2. amps-preamps
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I hope break in is true

This is the first time I ever bought a brand new out of the box Preamp. No, wait. Second but, the other doesn't count.
I had made previous posts about my decision to downsize.
I have, everything is kinda good. You know, Okay.
I bought a pre here. great seller, great store. Couldn't have been smoother.
I am just not used to this type of stuff. I wanted something with a phono included. I kept it well under a $1000.00
Now, I got to ask you guys. Will this thing get better???/
I have not had to worry about break in before. Does it really exist?
It is a very well built unit. Remote, I'm not used to that! That's nice. Has everything I need. Except it isn't alive. The music is there, presented very nicely. Clean, no extra stuff. Just doesn't have any dimension.
Please tell me this is going to get better:)
scottht
scottht OP
398 posts
 
Wadia 150 ....Jeeez, thanks for the great info. Pretty poor advice bro!!
mdhoover
695 posts
 
The loudspeakers I currently own most certainly went thru a break in process. I think the drivers loosen up over time, and this allows greater agility. They also sound better after playing for twenty minutes or so, i.e. warm up. I'm told that this is because the performance characteristics of the voice coils improve after they heat up. The fact that some people can't figure out the mechanism of break (myself included) in doesn't make it a myth. Nobody really know why gravity exists, but few would deny its existence.
johnstassi
12 posts
 
Why do some of the reviews I see have statements like
"(the manufacturer) suggests 300 hours break in before critical listening."
I think in home audtions of equipment may not be as available as we all would like, and everything will sound different in the store, and you read these reviews on line taht sound so hot- then you get one home and it is " jeez this doesnt sound right- maybe it's the equipment, no its my speakers, no the amp, no the room acoustics are bad...." so Maybe the product manufacturers want to make sure the buyers give time for the psychoacoustic adaptation to take place so everyone doesnt go running back to their dealer with a return before the usual 30 day limit is up
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
johns33031,

I agree. I simply can't see a good reason to design something with significant drift in response over time ( which is what a break in period suggests ). Drift over time is something designers should really be trying to avoid - just as they try to avoid changes in response due to temperature or volume level - so they can produce products with stable accurate sound. (In the back of my mind I would always worry, "if it changes significantly after 300 hours of play what about 1000 hours....10,000 hours")
phd
1,328 posts
 
What is breaking in, the gear or the listener. I believe it is both! When a mfg recommends so many hours of operation for a specific piece of gear to reach its full potential you can believe it! But it is my opinion if the sound is not at least acceptable or not compatible with other components right out of the box, it is unlikely that the breakin period will transform this piece of gear to a degree of acceptance. I have a couple of amps, one of which is a Conrad Johnson. Although this amp is fully broke in and I liked it from the get-go, it still sounds smoother and just plain better after an hour warm-up. The only amp and or exception that comes to mind that I did not like its sound out of the box but did after the recommended breakin period was the digital HCA-2. Even after the required hours of break-in, the addition of a quality aftermarket power cord further enhanced its sound quality. Therefore it is apparent to me that the breakin period for digital amplification has more profound results than that of analog.
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