Hi Swampwalker: Yes, a pair of Homegrown Super Silver's that I had out on loan to Carl and that he put many hours on took on their "new" characteristics when I re-installed them after their voyage. The cables are marked as to the direction of use, and the poor sound is not my imagination as I own two sets of the cables and this is my third round of hearing them break in. I had thought that they would straighten out with a few hours use, but this was not the case so I installed them in the second solid state system and have been running them 7/24. The break in does seem a bit faster though as the bass kicked in at around 80 hours of use (think it was at 125 or so before). I used to switch IC's a lot between HT Truthlinks and the HG's and could hear no difference in them when they were stored flat (or straight). When stored coiled (when I had just started switching back and forth and didn't think about it) they would pop back in a days play, so something else must happen to them during the shipping process. Oddly enough I recently received some output tubes (shipped to me) that made a crackling noise when first installed. The noise reduced somewhat when I cleaned them with antistatic wipes and alcohal and eventually went completely away after 24 hours or so (almost as if they carried some sort of static or other charge). It was a pain as I had to install "banger" speakers to carry the load and just flip the amp on for a second, at the start, to see if the noise was still there. The noise continued for half a day but only occured during start up at a certain point and lasted 5 seconds or less and then this gradually reduced to no noise after being ran through a few 30 minute cycles of on and then off. Never had this happen with any other tubes and really don't know what to think of it as they have sounded fine ever since. I have not noticed a continuity in break in sound between different components. My Castle speakers started out shrill, harsh and closed in when new, but turned into a very nice sound. My Reynaud Twins were just the opposite in that they started out smooth (too smooth) and muffled, they gained brightness, bass and detail with break in. My Musical Fidelity amp was similar to the Reynauds in that it sounded muffled and "tuby" in the beginning to gain much detail later and the HT Truthlinks were so gradual that there was never a breaking point that was noticable, they just got more involving in their sound. The silver wires though have gone through very abrupt changes, even in an afternoon of listening and go all over the map until they settle in. I do not obviously deny break in at all, but do find it to be a pain in the ass, even with new tubes.
