Breaking in a new amp

You don't want to crack your walls or get your neighbors angry with you. Just run stuff through it and it will get better over time. If you have a tuner, let it work while your not home. This will also keep the burglers away.

Honestly, does anyone ever run an amp at max volume? It can't be good for an amp to run beyond its limits as Driver suggested. Most amps acheive max volume before the volume control reaches its limit. If it won't ever be run that hard in normal use, why do that for break-in? I wouldn't do that to my amp......

Nope, I didn't say run an amp beyond its limits. I said open it up, which means at its max.

I bought a big-ass amp so I could listen over 100dB w/o audible distortion, because I like to listen that way sometimes. So yes, sometimes I do play my amp at max volume. Can't overdrive it, as I have a matched passive.

Power dissipation in the output devices is actually at its' highest level at 1/3 rated power output. If you really want to torture-test, that's where it's done.

From Bryston's website:
"Each and every Bryston amplifier undergoes a very extensive "burn-in" procedure. Following a complete operational checkout, every amplifier is placed on a test-bench and run for 100 hours at full output (one hour on/ one hour off for additional thermal stress), with a high frequency square-wave input and a capacitive load. This extremely rigorous burn in quickly "matures" components and weeds out any potential premature failures. The result is reliable trouble-free performance for many years, and is backed by Bryston's exclusive 20-year full warranty."