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Questions for Alan Kafton about Audiodharma Cable Cooker

To Alan Kafton, and any other Audio Asylum members with interest or experience:

I've read quite a bit about the Audiodharma Cable Cooker. It's an interesting product. I'm curious about a few things:

1) Does the Audiodharma Cable Cooker use a balanced signal, with opposing plus and minus voltages, so both wires get equal conditioning? Or is it better to use the type of signal that matches what the cable will be exposed to in practical use, such as a single-ended interconnect having the ground line remain at ground?

2) Some power cords are used in single-ended mode, and some are used with a balanced signal. The same is true with speaker cables. Does the Audiodharma Cable Cooker make any differentiation? Does it matter? If so, how does the user select the mode?

3) Does the ground wire, on balanced interconnects or on power cords, get conditioned? Normally, no significant current or voltage is on this line, but there may still be benefit to conditioning it. I would think that it might help reduce voltage fluctuations on the ground line. If it does get conditioned, how is this done? If not, have you tried conditioning ground wires to see if there is a benefit? If there is a benefit, I imagine it might be very dependent upon the equipment being connected.

4) What portion of the conditioning beneficial effect comes from current flowing through the wire versus voltage applied between wires?

5) Can you characterize/describe the typical sonic benefit that comes from current flow conditioning as compared to voltage potential conditioning? The benefits from the combined conditioning have been described many times, but I'm wondering what is each doing individually. Have you ever experimented and compared what voltage conditioning without any end-to-end current flow will do, versus what current flow with no voltage potential between wires will do, versus a balanced combination of the two?

6) Since benefits vary with conditioning duration, and optimal duration varies between different components, have you considered that the optimal duration for any given component may be different for the voltage conditioning effect versus the current conditioning effect? Being able to turn on or off each conditioning effect individually may allow greater refinement in optimal conditioning times. Perhaps the “over-cooking” phenomenon is only being caused by one of them.

7) Since optimal duration varies between different components, it’s natural to wonder whether other parameters should be selectable for different components, such as voltage and current used. Perhaps a database could be created with suggested optimal values for different brands and models of components. It would be great if each manufacturer provided recommendations. This level of conditioning refinement might be going overboard, but when I look at what people are willing to do to reach audio nirvana, it seems like anything goes.

8) Does a demagnetizer/degausser have any effect on cable conditioning and performance? If so, how should this be integrated in with the conditioning process?

9) How does cryogenic treatment of cables relate to effects that the Cable Cooker provides? Does each technique provide independent benefit from the other, or is there quite a bit of overlap in what is being accomplished? If both can be used beneficially, is it better to do the first cooking before or after cryogenic treatment?

10) Since power cord conditioning is beneficial, have you experimented with house wiring and outlet conditioning? How about individual electronic components that are incorporated into electronic circuits in audio equipment, such as transformers, inductors, and capacitors? Perhaps preconditioning could do more than actual use would ever do. Providing conditioning equipment to speaker and amp manufacturers, et cetera, could be a whole new market, assuming there is some lasting beneficial effect.

11) I seem to remember some mention in a forum post of possibly a new model Audiodharma Cable Cooker coming that incorporates some new ideas in cable conditioning technology. Can you provide any information on this?

It seems a few things turned into many things. I hope that's not too many questions at once.

Thanks in advance,

OB Ron




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Topic - Questions for Alan Kafton about Audiodharma Cable Cooker - OB Ron 23:30:18 05/22/03 (8)


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