Question about Discrete Based(Transistor) Amps?

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TomD

Break-in has little to do with amp type or class. A lot of the subjective effect is due to passive components, mostly capacitors, but diodes and transistors are also known to break-in. Some listeners are more sensitive to the effect than others. While i certainly notice changes in the sound of wires and caps, if a component sounds really bad in the first place no amount of break-in will ever make it amazingly good. Yes, i've read opinions to the contrary but tend to take them with more than a pinch :)
 
Amp Break In

The only "break in" I have noticed to date has been the large electrolytic caps in the power supply. When they are first turned on the ripple and noise are a bit high but they come down to normal level a day or so later.
The break in that most audiophiles talk about as far as I can tell is just time getting used to a new piece of equipment. Seems like more physcology than anything else. Most well designed equipment out there has more in common than most would care to believe.
d.b.
 
This may get me cat calls, but I think it's the owner/listener that "breaks in". In my case it's actually the opposite -- when something I've newly built is first listened to (provided there isn't something drasticly wrong with it) I'm so amazed and astounded that it works that I'm convinced it's the best amp of all time. After a few weeks it starts to sound more ordinary. : :angel: :devilr: :angel: :devilr:
 
Guys, you may think that experienced listeners actually go through the pain of adjusting to the sound of new equipment but let me assure you that's seldom the case. New equipment gets burnt in either by Fm interstation noise, pink noise, square waves, repeat CD or 'proper' burn-in generator. I always do one of the above with cables and thus my ears do not adjust. Yes, the sound of practically every bit of audio kit changes but the differences are seldom dramatic.
 
Whenever I've built a new amp I leave it switched on and connected to a dummy load for a day or so, just to check that it's thermally (& electrically) stable. I wouldn't risk my best speakers on a brand-new circuit, so I couldn't tell you what it sounds like without 'running in'.

Electrolytic caps use the applied DC bias to chemically regenerate the dielectric layer, so it's plausible that their characteristics change within a short time of power first being applied. I'm never heard of anything analogous for, say, transistors or resistors, although if you run any component at or beyond its maximum working temperature (e.g. a class-A amp with insufficient heatsinking) all sorts of parameters will start to drift.

Cheers
IH

PS. Ears undoubtedly adjust to accomodate different tonal balance over time. Put your TV sound through proper speakers for a week, then try going back to the TV's own. It never sounded this bad before...
 
I'll second the TV sound, we get used to sounds that we hear, only after we've heard better do they sound bad.

Human hearing is really complicated and there are always ongoing debates on weather we can hear a difference in passive parts of even wires, burn in should be grouped with those, a phenomena that is not understood...
 
In my experience most equipment sounds a little stark until operating temperature/thermal equilibrium has been reached. To me this is most noticable in class A amps and tube stages.

By extension, the initial break-in period should be longer. Like a car. Most still have a run-in period and all must reach operating temp before given a little stick...
 
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