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Break in blues

I just don't have the patience anymore to wait for components to settle in.That's the only caveat with having tubed components - ya can't leave em on 24/7 to speed up the process:( I have the little cartoon devil and angel on my shoulders.The devil is ocd "You've obviously made a mistake!After 3 days and 12 ENTIRE HOURS this thing sounds horrible!!Bright,congested,arrgh!!" The angel tries to sooth me"Turn it down,go do something else,don't listen at all until it's clocked in at 50 hours. "To be fair then the right thing to do is after an initial listen to some favorite tracks to give it another 50 hours then make a decision.Sigh....
So the devil suggested I swap cables and by golly he was right this time.Everything is playing together much better now.The old Gabriel Gold cable that sounded so sweet with the Rogue preamp was totally incompatible with the new Microzotl2.The new/old cable is a Siltech Paris.
The angel is a bit miffed but now at least I can get a feel for if it's a keeper or not before the deadline to return it arrives.What I like to do is play it at low volume for 4-5 hours each day then listen at the end of that period to see how it's coming along.It's been a few years since I've bought anything new and I don't remember ever being this anxious before.I don't remember auditioning a component that seemed to sound totally different day by day.Out of the box the Microzotl was excellent,next day bass heavy,next day the GLARE!Today with the new cable excellent.So if tomorrow is also excellent the angel and I will have learned something new.Cables do sound different from each other but I've never come across a situation where one was majorly incompatible.

128x128jtcf
lwal22's avatar
lwal22
76 posts
 
I assume break-in  naysayers are exempting speakers from their skepticism? Mechanical changes and the forming of crossover capacitors are not ‘in your head’.  Driver motors clearly break in  at a declining rate, but they do change.  It’s measurable.  
 Just experiencing Aria 936 break-in period.  The changes are obvious.  At 100 hrs or so, they come to life. 
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,471 posts
 
I find the break-in time facinating .....all the changes as they come together as the curtain goes up.
noromance's avatar
noromance
9,833 posts
 
It can be like love at first sight. Whether it's broken in or not,  if it doesn't sound mostly good when first heard, a burn-in miracle is not going to save it.
djones51
4,947 posts
 
I am not exempting speakers since the manufacturer told me the most change I would notice and what takes the longest is the way I hear their speakers. I just turn it on and enjoy. 
jtcf's avatar
jtcf OP
1,620 posts
 
@djones51 it's hard to sit back and enjoy when you're hearing a different sonic presentation each day and trying to decide if it stays or goes back.This is the first time I've experienced such radical changes , which I now attribute to a weird reaction the MZ2 was experiencing with that cable.It sounded great out of the box and then the next two days it decidedly did not.The(my) rule of thumb is to make only one change at a time until the new thing settles in,playing the system for a few hours a day in the background and sitting down to listen critically for a short period daily.After 25-50 hours of running signal through it then I spend an evening listening to old favorites and make a decision.
Obviously something was not right so I broke my rule and tried something,found the problem,learned something new.The MZ2 is definitely a keeper and now it's time to relax and enjoy.
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