Can You Expalin Why Power Cables Do This?


It has to do with handling and connecting a power cable that's been "broken in" before but has been laying around out of use, and what happens once you reconnect the power cable and it "settles in." (It can be a power cord on an amplifier or cd player, etc.)

Why, when you first plug in many power cables in the situation above, do they start out adding more bass weight and clarity to the presentation (often, not always). Then the power cable goes through a (stabilization, "settling in") or whatever you call it. With this stabilizing or settling in, the original bass and weight dissipates. The original clarity dissipates. Within a day or two (or 3) after "settling in," when you listen to the system, the presentation has changed. Now the presentation has lost some of that clarity and bass weight from before (I guess audiophiles call this a "tightening" of the bass, and the dissipation of clarity is called what? (the highs getting smoother?)

What's happening? Any EE's out there with a not too technical explanation in laymen's terms that average folks can relate to about this "re-settling?" I wish "broken in" power cables, continued adding the good attributes to the system before and after "settling in." (you know, bass weight, clarity etc.) I'd like to keep those sonic qualities not lose them. What's happening?
Thanks
foster_9

Simply_q

I sometimes wish I never had heard diffs from power cables. It costs a lot less to live without that knowledge.

I’m not tickled with being told I’m imagining things or am delusional…. Even in a nice way.

I would not be so adamant about my experiences were they not my own true experiences.

BTW… As it turns out the world is not flat afterall. Go figure. Heart breaking news for some, but boat sales are now booming as the result..

It isn’t what we don’t know that can be quite troublesome to us, it’s what we know that just ain’t so, that causes us the greatest burdens.

Whatever allows for anyone their peace with the how's and why's of those things they experience in life, is OK by me.

At times, we don't know enough to open our minds to some other answer than those we can rationalize or justify.

I don't know exactly why there are changes with power cables and/or cables in genral, when new or when reinserted into a system... I just know that there are.

As much as knowledge can be reassuring, some will even say it is power, it can as well, become a barrier. Another item it can become is just plain unnecessary.

I’ve no clue about how a plasma TV actually works, bringing an image onto it’s screen… but it does and that’s good enough for me.

Again, sometimes one just has to take things at face value and accept them for what they are…. That’s true too for what some other may say that they have seen or heard. If I wasn’t there, at that exact same time, how then, can I possibly refute it legitimately?

Koegz

Simply_q; why not just say, because it is all in your head!

Well, when you get right down to it, it IS all in our heads as the entirety of our perceptions exist only in our minds.

But of course there is a difference between a perceived difference that's due to actual audible stimulus and one that's due to psychology alone, i.e. placebo effect and what have you.

I can't rightly say it's the latter because I don't know with a high degree of certainty that that's the case. Though with things such as cable break-in, where there's no physical evidence or even plausible theory to support it, it's certainly tending toward that direction.

But by the same token, those making unsubstantiated claims of actual audibility can't say such with any degree of certainty either. Of course THEY'RE certain of it. But stomping your feet and shouting doesn't make it the reality.
Blindjim, I appreciate you man! There are definitely sonic changes going on with the sound of my system after reinserting a power cord. I am equally sure that it's not just me as some here would imply. I know the sonics of my speakers way to well! IMO any variable that impacts the delivery or quality of the AC power to a component is going to affect the sonic presentation of the system.