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Why do cables need break-in?

I just had the experience of having newly introduced speaker cables (AudioQuest AQ-8 bi-wire) break in. When I put them in a few days ago they sounded thin, bright and lacking in bass. Now, after 4 days and 40 - 50 hours, they sound far better: relatively neutral frequency spectrum with much more bass weight. I'm delighted, of course, but I'd like to know why this happens. Will I experience the same scenario when I change interconnects?
pendragn
sonic_genius
528 posts
 
I agree it is the dielectric. Capacitors also need break in. Once I replaced my power supply capacitors in my amp. The sound was very bright and thin. After 100 hours everything was back to normal. The dielctric needed to be "formed up," I believe this is true of cables.
subaruguru
1,353 posts
 
Psych, it's not the silver, but the quality of the insulation, as explained by Dmi....
fredtjah
1 posts
 
Can somebody help to get power capacitors for my Jadis DEFY 7 ???
audiophile366ca4
4 posts
 
The dielectric is what break's in more so than the conductor's.The dielectric takes some time to break-into it's optimal electrical properties.That's why you can have have two identical cables with different dielectric's sound totally different.Audioquest uses batteries to keep their dielectric's constantly at peak performance,not the conductor's.
infinity_audio
183 posts
 
It's the DIELECTRIC inside a cable which needs break in.
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