[AB]

New Silver ICs in the house.

Will they ever break in? 40 and a few hours so far and no joy.

With acoustic music they are only occasionally searingly bright. With most other music I am ducking for cover. sssssizzzle and snap.

Clear and detailed, yes. Quiet and dynamic, yes again. But the whip cracking attacks are beating me and forcing me to question if burn-in is real.

Ven Haus Spectrum AG.

[markC]

What are they connected to? If your 100% solid state, it may be a bit much. I've had all silver IC's, (CDP to Pre and Pre to Amps), for several years and can't remember running for cover even when I first plugged them in. First CDP was buffered tube out, current is tube out and pre is tube as well.

[AB]

The gear as it stands today consists of:

Modded Denon 3910 CDP with Amperex PQ 6922

First Sound Presence Deluxe II with Amperex 7308

BAT vk600se

Andra IIs

The First Sound with the 7308 tubes has been - previous to the IC change - smooth with no real glare as it exhibited with the EH 6922 tubes.

I have a Modwright SWL that is in and out of the stack. The ICs behave the same with it as with the FS. The two preamps sound different enough but the brightness afflicts both.

I am hoping someone can relate their silver IC burn in experience. More info might help me to be more patient.

[Wayne1]

AB,

Silver takes a very long time to "burn-in"

Just running music through them, it will take you hundreds, if not thousands of hours of use to burn them in. I purchased a cable cooker http://www.audioexcellenceaz.com/audiodharmacablecooker.htm to speed up the process. It sends a higher voltage, full range signal through the the cable into a load. It will speed up the process a lot. It will still take at least 7 days of 24 hr signal to "mellow" them out.

If you are willing to pay for shipping them to Colorado and back, I would be very willing to run them on the cooker for you.

Wayne

[Gordy]

   Now that is what AC is all about!

[ctviggen]

I had some silver speaker cables that I never quite liked.  They had a fatiguing quality to them.  I replaced these with some cables from Bolder Cables, and all that fatiguing "quality" was gone.  I do note that I was using biamp cables, and had incorrectly connected the "bass" part of the cable to the mids/tweeters.  Not sure if that had anything to do with the sound.  I still have these, though, if anyone wants to try them out (one day, I need to get my Ack Dack 1.2d and tons of cables up for sale).

[bpape]

Your call.  Personally, I've never heard a silver cable I've liked - burned in or not.  I'm a copper guy through and through.


Bryan

[Julien43]

ctviggen:

I had some silver speaker cables that I never quite liked~~~I still have these, though, if anyone wants to try them out

I'd love to give your silver a try

I have been using C VenHaus DIY "Fine Silver" ICs for a number of years and have found the proper gauge that synergies with my taste

[Vtech2000]

Your call.  Personally, I've never heard a silver cable I've liked - burned in or not.  I'm a copper guy through and through.

If you ever heard silver "done right", it would change you.  Nothing beats it.

[AB]

Thanks, all, for the advice. Thanks,Wayne, for your offer. I may take you up on that if things don't smooth out. I am not too far away from Denver and I pass through fairly often.

The ICs were between CDP and pre for the first 40 hours and seemed to change very little but now I have them between the pre and the amp and they seem to smoothing out a bit. Cymbals are sounding like cymbals rather than hisses now and vocals have dropped back into the SS some. I have renewed hope.

[timothyharnett]

Your call.  Personally, I've never heard a silver cable I've liked - burned in or not.  I'm a copper guy through and through.

If you ever heard silver "done right", it would change you.  Nothing beats it.

Generally I've found that silver is OK as long as you have enough conducters.  Two to three 24 AWG conducters sound too lean to me.

[LightFire]

New Silver ICs in the house.

Will they ever break in? 40 and a few hours so far and no joy.

With acoustic music they are only occasionally searingly bright. With most other music I am ducking for cover. sssssizzzle and snap.

Clear and detailed, yes. Quiet and dynamic, yes again. But the whip cracking attacks are beating me and forcing me to question if burn-in is real.

Ven Haus Spectrum AG.

You don't need silver and you don't need burn in!