Value of burn/break in?

I dont think anybody has mentioned the acoustics of the room. Speaker placement and angle can only get you so far. The room needs to be tuned which involves using absorbion and diffusion.
If the speakers present a boomy or loose sounding low-end then bass traps are probably needed. Plugging a speaker port may help, but it will also affect the sonics, IOW you won’t get the full dynamics or best timbre from the speaker.
If the room is too lively, the issue of brightness may not stem from the speakers, but may be due to room reflections causing standing waves. This would be dealt with using absorbion panels in the key areas of reflection.

A setup disk can be very useful in determining speaker placement, but tuning the room will improve the overall sonics, improve clarity, and help reproduce the music as it was originally recorded.

I'm breaking in two new things...a Pangea wall plug and a new belt for my Linn table. The wall plug's most important job is to power a REL sub, which it did right off the bat with zero break-in. Amazing. The Linn belt also seems to accomplish the task of making the platter go around also with zero break-in, which makes me suspicious of both these items...were they used previously? Hmmm...

When I bought Cary Audio SLP 05 preamp, it sounded horrible out of the box. Billy Wright of Cary Audio told me to leave the preamp on with amps off and play something like a radio through the preamp continuously for 50-75 hours (Friday through Sunday). It made rather dramatic change which continued for next week or so with usual listening sessions. I don’t know if that will breakin the wires (interconnects might be but not speaker wire). 
Good listening!

I purchased an entry level tube pre 2 years ago , a Rogue RP-1. After two weeks I changed the 2 12AU7’s and after 4 or 5 pairs, settled on Telefunkens . Then I auditioned 3 different power cords that are under $125 ea . Both made a huge difference . But the greatest improvement was dumping the JJ tubes . I tried all NOS pairs and every single pair trounced the JJ’s . So what Pre do you have and what tubes did it come with ? You’ll be pleasantly surprised with the change . Also keep the other tubes that you buy while experimenting  for when you change components, cables or move your speakers . I’ve gone back and switched to adjust for system changes. Happy Listening , Mike.

I use Tubes and a CD spinner--about 1t/2 hours before serious sit down 

listening I run the Cardas Sweep/Tones/noise tracks on repeat at

moderate volume.

The system is ready for virtual instant Kharma after that with my

selection.

My technique anyway

T212