Cable "burning": Real or VooDoo ???

Kevin: I have "Jingle Cats" if you would like to borrow it for your test. The five "little men" have not been good lately and they will not be needing it.

I have nothing new to add but will mention the old. I burn IC's in by runing the cable music station through our VCR to the television (with the new IC's in the link). This way I do not have to listen to them and they can run in most of the day(s). I have also used our second mini system (which is always used as a source only and is piped through either a Musical Fidelity or Audion amp), for speaker cable especially, but also IC's and PC's. This way the main system stays intact and listenable while the cable is being run in. I always do, out of curiosity, try new cables out first in the main system, but quickly tire of the sound (when fresh) and then send them off to the other devices. The only IC that I have used that required little to almost no break in has been the Mapleshade Double Helix digital cable which is a micro wire design. It sounded stable to me after an afternoon's play. I have also noticed that storing IC's (that are not in use) flat and not coiled seems top preserve most of their better sound qualities when they are once again installed. If an electrical current does not change the inherent characteristics of metal, then why does electro plating work? I also have a question about magnets (in this context), but don't know exactly what the question is.

The proof is in the hearing, at least this is what I feel that this hobby is all about. In that any difference perceived is in fact "real" as in "I think, therefore I exist." Proof other than that perceived through the senses does not really mean anything to me (look at various amplifier specs and then listen to the amps themselves and you will see where I am coming from). There was an English tube amp produced a few years ago that looked like garbage on paper and spec'd the same as well. It sounded wonderful. According to the spec's though it should have sounded like a tuner placed between stations, go figure. There is no way that a scientifically measurable difference can be proved to be an audible one (for everyone) and in the same vein it is impossible to prove that a scientifically non-measurable "difference" does not exist to the senses. We know very little, IMO, about our physical world and even less about the human brain and perception. I am all for an open discussion, however if one has not actually auditioned (whether it be blind or not) the gear that is being disrespected then that "one's" opinion is an ultimate act of "pon-tune-if-ica-tion" (my new made up word) and is a waste of cyber space. On the other side of the coin though, I was upset to read Jostler's thread of today in that he obviously does listen to music and audition equipment and is therefore actively involved in this hobby. In this regard his (unpopular) opinions are valid one's, IMO, and should not be censored.

Bruce: Nice post. I will soon be in a position where the final addition or tweak to my system will be the speaker cables. I am satisfied with my (very) reasonably priced IC's and will just have to find a pair of speaker cables that sinc with the rest of the system as well as outperform my budget Kimber Kable. I also just finished emails with another member "off" forum in which we discussed the importence of our systems sounding good to very good on a variety of source material. This is something that often gets left to the way side and is one reason that I have had to reject some of the hyper detailed cables for use in my system. If Mitch Ryder does not sound half way decent, then the piece of equipment is not for me.

Kevin: I'll ship "Jingle" to you along with my HTS2000 (after I totally screw it up trying to add a male IEC plug and upgrade the sockets:-). On another note: I have been burning in a power cord by running my computer with it. Is this doing a good job or is it a lame way to do it? I ran out of audio gear to run some new cords in on (and now have two pieces in the shop).

Stevenmj: I believe that most of what you mention has already been used in past and present designs (both tube and SS). You may want to go through the Tweaker's Asylum at AA and see what you can find on these concepts. I suspect that the "air" that you mention is really a type of re-verb that is most noticeable in quite a few tube designs which incorporate low to zero feedback and which may also stem from the types of tubes used in the designs (many small signal tubes types are somewhat microphonic, even those that test well, and may add to this sense of air/reverb). There are also quite a few tube designs in which you can "dial in" the feedback, though I am not aware of any SS designs with this feature off hand. Once again I am not a technical person, just your average theorist.