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AVA Van Alstine SET 400 amplifier -- burn in?

I am not trying to spark a debate about burn in. I purchased an AVA SET 400 amplifier and will give it a listen for 30 days and decide if it works for me.

If you’ve owned this amp or other solid state amps from AVA and have noticed any changes to the sound over time, can you please describe for me?

I asked Mr. Van Alstine about this and his reply was "No burn in time, it’s running up to speed within a couple of minutes."

What’s your experience? It arrives in less than a week. Thank you.
128x128hilde45
hilde45's avatar
hilde45 OP
4,974 posts
 
@corelli -- thanks for the clarification. This is solid state. I think Van Alstine's marketing technique of using SET for a solid state amp can be confusing.

@mesch  Thanks -- will relay. I've been using both Atoll and Adcom solid state which, as I understand it, are similar but not nearly identical.
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 
you have salks now, that right, dave?

should be a very very nice match

enjoy!
decooney
1,993 posts
 
@wjob I
have two of the AVA SET amps - I think they do settle in a bit with break in, but both sounded great out of the box.

Before sending them out, I wonder if AVA leaves them powered on for say 48-72hrs, re-checks specs and re-adjusts bias if required. Pass does this before shipping them out worldwide. If so, this might partially explain the "sounded great out of the box" comment a bit more. I’m with others about giving it at least a week of good run-in before making judgement.

For warmup, with every good Class A/AB MOSFET SS amp I’ve ever owned it took at least 1hr minimum warmup just to get started, and even better at 3-4hrs when transformers were good and saturated with heat would any type of wonder-wall of 3D type of magical sound kick in.

Your updates @hilde45 will be interesting. Should be fun.
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