I read Jadem's post (though haven't gotten to the others). He describes why systems that supposedly burn your cables in before hand are of little use; particularly in mail order, where after going through the burn-in machine are then coiled up, shipped via freight where they are subject to much vibration as well as downtime factor, uncoiled during unpackaging, and then routed into the system.
All this movement blows off virtually all the good a pre-burn in does. The systems can be of some benefit when taken off the machine and soon installed in the system with as little movement as possible; but the only way to really burn in your cables is to install them in your system, route them in a way you are happy with, then leave them alone to cook without any movement.
Time unplayed is also a factor. The more consistantly the cables are played, the faster the burn in occurs; so it's not simply a matter of how many hours you rack up. George Cardas also states that after about two weeks of non being played, most of the burn in effect is reverted close to original condition. He also recommends about 15 minutes of warm up time before each critical listening.
Jeff Delman
Value Audio
All this movement blows off virtually all the good a pre-burn in does. The systems can be of some benefit when taken off the machine and soon installed in the system with as little movement as possible; but the only way to really burn in your cables is to install them in your system, route them in a way you are happy with, then leave them alone to cook without any movement.
Time unplayed is also a factor. The more consistantly the cables are played, the faster the burn in occurs; so it's not simply a matter of how many hours you rack up. George Cardas also states that after about two weeks of non being played, most of the burn in effect is reverted close to original condition. He also recommends about 15 minutes of warm up time before each critical listening.
Jeff Delman
Value Audio