Looking for really fine cables at really low price

Yes it sounds like you are on the journey Grannyring. They went dull and flat several times on me. At 150 they opened up and then shut down again. Let's see if the same hold true for you. the brittleness comes and goes. Hopefully it goes away permanently.

Jet and Bill,
Very interesting the break- in "up and down" pattern of these cables, I wonder what electrical phenomenon explains these observations? And why the same wire behaves differently as IC compared to speaker cable. Always more questions than answers it seems most often.

I am very optimistic for Rob's use of the Arizona green capacitors in his Dynamo , just how much impact will they yield? Fun times for you guys.
Charles,

Just checked our mailbox and the switchcraft RCA plugs arrived. I'll build a 2nd set of WE16ga interconnects in the next few days and burn them this time for 300 hours...LOL! before trying in my 300b amp. I'll be able to compare them to the WE 16ga interconnects that I built almost three weeks ago with no name RCA plugs.
My instincts tell me to still build these as simply as possible - not using any shielding or twisting. This way I am hearing the cable sounding as natural as possible. I think I read somewhere the less stuff you put around wires, the more open they sound. Don't know if I'm right or wrong, but that's what I'm a gonna do! Jet

Jet,
That theory regarding wire seems intrinsically right. What dielectric material are you using? Some believe that natural materials are better sounding than the synthetics, who knows?
Charles,

Charles, that's the beauty of this Western electric cable. I am guessing that the insulation that it was produced with is contributing to the sound that we have all fallen in love with. So I am not covering it with any dielectric. My instinct is to leave it uncovered and as natural as possible. As long as I am not getting hum or any radio frequency interference I see no reason to insulate it.