Hi all, I recall reading a post where someone warmed their audio cables in an oven and then hung them out in order to remove stubborn bends. I was going to do the same but wanted to know what temperature to set the oven at, not wanting to damage or melt them!
Can anyone else recall the post as I can’t find it?
Many thanks.
I am afraid that I have no idea as all of my cables ( interconnects only) are fairly floppy and do not get bent into fixed shapes.
However it strikes me that if the suggested process works any appropriate temperature will vary due to the materials used. So it might (might) help anyone with suggestions if you revealed the type of cable in question.
This does not imply that heating the cables will be a solution. I’ll leave that to others.
I would be concerned that the heating of any cables above say 100 degrees could compromise the integrity of any internal insulation whether synthetic or fluid
Thanks Barry but F or C?
Hey Pete. Yes. Good point. I would think most/ all good cables would be designed to withstand a abnormally warm room temperature or say 100 degrees f (38 degrees centigrade) . I would not consider for a second to subject any of my cables (with or without proprietary network connections as seen in Transparent Audio company for example) to any extreme heat or cold for the possibility of what little benefit could theoretically be gained. Just my 2 cents
Thanks both, fair points. The cable in question is a Shunyata Alpha V2 NR power cable, so whilst it is quite floppy, it is also very thick. The bend in question is only quite mild so I think I’ll leave it alone for the reasons given.
Thanks, Mike.
A very wise decision… 
Hair dryer on the part of the cable that’s bent, whilst you hang the cable vertical, that should do it and not damage it ?
Dunc, that might work with light cable of simple construction but these Shunyata Alphas are huge and have several conductors of copper or silver. When I say huge pictures indicate a cable that is only a few millimetres narrower than a the full width of a USA power connector.
A permanent bend suggests that the conductors have formed to this shape. Of course these will conduct away any heat that reaches them through the outer sheathing and dielectric anyway.
So I agree with @Mnemarks decision as heating the outer sheath is likley to damage it, arguably without any positive result, as it would require significant e heat given the size and construction of the cable, even if it could work :
It’s just a suggestion that might work with a bit of a gentle rub and pull in the opposite direction of the bend. It certainly won’t damage it and might help the situation or not.
I have given this some further thought and my memory reached back to the factory of the late Max Townsend. I recall visiting them and they used a simple jig when working on their cables. This was just a length of board with two parallel lines of upstanding nails. The cable was held between them.
I wonder if a similar simple jig could be made, the bent cable held straight between the nails and left for a time until it “relaxed” back to its original shape?
It is only a suggestion and I cannot vouch that it would be successful but I hope it is at least a positive idea.
I have asked around and the consensus here is that it shouldn’t make too much difference. If the cable has been bent below its minimum bend radius then some damage will have occurred to the crystal structure of the metal (regardless of whether it is stranded or solid core). The question is whether this is even measurable (with your ears or a scope). However, while bending it back is most unlikely to restore the original crystal structure it is somewhat more likely to make you feel better.
“When it bends it’s funny, when it breaks it isn’t” (sign on the wall of one of the labs at Uni).
PS The minimum bend radius we specify for ACTUS cables is 12cm.