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Burning/breaking in new equipment?

I am a complete beginner to stereo equipment, never having even owned so much as a record or CD, but I have been reading about it and found what I thought were good deals, so I pulled the trigger this weekend.

The following are on their way:

Benchmark DAC3 (DAC and preamp)
Bryston 4B3 (power amplifier)
KEF R900 (speakers)
XLR cables (from Benchmark)

I have read that new equipment needs to be broken in for about 100 hours. Does that mean I have to play music through them for 100 hours at the same volume I would use when listening or can I play it at a much lower volume?

Note: I am a little worried that the above system might be too bright, sharp or clinical (as I have read about the previous generations of Bryston amps) but I am trying to go for clean, pure, true, honest, accurate, transparent — whatever that means, but I am thinking I want it to sound like what the artists, producers, directors, audio engineers, etc intended when they created, mixed and mastered each track, with nothing artificial added by the equipment. I also went with companies with more solid engineering and less marketing.

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bobk3
inna
7,296 posts
 
It may be a few hundred hours of burn-in time, it may be less, you will hear it. Probably 100-200 for cables. While everything is burning in do not pay much attention to the sound - the process is often non-linear, it might sound okay one day and terrible next day. Low volume will do, you just want the signal to pass thru. I would not play speakers at high volume until they are burnt in, just low to moderate.
As for how it will eventually sound, it is another question.
bobk3 OP
9 posts
 
Thanks, so I can just leave them on 24x7 at a barely audible level?


bobk3 OP
9 posts
 
“As for how it will eventually sound, it is another question.”

Sound like you are not that optimistic about how that equipment will come together?


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