2. amps-preamps
  3. 156142-976

Break in time that extends to months or maybe even years!!

On another thread, we have a well known and well respected piece of gear ( and great sounding too, IME) that according to the member who is reviewing it, needs in excess of 1000 hours to fully break in!! 

While we have all heard of gear that needs immense amounts of 'break in' time to sound its best, usually gear that involves teflon caps, I question whether this very long break in time is the job for the consumer? Is it reasonable for a manufacturer of audio gear to expect the consumer to receive sub-par performance from his purchase for potentially several months ( years?) before the true sound of the gear in question can be enjoyed? Or, is it ( or should it be) perhaps the job of the manufacturer of this gear ( usually not low priced) to actually accomplish the 'break in' before releasing it from the factory? Thoughts...
128x128daveyf
Ag insider logo xs@2x
cleeds
5,950 posts
 
daveyf
ARC didn't state anything about the long break in time in the manual of the piece I am referring to ( I did not say they did, you somehow read that?) , but in a response to a review ...
What review was that?
I doubt any company mentions much about 'break in' time in their manual ...
ARC does. That's why I mentioned it.
billwojo
397 posts
 
Caps can be broken in on simple fixture consisting of a variable voltage supply modulated with an audio signal. There are plans out there to build them cheaply. You can gang lots of caps onto the same fixture and run it indefinitely.
Any manufacture that says that a product needs to be broken in for weeks or months is just hoping that you grow to like it well before the return window is closed.
Transducers such as cartridges do need a short break-in time as the suspension needs to loosen up a bit.
Cables? Somebody has been smokin to much weed.
BillWojo
mitch2
3,976 posts
 
@billwojo 
Any manufacture that says that a product needs to be broken in for weeks or months is just hoping that you grow to like it well before the return window is closed.
Shhhh....a successful marketing campaign ensures that the advertised "break-in" window exceeds the time required for confirmation bias to fully develop.
Cables? Somebody has been smokin to much weed.
Another manufacturing secret....
"Roll another one
Just like the other one"
  
fundsgon
150 posts
 
Several years ago I recall reading the the Large Hadron Collider at CERN would only operate at 50% power for 1 year following startup to allow the magnets and other heavy electrical components settle in. I recall that the physicist mentioned that the crystal structures in some component needed time to align or de-stress. Maybe 1000 hours to break in some audio gear is not unheard of. 
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,043 posts
 
Several years ago I recall reading the the Large Hadron Collider at CERN would only operate at 50% power for 1 year following startup to allow the magnets and other heavy electrical components settle in. I recall that the physicist mentioned that the crystal structures in some component needed time to align or de-stress. Maybe 1000 hours to break in some audio gear is not unheard of.
I am sure this news has been already debunked by some audio "scientist" here....Or James Randi...

What a waste of time because CERN dont consult the right "scientist" probably....


Me I know perfectly well that out of the box any electronic component is more than ready to use, no "tweaks" needed, no time to waste, we have proven it with measures.... :)
More to discover