Does Equipment Break In, or Does Our Hearing Adjust?

Now that I think about it there are other possibilities besides just burn-in. Some components could conceivably change sound quality for better or worse over time whether used or not. Some could conceivably sound better after a burn in period, but then lose the burn in effect if not used regularly enough so that another burn in period is required. Some could even start to degrade from excess use but then recover if left unused for a period of time. These all sound like nightmare scenarios to me. I’m glad that the changes most equipment go through due to burn-in have negligible effect on my enjoyment of music. My ears are not hyper discerning so there’s a lot of serviceable equipment that seems stable over long periods of time to my perceptions.

BOTH

Yes.

New speaker drivers need to move and the capacitors in their crossovers need to be “charged” My KEF’s were noticeably better sounding after about a week of leaving them playing 24/7 after I got them!

So I also have a pair of Acoustat Model X speakers with the Servo amps on another system and if I don’t fire them up for a while, they sound awful, thin and lifeless, but once the caps are recharged (about 90 minutes) the system sounds fantastic! After that, the system sounds great with only waiting for the tubes to warm up, maybe ten minutes.

@jetter

As to three REF 160s’s. My dealer got one and thought I would like it… so he brought it over. I instantly loved it and asked him to order me one. He left the first until I received my copy. So, a couple months later, my unit shows up. We swap it. My new one was great… but one of the meters was weak… not a big deal, no hurry… several months go by. My dealer drops by and asked what I want to do… have him replace the meter or get a new one. I say, I don’t care, what would you do? He says, “get a replacement”. He calls ARC, and a couple minutes later a new one is on its way. So, in a couple weeks, I get a new one.

I can’t remember why, but at the beginning of this year my dealer (who has become a friend over the last twenty years) brought over the reference 160m monoblocks… for me to compare. I love them, so he has been nice enough to leave them. So, I currently have both.

These mono-blocks were early copies… not long after they came out. I went down to his store to hear Bruce from Audio Research introduce them. I immediately realized it was finally time to get a tube amp. I decided then to get the stereo version when it came out. It took a couple years or so, but they did, and I did. But having these monoblocks in my system is really gratifying, not only because of how amazing they sound, but because these were the very ones that I heard that caused the pivot in amplification for me… so, important for how my system sounds today. This very amp probably caused one of the most important pivots in my system of all time. My system is now all ARC and exceeds all expectations I have ever had in owning an audio system.

Hello tcotruvo.  Equipment, cables, speakers, etc do "break in."  While Nordost uses 8 or 9 conductors for each leg of a cable to a speaker, you can buy 50 conductor ribbon cable ($0.65/foot) and have 25 silver plated conductors in each leg of "speaker cable" and enjoy excellent performance (use every other wire for + and the others for -). I mention this because the cable is used to carry very high frequency data betwen mainframe computer cabinets and uses an insulating plastic we would consider "ordinary." This material is the cause of the "break in" effect. It takes between 30 and 120 MINUTES to break in and you can hear the effect quite easily.  A friend with Martin Logan electrostats says they are the best cables he has ever used. At $65 for 100 feet, you can't go wrong. Surplus outits sell the stuff. I think Amazon lists it too. "Look for 50 conductor flat cable."