[Salectric]

I recently replaced the IEC plug on my power cord with a FI-50 NCF.  It now has 130 hours of actual playing time and has gone through a lot of sonic changes during this time.  Early on it was very bright and had insuffient weight in the bass.  It has improved a lot and is now sounding much better balanced. 

My question is how long should it take for these NCF connectors to be fully broken in?  Will it take hundreds of hours or are they now there at 130 hours?  I don’t have a Cable Cooker so my break in consists of actually using the cables and with tube gear that isn’t as simple as just leaving the equipment on 24/7.

Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

[DaveC113]

If you give them a couple hundred hours that should give you a good idea, but they will continue to improve more subtly after that up to about 500 hours or so ime.

An alternative to a cooker would be to use the cable for something else, like a fan that is on all the time. You can get IEC > female plug adapters that will make the cable into an extension cord, then you can use it anywhere.

[Salectric]

OK, that's good.  That means it will get even better!  Thanks for the reply Dave.