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Do we break in our componets or do our componets ?

Do we break in our componets or do our componets break us in? I recently added a new addition on to my home. During this process I broke my system down and boxed it up for about 7 weeks. I had dedicated cryoed outlets installed w/ 10 ga romex. The first 10 days or so my sound was horrible with a capital H. I was very distraught to say the least. Over the last 3 days things have changed a lot for the better or so I believe. Have I become adjusted to this sound or did my componets and cables need to break in again? Or is it the breaking in of the new dedicated lines and cryoed outlets? What gives?
128x128hughes12
pbb
1,140 posts
 
Everything that is exaggerated is insignificant...
rsbeck
887 posts
 
Eldart -- well put.
mrowlands
54 posts
 
Actually, faith is required to believe that any component does not break-in, because changes caused by passing an electrical current / magnetic field through just about anything are indeed measurable. So the only question is whether anyone can hear it. Wouldn't it be something if we found out color blind people were actually percieving the correct colors, and the rest of us were just seeing things!
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Mrowlands...It is impossible to prove a negative. It's a darned good bet that the air in your listening room doesn't require breakin, but I can't prove that to your satisfaction, and if you want to believe that it does, be my guest.
redkiwi
1,092 posts
 
In my opinion it is about 90% component break-in and 10% you breaking in. The way I see it, if it was you being broken in then all your friend's audio systems would sound horrid and never appear to you to be breaking in, all systems at audio shows would sound horrid, as would all dealer demos. The other possibility is that all those that have experienced break in simply have horrid systems and the only reason they enjoy them at all is that they have broken in. While possible, I would have to dismiss that possibility having a reasonable likelihood. In essence, what I experience with a new component is not mirrored when I move from listening to my system to listening to an unfamiliar system. Therefore this convinces me that there is no weight to the theory that it is just us breaking in and not the equipment. Other experiences suggest there is reality to the view that we break in, but the effect seems much less dramatic to me than component break in.
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