Burning/breaking in new equipment?


I am a complete beginner to stereo equipment, never having even owned so much as a record or CD, but I have been reading about it and found what I thought were good deals, so I pulled the trigger this weekend.

The following are on their way:

Benchmark DAC3 (DAC and preamp)
Bryston 4B3 (power amplifier)
KEF R900 (speakers)
XLR cables (from Benchmark)

I have read that new equipment needs to be broken in for about 100 hours. Does that mean I have to play music through them for 100 hours at the same volume I would use when listening or can I play it at a much lower volume?

Note: I am a little worried that the above system might be too bright, sharp or clinical (as I have read about the previous generations of Bryston amps) but I am trying to go for clean, pure, true, honest, accurate, transparent — whatever that means, but I am thinking I want it to sound like what the artists, producers, directors, audio engineers, etc intended when they created, mixed and mastered each track, with nothing artificial added by the equipment. I also went with companies with more solid engineering and less marketing.

.

bobk3

Showing 1 response by gdnrbob

Very nice gear for a first system.
All previous advice is great.
If your electric rates are not too high, you can leave things on 24/7.
Burn in takes some time, so just listen and enjoy your new stereo. When things come together, you will notice a subtle change. Nothing major, but a change none the less.
If you need to turn things off, then it will take an hour of so for things to settle down.
Most of all, enjoy the music.
Bob