break-in--bane or boon ??


as a reviewer , i often receive equipment which is new and has no playing time.

i have to decide whether to break in the component and if so, how many hours is necessary.

i have often asked manufacturers for guidance.

one cable manufacturer said the cables--digital, analog and power, required no break in. another said 24 hours.

when i reviewed a mcintosh tube preamp, i was told by a technician that no break in was necessary. all i needed to do was leave the preamp on for one hour in order that the tubes were "warmed up"

can someone provide an objective explanation as to the basis for break-in and how to determine how long to break in different components ?

for example, cables comprised of different metals, if they require break in, is there a difference in the requisite time for a given metal, e.g., gold, silver or copper ?

can someone provide an explanation as to what is happening during the break-in process ?

can one devise a mathematical equation to quantify break-in hours, as a function of the parts in a component ?
mrtennis
Nonoise wrote,

"Sounds like there's more than meets the ear."

I'm afraid things are worse than I have intimated so far. Much, much
worse. The fight or flight response is elicited by a great many things, most
of them what I would call unnatural shapes, materials, and links to global
information fields, that we sense as intruders or threats. Danger, danger,
Will Robinson! Examples? Long, thin shapes like electrical cords,
Venetian blind cords, audio cables. Thin, square shapes like windows and
doors. Materials like treated wood of furniture, speaker cabinets, hardwood
floors, but also metals like steel, aluminum and copper(!). All media -
books, magazines, CDs, LPs, cassettes, DVDs, newspapers, as well as
anything connected to the Internet or wideband transmission networks -
iPhones, iPads, computers, TVs, etc. An easy test to gauge the effect of
CDs or LPs in the room on our hearing, at least to some extent, is to listen
to a favorite track with all CDs and LPs in the room placed horizontally.
Then, listen again to the same track with all CDs and LPs in the room
stacked vertically. You should find that vertical is noticeably superior, along
the lines of putting in a set of expensive interconnects.

It's no wonder that many folks cannot get to the point of proving to
themselves that there's such a thing as break-in, fuse and wire
directionality, or the advantage of high end cables and power cords, or
even the advantage of high resolution formats over Red Book CD. Most
systems, even the most expensive and elaborate ones, are way down in
the noise floor. But the noise isn't coming from the system, but somewhere
else!

I return you back to your regularly scheduled programming. :-)

GK
" But the noise isn't coming from the system, but somewhere
else! "

Indeed!
it is interesting how the topic of break -in has morphed into other tangential issues.