How Long Did it Take to Burn In a new piece?

Teajay,
Equipment and or cable break in is dependant on the sorcing of the materials used in thier construction (but basiclly most are composed with high quality to start with). I have recently upgraded my system and even though the componets had been broken in (pre enjoyed componets) it took 40 or more listening hours for them to readjust to my enviroment (much to my releif) but I was very wary in the process. My ICs/speaker cables take more time UNLESS the manufactuer does some pre conditioning for you (Ex. Ridge Street Audio Poeima!! Sig ICs plus material are top quality). Prior as I have broken in ICs and Speaker cables I found that it took into the 100+ hours and then I began to hear the real bloom and enjoyment of what I had anticipated, and still they seem to just keep getting better. I can attest that I have the usual short patience wanting the bloom to appear and yes sometimes it just doesn't (been there too and started again from scratch). I would say new electronics need at least 50hrs of use before they start relaxing to show their true potential, Cables pre conditioned can be immediate and just get better, non conditioned minimum 50-100hrs to open and settle MHO. I've been mostly lucky with my choices, I hope that your pursuit is also as successful

VSA VR4jr speakers; took about 400-500 to fully break in. I put on some digital cable radio and closed the door to the a/v room for about a month.

My brother bought a bose system 6 years ago and is still waiting for it to break.................in

My Wadia 861 with GNSC's Statement modifications took about 500-600 hours to start sounding consistently good (after the mods). Kept improving through about 1200 hours, then seemed to settle in and now just gives me outstanding tunes.

I have found that speakers take the longest period of break-in time to sound their best. I cannot tell you how many times I have sold a pair of speakers off before they had the chance to settle in. It is because of this that probably the best buys on Audiogon are for speakers that are 3-6 months old. This gives the buyer the benefit of not having to suffer through the break in period with a discounted price to boot.

The speakers that I have had that took the longest to break in were various pairs of Vandersteen speakers. I had a pair of 3A Signatures that did not fully break in until after 6 months of daily play. Once they did the biggest difference from the previous six months was their ability to throw a deep and wide soundstage.