Burn-in time Vs. Getting used to a sound

Brutus, I just saw your post saying you tried a few specialist power cords and heard no difference - so I take back my earlier statement. I am still interested in your system contect, however.

redkiwi:I currently have an atmosphere novacron amp, audible illusions 3a pre,micromega cd,maggie 3.2 speaks. I have had many other systems and other than tubes and speaks they ALL sounded exactly the same when I sold them as when I bought 'em.sorry

Yep I've heard it all (used to foolishly believe it myself too, and I'm an E.E.). All cables sound the same...all amps sound the same... Finally I learned to LISTEN! Now, NOTHING sounds the same. However there is a difference between cold equipment vs. new equipment. Even broken-in solid state gear, or tube gear w/ S.S. regulators, doesn't sound so good when it's cold. Over the first 2 or 3 hours warmup time things improve most noticably. It takes about 30 hours for the power supply regulators to attain thermal stabilization. (Yes the power supplies & even AC cords are in the signal's path. That's why David Belles *tunes* his power supplies). Plenty of other threads on this...

I can attest that burn-in is a big factor in audio and video. I've burned in lots of eq. and some improves more than others. MIT cables have taken the longest for me, I know I could never get used to the sound of new shotgun IC's - they changed more than any cable or component I've had in my system. My Pioneer elite TV changed also over a couple hundred hours of use in picture colors and quality and sound. I finally convinced my wife who has much better hearing than me when she witnessed the TV change. Now, with that in mind does your crappy car system or clock radio improve. My wife calls me a noise snob and she's right. When I get in my son's car and he pops in a CD and cranks it you might as well have a leaf blower or jack hammer going!

To me , and this is simply an opinion , but anyone who does not believe that components need to break in either cant hear or have not heard a properly set up system , learned its sonics and tested a well designed component and observed its changes over time. Cases in point. I recently upgraded to the Conrad johnson Act 2 . It replaced a seasoned CJ LS 17 2. At first it was sonically inferior to the 17 . The company specifically issues instructions that at least 100 hours are needed for the teflon caps to sound acceptable and after 300, the unit is broken in . It was as accurate of a time frame as i could have imagined and i logged the real playing time as proof. I also purchased Pure Note paragon IC s. There is a 30 day return policy. The company told me that a minimum of 200 hours break in is needed before they open up. I started a thread on this issue 2 weeks ago. They have dramatically altered their sonic signature and improved in virtually every aspect of its performance. This but 2 examples . Dont get me staretd on the aerial 20 t break in period where i was committed to an insane asylum before they broke in and became magical.. Breakin is a myth ... spare me. But .... thats my opinion.