Yep. Break in of an audio component such as a capacitor or speaker surround, or more importantly an audio system, such as a preamp or speaker, could easily form the basis of a masters thesis or PhD dissertation. This would not begin to cover the multitude of material combinations that can be applied to any one loudspeaker or preamp system, so we’re left with debating assertions, which is entertaining and educational.
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...
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...
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heaudio123 Ultimately the only thing that matters is is the effect audible. Would be a relatively easy test, a new unit(s) and burned in unit(s) and do A/B/X analysis. Unfortunately that is anathema to many audiophiles. >>>>It almost sounds like you’re volunteering to do the required A/B/X analysis. I look forward to your analysis. That is unless it’s anathema to you. The confirmation of the audible effect of break-in is a sticky wicket, I’m afraid, if one attempts to compare the sound of a component before break-in to the sound after break-in. What prevents the earnest audiophile from trying to get to the bottom of break-in is not only the 🔜 uneven audible effects of break in 🔚 with but also the difficulty in making comparisons of the sound over long periods of time, e.g., two weeks. If one wishes to compare the sound of his system two weeks apart not only is his memory of the sound in the first case crucial to the test but also, perhaps more importantly, how can he attribute any differences in sound to only break-in since a slew of external and internal variables probably changed. Rarely does the intrepid audiophile sit still for 2 weeks. Surely he would make some changes to his system in that time, no? And shouldn’t time of day, day of week, the weather be considered in comparisons of sound? Nothing is easy, if it was easy everyone could do it. It is virtually impossible to control all the variables in tests like this, a test which on the surface seems like a slam dunk. |
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- 114 posts total