What is "break in" and what difference does it make? In amps? Preamps? Speakers? More?

When my Energy RC-70s’ wee first played, they sounded cold, no bass, midrange was ........I don’t know, justmnot right, I listen to a lot of metal and blues, and it took a while, as recommended by Energy, about 100 hours for them to open up, and I can tell you what a huge difference the breaking in made.
 The treble, bass, midrange, everything just became more clear, more bass, and the treble really became to my liking, as the Energy’s are an extreme warm speaker (depending on the disc, or recording)
 The midrange is some of the most warmest, and clearest I’ve ever heard in a speaker.

 Not talking about etreme volume, or blaring them, they said louder will result in faster break in, to move the woofers more, etc etc....
.
i just played them moderately until , I could hear an audible difference at mnay intervals ,
so ed has, it was glorious, so Ed has they just sounded like crapper.

 It was fun to hear the many different variations in sound, until they became my most perfect sounding speaker!

im so happy with these,!

now, I have a brand new pair of Odyssey kismet+ monos.
still waiting to be picked up, I’ll be going through another 6-10 months of break in with these amazing Odyssey amps.

 I love hearing electronics change, and become what they are eventually!
 This is why we do it, isn’t it?

enjoy the ride.

I am pretty sure everyone agrees speakers need some kind of break in. They are mechanical devices and it takes a while for the cone / surround to become pliable. Next on my list is anything with capacitors. The new dielectric undergoes some changes with use. This phenomenon has been known for over 100 years and is not snake oil. This break in can easily be shown scientifically and some capacitor data sheets even have recommended break in procedures. I don’t have a firm opinion on transistors or IC’s. So lets say maybe (or it won’t hurt).

But when it comes to breaking in a wires, interconnects or speaker cables I don’t buy it. Some people even claim if you unplug, move or even touch a wire it will take some time for it to settle back in.

Others will strongly disagree with what I just said though. And that is why this thread will eventually melt down and turn to......

+1 delkal

delkal
I am pretty sure everyone agrees speakers need some kind of break in. They are mechanical devices and it takes a while for the cone / surround to become pliable. Next on my list is anything with capacitors. The new dielectric undergoes some changes with use. This phenomenon has been known for over 100 years and is not snake oil. This break in can easily be shown scientifically and some capacitor data sheets even have recommended break in procedures. I don’t have a firm opinion on transistors or IC’s. So lets say maybe (or it won’t hurt).

But when it comes to breaking in a wires, interconnects or speaker cables I don’t buy it. Some people even claim if you unplug, move or even touch a wire it will take some time for it to settle back in. Besides, speakers are more than simply mechanical devices, you know, what with the internal wiring and electronic crossovers, including capacitors. Not to mention not everyone agrees speakers require break in. 

>>>>You just said it yourself. The dielectric material needs to break in. That itself explains why interconnects, speaker cables, power cords, HDMI cables, digital cables, etc. require break in. Hel-loo!

You just said it yourself. The dielectric material needs to break in. That itself explains why interconnects, speaker cables, power cords, HDMI cables, digital cables, etc. require break in. Hel-loo!

Just because there is the same dielectric word describing both don’t let that confuse you. They play different roles. A capacitor stores a relatively large amount of energy between the plates and having the right dielectric configuration is very important for optimum efficiency. And although I didn’t mention it there is also capacitor break in of the conductive plate surfaces that is equally important.

For wires a dielectric is just a fancy term for an insulator. There should be minimized interactions between the wires and that is what insulators do. I have never heard of an insulator that doesn’t work that good at first but gets better at insulating after use.