If I have my equipment on stand by mode, are the PC’s considered to be breaking in or do I need to physically turn on my equipment and let music flow from my system?
Fazee, in most cases the current drawn through a power cord by the component it is connected to will be very small in standby mode, and will therefore contribute little or nothing to whatever breakin effects may eventually occur in the power cord, if any. Although in the case of your HAP-Z1ES that current won’t be very much even in operate mode, especially given that you are operating from 230 volt AC. Also, as with most source components (and also most preamps) its current draw will be essentially the same in operate mode whether music is being played or not.
The power amplifier section of your AVM C9, though, operates with class D bias, which means that its current draw (and consequently the current draw of your power conditioner, if the amp is plugged into it) will be considerably greater when music is playing than when the amp is operating but not playing music. (That would also be the case if the amp was a class AB design, although to a lesser degree, but would not be the case if the amp were biased in class A. An amp biased in class A will draw essentially the same amount of current through its power cord whether music is playing or not).
How all of this correlates with the duration and effectiveness of the breakin process, however, is not possible to predict with any kind of precision IMO. But you may want to consider accelerating whatever breakin effects may occur by temporarily connecting the power cords to a refrigerator and/or to other devices that draw a large amount of current much of the time, and leaving them there for a few days.
Regards,
-- Al
