I believe capacitors can require burn in time. A recent example is the PS Audio M700 and M1200 amps. Paul at PSA did one of his videos on a question regarding break in on electronics and one of them according to him sounds terrible off the assembly line. They give it a minimum of 48 hours burn in time to prevent large numbers of returns due to it’s initial sound. The other amp does not. (Can’t recall which was which). He put it down to probably the caps which really is the only thing that makes sense to me, though he admitted he wasn’t 100% sure of that. Prior to that I was pretty sure SS did NOT require break in time, but he convinced me otherwise. I never doubted mechanical items do, speakers and carts being the primary examples.
Burn in vs perception
Posting here in speakers, but could probably go in any of the forums. Question of the night: how much of burn in of components is actually burn in of our perception? That is, is burn in partly us becoming accustomed to a change in sound.
I’m listening to my SF Amati Traditions that at first I found a bit strident, but I now find lush, dynamic, and generally brilliant. I bought them as 1-year old demos so theoretically they should have been played enough to be broken in. I haven’t changed anything in my system—I have been working on my room with more stuff, but that’s it.
Sometimes reviewers or arm chair audiophiles (me) will state that said component needs to be plugged in and left alone for weeks until it gels with the system. Could this simply be our own perception burn in OR is something real happening here?
For speakers I can buy it (woofers need to loosen up and all), but I almost always buy used, and I almost alway a) find a difference of a new component (good or bad), and b) in time, I couldn’t tell you what the change was. Maybe just me, but our brains are pretty good level setters.
I willing to bet this can be a large part of “burn in”.
Showing 3 responses by jdougs
@erik_squires Good to know, thanks. If I decide to put them in service I'll power them up a few days in advance and set the circuit in the power regenerator they're plugged into to stay powered up 24/7. Thanks again. |
@erik_squires Can I ask what class D amps you had this experience with? I have a pair of PS Audio M1200 amps still in the boxes they came in (bought used). Not sure when I’ll put them in service, they’re more intended as backups right now, but I guess I may need to leave them powered up 24/7 if/when they do go in to service. |