Phono pre "Break-In" process? Necessary?

150 to 250 hours  for break-in is patently ridiculous…turn it on and let it warm up for a few minutes and just enjoy the thing without worrying about it…if it seems to get a little better sounding over time it could simply be due to your getting used to it, or a gift from the mysterious electron gods...but the mythology of unquantifiable extreme break in time (on for 24 hours a day 7 days straight? man….) for components is a silly concept promoted by those who are wound a little too tight. Components sound a little different from day to day anyway…earwax buildup, humidity, local electric grid fluctuations…mood swings... 

To clarify for the over-thinkers, things often sound better after a while, as well they should…but well made audio gear should work pretty great right off the proverbial bat or I’m not interested. On the other hand, I think we need an "un burn-in" device to restore items that sound worse after burn-in in case the fresh component sounded better when brand new. Ridiculous, but I think this concept will seem like a better idea if you let it burn-in…re-visit this post after at least 150 hours...

OK…what about "burn out" time? and "burn up" time…Berne Switzerland?…I need more of the tightly wrapped to comment on these things…come on now…I know you got somethin'…

r_f…I do welcome the humorless as, after all, they are people too. I am astonished when an obviously ridiculous comment meant to break up the tedium around here results in officious "suggestions." My experience as an audio geek goes back to the 60s, I've been a successful musician for 5 decades or so, and mix live jazz concerts (and other stuff) regularly. Even based on what I've posted here you're response makes even less sense than my posts which often purposely contain nonesense designed to poke at the tedious gasbags who populate this place…welcome! 

r_f_…The simple answer is no, my background means nothing really, and if you've been here 2 decades it's surprising you've been unaware of how ridiculous my posts have consistently been.  That is actually sobering. Has all of my ridiculousness been wasted? *sniff*…in keeping with this this philosophy, I do feel that helping those without sophistication gained from experience with this hobby can often lead them to further study arcane aspects of sound reproduction, and lead to posts filled with useless nonsense. Like this one. Note that the distortion in my post is below the noise floor, but clearly still there….thankfully unmeasurable.

The "same as live" concept is irrelevant, except you can shoot for timbre and room feeling I suppose (I’ve mixed and recorded hundreds of live concerts from Richie Havens to the Baltimore Consort), and "black backgrounds" exist in a vacuum only. We really have to ban the "black background" term…really…perhaps the most overused and patently useless audio bullshit term since it appeared a few years ago. Maybe "noiseless" is OK…still…the world has ambient sound in it, and "hearing a venue" sort of makes my point. It does. Trust me (!). Is an image stable when you move your head? No, it’s not, but again…live images as a reference are often vague unless you’re sitting on the stage with the musicians (I argue this point often). Good hifi lets the results of the recording engineer’s panning (and mic placement) or lack of same shine through…I get it (and, I do it). I also think great music makes any decent system "disappear," and I have piles of actual acoustic instruments I can play that are within several feet of my "listening" audio rig (and surrounding my home recording rig) and I know what they sound like…I can make un-miked live natural wooden acoustic instruments distort in your face (uh…is that a capacitor or your MAMA), and they come from a "black background" only in somebody’s imagination.

Oy.

Roger_paul...There's a smell of paternal condescension in your posts that some may find annoying, including myself. So...my balanced pre-amp to tube power amp system sounds fabulous with rock solid imaging, clarity, punch and tonal accuracy. Lucky me! I only mentioned my current and past live sound gigs to make a point about live music…I hear a lot of it. Describing issues my (and others who lack your alleged remedy) system must have is silly, as you haven't heard my system. Last night I was listening to a really sweet 1964 LP of Benjamin Britton conducting some of his and Hayden's music, and I could hear every damn musician with no "blurring" or what you describe as the "grey" background, so your assumptions are simply irrelevant regardless of the florid terminology you feel compelled to add to your diatribe. Rabid self promotion with sketchy theories that conveniently only you are privy to make you seem more than a little insecure.

I wonder how designers of well regarded "active" speakers deal with the vibration issues with an amp in the same space (essentially, although there could be some damping of something) as the drivers. Sort of kicks that bit of mythology out the door.