If You Believe in Burn-in, Clap Your Hands

[ejr]

Evidently there's more than one way to oil a snake.

 

[MattHooper]

The only place in audio where a burn in of significant duration could have measurable differences are tubes and certain (very uncommon) loudspeaker drivers with a ceramic spider (like older Mark Audio drivers).

Tubes that are fresh (never used) react on the high voltage and heater and the components inside must settle, that can take a few hours to days and you can easely (if you hve a tube measurement device) measure the differences.

Ceramic spiders need to loosen up by tiny movements, that's why those speaker builders who use that kind of spiders (very rare) specify that. Older Mark Audio drivers are the most known drivers known for that. Some other drivers have similar spiders but don't specify that because the burn in happened at the factory (but the price is quiet high due to that). Mark Audio does not do that because they want to keep their drivers cheap. Their newer lines don't have that spider, and don't need that burn in anymore.

I don’t believe in burn in, but I have often noticed with my cj tube preamp that it can seem sometimes like the sound is a bit “ dark and rolled off” when it is first turned on and then sometime around maybe the 15 minute mark while I’m listening the sound seems to suddenly open up in the high frequencies.

I always wondered whether that was imagination or not, but when I brought it up on this forum I was told it’s actually a plausible effect from the unit warming up or whatever.

 

[MattHooper]

It always amazes me how we are told by the “ everything needs break-in” crowd that Capacitors and such in speakers and electronics often need many hours of break in in fact very often days and weeks, often hundreds of hours before they start operating properly.

I like to point out how absurd this is, because the capacitors used in the audio gear often comes from the same big companies that sell their capacitors for the most sensitive use-cases on earth; everything from Aerospace engineering equipment that keeps Astronaut alive, to the military, to the most sensitive medical equipment.

The idea that the ability for these capacitors to reach their specifications is so chaotic that you’re not gonna even know they are doing so for weeks would make their use just untenable and all those sensitive industries.
It’s a manufacturer sells a product with a specification, that’s how it needs to operate, and quickly!

And that’s also why you see nothing whatsoever about “ product needs burn-in time to reach its specifications” in the specifications sheets from those manufactures.

 

[Punter]

I like to point out how absurd this is, because the capacitors used in the audio gear often comes from the same big companies that sell their capacitors for the most sensitive use-cases on earth; everything from Aerospace engineering equipment that keeps Astronaut alive, to the military, to the most sensitive medical equipment.

C'mon Matt, those types of applications are kids stuff compared to high-end audio!

 

[BeeKay]

C'mon Matt, those types of applications are kids stuff compared to high-end audio!

Everyone knows there are no veils to be lifted in satellites and space stations. Home audio is, by definition, the most complex and challenging application for electronics.