cables between, say, tape1 "out" and tape1 "in" and tape2 "out" and tape2 "in", as dummy loads? If so, does the receiver need to be in tape1 or tape2 mode for this to work for both cables at once?
3.) For the speaker cables, if a signal is being sent from the amp to the speakers, does the volume need to be at any certain level, or any level at all, for the burn in to work?
4.) In the case of any cable, does it matter what kind of music is "sent through" or is, for instance, white noise between FM stations the same in terms of HOW the cable burns in sonically? Someone told me that one should send something heavy in bass as a signal but it seems to me like this should make no difference.
5.) Finally (I know, thank God it is FINALLY), is there a cheap method (sans a cooker) for speeding up the process that can be accomplished with somewhat limited (obviously) electronic knowledge? I can follow mechanical direction, I just probably won't know WHY what I am doing is effective! :-)
Thanks to all who respond.