Power Cord burn in

Just received a new Zu Mission power cord. I have heard good things about this cord and also heard it needs a couple hundred hours of burn in to sound it's best.

Debates about the subject of burn in aside, I have a question about the methods of breaking it in. The easiest way for me is to put it on my servo sub and leave it on while I'm home. Since it is a power cord and not an IC or speaker cable, is simply having the sub powered up adequate to burn in a pc? I assume it is but wondered if it mattered if music was being played?

 

Burn in requires current to flow. A fan or space heater for a few days would do what you want. I think Shunyata makes an adapter for burning in IEC cables.

 

Wouldn't the current from the sub's amp do that just by being powered up?

 

The sub isn't going to draw enough current unless it is playing. It most likely is a switching amp, and will not draw enough current at idle.

 

Thanks. Need to figure out something else. Was going to hook up to my pc but it won't reach

 

You can pay $15 or $20 for the Shunyata or you can buy a 1 Foot Power Monitor adapter which is the same thing at pretty much any computer store for 25%-30% of that.



Then hook the cord up to your Refrigerator or a chest freezer for 3-4 weeks. It is the excess surge & draw when the compressor kicks in that will do more to burn the cord in than running the cord on something which draws much less current continuously. Without a doubt the best way to burn a cord in short of using something like the Audiodharma or Nordost cookers.

 

Fan or refrigerator ...

 

Take the week off and play music 24/7.

 

This seems to be the only reasonable solution.

 

True. I don't like to leave my tube amp on all the time tho some others do. Hate to burn 200 hours of tube life on breaking in a power cord.

 

Thing is that if you want to burn in an audio device power cord properly you absolutely must only use it to play music while doing so, otherwise, it will be optimized not for audio, but for whatever other application you used it for during the burn in.

So if you hook up a hotplate to it the sound will be overcooked when you start using it for real.

Likewise powering a big fan will make things sound all blowy.

I once made the mistake of burning one in on a microwave oven that was only used for popcorn making and gosh darn the sound had more snaps crackles and pops afterward than a vinyl disc used in an ultimate frisbee tournament.

Nope, you absolutely need to get kitchen and other household appliances out of the picture.

Mind you I once had a power cord that was burned in only on a big honking subwoofer and when I desperately needed something to replace the one on the convection oven in my kitchen, well gosh darn that oven, when roasting a turkey, could hit 125dB at 15 Hz after that!

Jeff

 

+1 to this advice

 

I just bought a new refrigerator. It doesn't get very cold. I called the manufacturer to complain, and they said it just needs a couple hundred hours of burn in to work its best.

 

Hah! I knew this was coming. Good ones!

 

The other issue often overlooked with burn in is it never stops. The power cord continues to burn away no matter how many hours you use it. Whatever the effect is it just does not halt after a set period of time ("think rust never sleeps"). In fact there is some persistent experiential observation that the sound reaches a point of optimum burn in and then deteriorates. This is a boon the makers of these devices. Listen carefully and once you hear this over burn in degradation occurring you must replace the cord. For sure you can then use it for an other appliance and it will no doubt lend a musicality to it's operation though not an optimal one due to the mentioned over burn in effect.

 

That might have been a fuse directionality mishap

 

Expensive yes, but the E.M.P. Oras NuClove range deliver.

 

Been trying to find something like the Shunyata locally today but calling best buy and office depot they don't seem to know what I'm talking about and I can't seem to find anything on their websites. Anyone know if those retailers or Lowes/Home depot would have an adapter that would work?

 

The best way is to fire up a barbecue grill and let the power cord simmer for about 16 hours

 

I found one at Home Depot. The keyword to search for in general is "IEC" for the connector name
AC WORKS IEC to NEMA Adapter IEC C14 to NEMA 5-15R Regular Household Female Connector-WS-089 - The Home Depot

 

I like the idea of using it to connect a device with a big motor that kicks in every now and again with a big current draw. It used to be that a refrigerator would do that, but I am not so sure that modern fridges pull that hard on the mains. The washing machine or dryer would work, but how much washing do you do per week? When I worked at HP I would take the new power cord to work and hook it up to a big UNIX box for a couple of weeks.

 

Thanks. Unfortunately it's not in stock at any HD stores near me.

Have the Zu cord on a tv for now.

 

Best Buy or Radio Shack would be pretty much a sure thing to have it in stock I would think, along with any other computer or electronics based retailer.

 

What causes a new power cord to sound bad until it suddenly sounds good? the design of the shielding in a power cord is controversial, but burning it in isn't going to change that. What changes in the burned-in power cord to improve the SQ of the amplifier?