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Re: Break in cables (interconnect or speaker)

Posted by Jon Risch on May 4, 1999 at 22:50:06

In Reply to: Break in cables (interconnect or speaker) posted by Mike K on May 4, 1999 at 09:26:24:

Cable break-in is one of those things that don't seem to make sense.

First, if you allow that there are differences in cables to begin with, rather than taking the rather pointless stance that they all sound the same, then you must allow that they sound different for a reason. Whatever those reasons are, they are tied to the construction, geometry and the materials that the cabels are made from. No voodoo, no majic, just materials science and physics.

The question would then become: what would cause the sound of a cable to change over time, especially in the context of being newly manufactured vs. in use and still for a period of time?

There are many potential causes, one being that newly manufactured cables need to have their materials reach equilibrium. whether it is the metal crystals in the conductor reforming and consolidating, or the dielectric becoming less polarized (electrically distorted), and closer to neutral, or a case of the mechanical springyness of the cable reaching a stable plateau.

According to one of the cable manufacturer's, the spark gap test used to test for insulation integrity can polarize a newly formed dielectric,. much like an electret capacitor. Application of a constantly changing audio signal could then neutralize this charge over time.

Another source has told me that the cable extruding machines are not grounded very well, and even when they are, the friction of the insulation being extruded over the center wire will cause an electric charge to build up, as the dielectric, even when molten, is an insulator, and charges within the dielectric will not easily be drained away during manufacture.
The copper, silver, aluminum, or special alloy can have it's large grain crystals broken when the cable is flexed and bent during installation, and once it is in place, they can relax and reform to some extent. Many of the manufacturer's claim to use a cryogenic process to anneal the metals, where the cable is placed in a vat of liquid nitrogen, kept there for days, then warmed slowly to room temperature. This to reduce the number of crystals and imperfections that can affect the signal.

There may be other affects or processes at work, all based on rational scientific principles.

Jon Risch

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