binding post break in

ok naysayers, things are getting interesting, the sound of my stereo has improved greatly. Now the wbt binding posts sound very transparent and open, some of the body has returned, but with more resolution than before. if it is not the new solder joint and binding posts breaking in , what could it be? I will put even more hours on the amps and post again later, chris

These possibilities come to mind:

1)Psychological adaptation to the sound, as Tvad suggested.

2)Tubes re-burning in following the mechanical effects that the work may have had on them. Such as the possibility I mentioned that the jostling dislodged minute detritus (particles that had burned off of the filaments and wound up on other elements) -- perhaps it is re-accumulating.

3)Residue from the contact cleaner that you applied before doing the soldering gradually dissipating, perhaps as a result of current being passed through the connection.

Regards,
-- Al

Yeah - be careful - if you are looking for or expecting to hear something then
you often do - our mind plays tricks but its worse our hearing can even play
REAL tricks. There is a little known (at least to audiophiles) muscle in the ear
that probably has the purpose of helping us escape predators or danger. This
muscle tightens in the ear when we concentrate on sound or we are stressed and
it allows us to better hear the mid range frequencies at the expense of the bass
response. A few people can voluntarily control this muscle or have trained
themselves to do so. Many people do not know when it activates or de-activates
but concentration on sound will usually trigger it involuntarily.

Anyway, I simply point this out because people are so eager to jump to
conclusions that have no scientific explanation whilst they may be too quick to
overlook the most obvious ...our own hearing or minute changes in listening
position (a few inches can matter)!

I'll throw in two more possibilities:

1) the binding posts actually do "burn-in" (although this one has really already been floated by the original poster)

2) the new binding posts were cryo treated by the manufacturer.

#2 I actually have a fair bit of experience with, and others that do will also tell you that cryoing cables, receptacles, etc. results in a fairly hyper-detailed but thinned out and etched presentation if the cable or receptacle is inserted back into the system without any burn-in.

The initial sound that Chris describes is very typical of any cryoed cable not subjected to burn-in and the Nextgens may very well be burning in post cryo. There are a number of cable manufacturers that do cryo their wire and identify as such, but there are also manufacturers that cryo and do not identify that their products have been cryoed.

Every receptacle and every piece of wire in my system has been cryoed so I've been through this a number of times. I did replace speaker binding posts with the Eichmann posts a number of years ago. To be honest, I can't recall whether there was a burn-in with the posts; I wish that I had taken the time to cryo those posts but I was impatient and just wanted to get them in and didn't do it.