Cable Cooking!

[mycenius]

Hi,

Is anyone in a position to comment about this? Who's got "cooked" cables in NZ...?

Cheers,

M.

[Michael Jones]

Adding a teaspoon of oregano makes the music more tasty. Don't use more than a teaspoon, or you risk overwhealming the delicate low level information coming from your Cds

:D

[PartTimer]

Heheheh.
I know NZMAD offers this, not sure if its free or not.
Surely running in the cables yourself is an opportunity to convince yourself that the cables 'DO' make a difference. (ie before and after comparisons.)
NZMAD also have some decent priced Perreaux and slinkylinks at the mo.
http://www.nzmadeaudio.co.nz/specials.html

;)

[mycenius]

Originally posted by PartTimer
NZMAD also have some decent priced Perreaux and slinkylinks at the mo. ;)

:) Yeah I know PT - heading over to see David after work tonight! ;)

[mycenius]

Originally posted by PartTimer
I know NZMAD offers this, not sure if its free or not. Surely running in the cables yourself is an opportunity to convince yourself that the cables 'DO' make a difference. (ie before and after comparisons.)

Exactly - hence why I asked! :) The issue is most low-mid range systems don't generate enough current/heat to burn them in properly... thus the cooker concept... You need fairly high output/current Amps/Speakers for them to burn in properly themselves...

The thing is I've read a couple of references on the web, but they are a bit vague. David at NZ Made Audio is pretty adament you notice a difference (i.e. improvement)... And I see several overseas distributors offer the service...

And so back to my query as to whether anyone has used "cable cooking" for their system? Just trying to see if anyone has actually used it and supports the synopsis re: improvement post cooking...?

M.

[markvetnz]

Crikey (shit - does that sound like the firking crocodile hunter)

First we cook em - how hot? how long? - any measurable scientific data here??

Then we freeze em - does anyone know anything about cryo treating cables? I seem to remember reading about it somewhere. Do they just dump them in liquid nitrogen (-196 deg C) for a short period?

I wonder?:confused:

[mycenius]

Originally posted by markvetnz
does anyone know anything about cryo treating cables? I seem to remember reading about it somewhere. Do they just dump them in liquid nitrogen (-196 deg C) for a short period?

Likely it's a similar theory, excessive cold actually 'burns' - so it may just be another way to get the cables 'burnt in' faster... :)

Like when the doctor burns off that annoying wart, mole, or whatever on your arm/leg - they don't use heat/flame, instead they use a cotton bud or similar dipped in liquid oxygen, the extreme cold numbs your arm but actually burns the skin/wart (it burns and anaesthetises at the same time)! Afterwards your skin blisters, which then stimulates the new skin growth minus the wart/mole.

Sorry, getting a bit off subject there... :rolleyes:

M.

[Grummer]

well I dunno anything about treating with LN2 for short periods,

I may be wrong, or not informed enought about this, but
if that's what you're saying it's a bit like "cold tempering" of steels...that's abit punishing in my opinion unless someone can tell me its' not......

my wires and cables (all of them in fact) have be cryo'ed

but for one particular set of interconnects I assembled, were submerged in LN2, not the vapour, but the liquid for 72 hours.....

and as for 'cooking', I am using an "adaptor" to allow to use ordinary applicance (fridge, freezer are the best ones) to daisy-chain the Power chords for a week or 2.....
er am I getting confused with 'cooking' and 'burning in'?
cheers

[michael w]

Originally posted by Grummer
er am I getting confused with 'cooking' and 'burning in'?
cheers

No confusion.

Cable cooking is high speed burn-in.
Akin to using a microwave oven instead of the slow crockpot.

In their early days Siltech recommended annealing their cables in a real oven as pre-conditioning prior to serious use.


cheerio
t o M

[JamesB]

This CD has a special "burn in" track.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0000015AL/ref=cm_rev_prev/102-4677610-9914512?v=glance&s=classical&n=507846

I have it and while can't say that it's going to drastically improve your systems I can say that I do use it. It certainly doesn't hurt anything. Caveat emptor.

[JamesB]

Oh, and the Cardas sweep record has a similar kind of thing but for phono cartridges. Of course they're mechanical so most people would subscribe to that working.

Actually when I first got my Cardas sweep record I "burnt in" my exact cartridge for about 8 hours straight. The stylus fell out not long after that. Sigh.

:D

[mycenius]

I was over at NZ Made Audio last night talking to David Chan, and he commented that if a "cooked" cable isn't used for a period (like 4 weeks or so) it loses the benefit, and needs to be partially burnt in again (either by several hours use or re-cooking).

M.

[Grummer]

hmmmmmm , interesting, why?
will it revert back to it 'uncooked' state???

[michael w]

Is there any "memory effect" with cooking ?

When a cooked cable loses it "cookedness" <<made up word :p> can it be re-cooked at the same level or does the cooking level have to be increased each time ?

:confused:

cheerio
t o M

[Craig F]

Whenever I check this thread I hear a ringing. Ohhhh, it's my bull shit meter. Every extra bit of info just seems to keep making this a bit more bizare.

Cheers,

Craig.

[michael w]

Welcome to Bizarro Audioworld.

:p

[Ivors Bitch]

Anybody ever meet mad Peter Belt?

He should be here right now commenting.

I can feel those bits of paper, goats milk and snake oil coming on...

[Coops]

just shove ya speaker cables into the mains....worked for me :)

[Ayn Marx]

Originally posted by Craig F
Whenever I check this thread I hear a ringing. Ohhhh, it's my bull shit meter. Every extra bit of info just seems to keep making this a bit more bizare.

Cheers,

Craig.
My meter's ringing too Graig. Where's the science ? Not that we know all there may be to know about electronics and psychoacoustics but has anyone attempted a serious analysis of these cullinary claims?A google on lt provides only snake-oil links. All this reminds me of my dear departed Aunt Jess who on very hot days kept here knickers in the ice box until just before she left for work. Maybe a more effective tweak would have her placing the ice-cubes up her .............

[Ayn Marx]

Originally posted by Ivors Bitch


I can feel those bits of paper, goats milk and snake oil coming on...
So that's what's plastered all over Tiny Member!

[Coops]

Its really no stranger than pieces of pumice under turntables

;)

There is some science behind cable cooking & cable cryogenics.

Cooking science is along the lines of exciting the molecules in the metal so that they become "adequately charged" & perform quicker & better. I guess similiar to this is the fact that boiled water freezes quicker than cold because the molecules are already in a state of rapid movement from the boiling.

Its along those lines anyways, please no quoting me on this :cool:

[Ayn Marx]

Originally posted by Coops
Its really no stranger than pieces of pumice under turntables


There is some science behind cable cooking & cable cryogenics.etc



I've never recommended pumice under turntables. Under other components yes, but never, never under turntables.
"exciting the molecules in the metal so that they become "adequately charged" & perform quicker & better." that's not science it's superstition!

[Ivors Bitch]

I had hoped I could find some of Peter Belts stuff. Have a close look at these tweak packs available.

TweekPacks (http://www.belt.demon.co.uk/product/bpaip.html)

[Craig F]

Originally posted by Ivors Bitch
I had hoped I could find some of Peter Belts stuff.

Now Mr Bitch,

Don't go messing with Peter Belt. If his ideas are proven false then all the work I did rebuilding the garage so that when the car was parked it was properly alligned with the hi-fi (oh yes folks, that was one idea) was all for naught. And next you'll tell me I don't need the half full container of water on my right speaker and that I didn't need to destroy every digital clock in the house. ;)

Cheers,

Craig.

[Ayn Marx]

Originally posted by Coops
just shove ya speaker cables into the mains....worked for me :)
Did it work for the speakers?

[Lech]

I choose to disbelieve; did you know they use "long-crystal oxygen-free copper" for some headphone leads these days? I wonder if those microscopic crystals stay "lengthy" after bending the wire a couple of times? I suppose cable-cooking and cable-freezing is another one of those things that can't be explained, and if someone tried explaining it, it would be like ruining a great story by revealing its ending.

If you can be literally burnt by cold, that would explain NZ's mild winters. :p {crosseyed smiley goes here}. PS: Craig, shut that damned meter off! I can hear it from my place, people are trying to sleep!

I challenge someone to convince me with science that cooking/freezing cables can improve the sound of a hi-fi. After all, it didn't take much to convince me that 2 stones can be magnetized just by pushing them together. They can still be magnetized even they're totally non-magnetic, or toys blocks even. All you have to do is hold a pebble in your left hand and another in your right, squeeze them together as hard as you can (but without your hands touching each other) for about a minute, and then gently, ever so gently pull them apart. They will want to pull back together, but the magnetization only lasts for a short while and it won't work with one hand because then your arms and body don't form a loop to concentrate the magnetic flux.

Lech :p

[tma1]

Originally posted by Ivors Bitch
Anybody ever meet mad Peter Belt?

No, but ...

When he first surfaced Hi-Fi Answers magazine threw themselves behind his ideas. At the Bristol hi-fi show they treated their demo room with Peter Belt's magic potions and set up a moderately priced system (Linn Sondek/Grace/Supex/Edison valve amp/Spica TC50 if my memory serves me right) and guess what - it sounded better than almost anything else in the show at any price!
I'm highly dubious about it all and it was probably just an extremely well sorted system, but they obviously got something right. Incidentally, that magazine no longer exists as it got so freaky that it frightened away the advertisers.

[mycenius]

I love the Rainbow Foil! Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy - Must have come up with that one at Woodstock! ;)

Anything that tells you to "unbalance" a CD so it doesn't spin true by sticking something onto it is obviously flawed... ;)

[Coops]

http://www.ultraaudio.com/opinion/20030801.htm

try this :)

[Anne]

that have been "cooked" in his cable cooker alongside an identical set that wasn't. To my ears they sounded different. I only have my ears to go by............but at the end of the day that's all there is!! I thought the difference was like a piece of equipment that had been run in and one that hadn't. I know that not everyone agrees with that concept.........but with the cables side by side the "cooked" cables sounded much better.

I would definitely take interconnects to David to have them periodically cooked.

Maybe someone will know if the theory behind the battery pack on some of Audioquests interconnects work along similar lines??

[Craig F]

Originally posted by Anne
that have been "cooked" in his cable cooker alongside an identical set that wasn't. To my ears they sounded different.
Maybe someone will know if the theory behind the battery pack on some of Audioquests interconnects work along similar lines??

Oh well there you go, a happy customer. The AQ idea is something about keeping a constant dialetric field (insulation) and from various reports from people who's ears I trust they're very, very good.

Cheers,

Craig.