Do cables need a second warming up?

Not sure about the need for the second warming, but a first warming up for cryo-treated cables seems mandatory.

joerand posted:

Not sure about the need for the second warming, but a first warming up for cryo-treated cables seems mandatory.

Fortunately this normally happens in the factory......

When I had the dealers demo set of S/L speaker cables on demo they took over a  week before they sounded as they should can't say how long they had not been used before being installed in my system. 

There are widespread reports on cable " conditioning".  That cables, the electronics and speakers seem to respond by using every now and then those burn in and refresher tracks you find.

Some manufacturers - for instance Van Den Hul, go on to state that some of the carbon cables need music played for 10/15 minutes before they come on song.   My speakers use VDH carbon cables internally and do seem to sound a bit clearer after a few minutes of input from when left dormant a while.

So I'm guessing that yes, some will. 

So far I've never heard a cable 'burn in' at all, never mind a second time!  (I've only heard this from turntables/cartridges, active electronics and speakers).

(But then again, when making my cables I do what I can to de-stress the wire and insulation at the solder joints when I make them or immediately afterwards.)

Do cables need a second warming up?  

a) Interconnects:    no, they won’t warm up at all in any way detectable in a domestic installation, so don’t need any time at all.

b) Speaker cables:   In absolute terms probably a second isn’t long enough, unless running at negligible power with substantial conductors, but in practical terms there is unlikely to be a noticeable difference without a thermometer even if left running for longer.

Of course, it depends on how close a tolerance you think of when considering cable temperature: Within a couple of degrees of ambient temperature - barely perceptible without use of a thermometer - might be the warmest speaker cables get however long you play, unless you’re playing at very high power (and thus very high sound levels in a domestic situation) or through very thin conductors. In terms of detectable performance differences that is likely to be a negligible change.

But that is guesswork as I’ve never measured or calculated the temperature rise. To estimate would require knowledge of the cable conductor composition, cable construction, cable insulation type and thickness, cable location (contact with other materials or enclosure in anything), cable length, ambient temperature, and the current flowing (or power and speaker impedance for speaker cables).