Burn In... the Age Old Question, Cables, Components, and Speakers


First, if I choose to burn in my new speaker cables playing only Pink Floyd or something like a Windham Hill Electronic collection, both on CD, will eventually my cables be best suited for those two types of sound? Not that they would not be good for other music, but would they be BEST for the Pink Floyd or Windham Hill sound?

Second, do components need to burn in too, like a new CD player, or even (don't laugh) an Amazon Echo Link?

Third, I'm mostly sure that speakers NEED to burn in because the last time I bought new ones (Focal Arias) I got home, hooked them up and could not wait for the amazing sound that I knew would spring forth, but alas, they sounded like a pair of White Van Speakers and my heart sank into my stomach. Then as I was getting everything set to return them, (about 3 hours later) I returned to the music room and to my amazement I was listening to the best pair of floor standers I have ever heard. Then over a few days time, they were even better. So I kept them, and they are just great. 

So... any comments anyone?
jcolespeedway
The problem with playing all Pink Floyd, one day you will be playing Rachmaninoff and in the background of the quietest passages you will hear, "matter of fact its all dark."

Second, do components need to burn in ?
Most components are very low maintenance and not needy at all. All mine are perfectly happy to just sit there not even being turned on, sometimes for days at a time.

Third, I’m mostly sure that speakers NEED to burn in because the last time I bought new ones (Focal Arias) I got home, hooked them up and could not wait for the amazing sound that I knew would spring forth, but alas, they sounded like a pair of White Van Speakers and my heart sank into my stomach. Then as I was getting everything set to return them, (about 3 hours later) I returned to the music room and to my amazement I was listening to the best pair of floor standers I have ever heard.

Which was the point all along, to let us know you are happy with your new speakers. Congratulations. But please play a mix of music or you will be forced to dump the best speakers you ever heard to get rid of the heartbeat in the background.

absolutely...
burn them in
have few sets burned in for different types of music...it will be odd and cumbersome to switch, but worth it
Only mechanical things (speakers and phono cartridges) need some use to reach their potential. Wires - NO!
You really need a separate system for each genre of music you listen to.  Burn-in within genre is OK.  Above all, beware Enya on endless repeat.
I agree with @roberjerman - speakers do need to break-in due to the mechanical operation of the drivers.  Electronics and wire, not so much except maybe a little time for capacitors.  Wire and other components should simply need to warm up to operating temperature.  This business of hearing momentous sonic changes for weeks on end as wire burns-in seems far-fetched to me. The thought that burning-in cables by playing a certain type of music will result in the cables being better suited to that type of music is beyond far-fetched.  But hey, give it a whirl and report back.

If you really want to burn-in your cables, get a Cable Cooker.  I own one and used it mostly when I constructed new cables.  I honestly cannot say I ever heard a difference but I purchased it because I didn't want the absence of burn-in to be a potential factor affecting my evaluation of  recently constructed cables when compared with my existing cables. 
So burn in doesn't matter with wire, there's no such thing, and so I bought a Cable Cooker.  

Yeah. I'd take his advice. 

Its nonsense like this that makes humor so darn hard around here. Try and crack an obvious joke, people take it seriously. Which is a real problem with humor, because you know when you have to explain the joke its just not funny any more. So sad. 

One of the many reasons burn-in is so misunderstood is there's so many crap products out there. Everyone who can be bothered to learn to listen (an admittedly minor number, but go with me here) knows if its good it will sound good right out of the box. If it doesn't, send it back. But all those same good listeners also know everything does indeed improve, and often times quite a lot, the first few hours and days. 

This means we have a situation where certain people can take advantage of you, if you are not a good listener, by telling you your turd is actually a diamond in the rough and just needs more time. So you wait and wait and people being what they are cognitive dissonance kicks in and you convince yourself its better. Hey. It happens. 

Fact of the matter is yes everything does burn in. Even no moving parts. Hardly matters if at all what is played through them. Just need to get some electrons and fields moving around. As for mechanical parts, takes less time to break in a speaker surround than the capacitors and wires in the box. 

Its sad we are even talking about this. Is this not the internet? Do we not have search bars? Do a search. Read. Figure it out. Learn. Get the joke next time. 
Oh, to be enlightened.....sorta glad I missed out.
As I said, give it a whirl and report back.
We really need a single thread where all the shaming and admonishment can be focused, thereby freeing up the rest of the board for friendlier exchanges.  
snif...snif,...hmm....what is burning?...how come the fire alarm did not go off?
When you find out that 100 hrs of Pink Floyd acclimated them best for only PF, simply reverse their direction and repeat another 100 hrs, and they'll be back to normal.
It’s break in. NOT BURN IN!

It’s like calling an ENGINE a motor.

In a "Motors manual" there is an ENGINE section.

I know, it is a Jet Motor, right.. That’s gas monkey garage talk..OK

BREAK IN..... You break in stuff, you don’t burn in stuff.
You BURN stuff up though. :-)

Regards
I'll try to give a serious response. From my experience, almost everything I have purchased changes at least a little after some operating time. Some things take much longer than others. My Denafrips Terminator DAC, for example, and the Nord Hypex amps I used to own, seemed to take a very long time (many hundreds of hours) before they sounded their best. Other products change very little. 

My personal theory is that it is primary dielectrics that are changing with use. Capacitors and dielectrics used for wires tend to have the biggest change.

Mechanical devices (such as speakers) also have some break-in, but this doesn't seem to take that long - maybe a few hours. But the capacitors and wires used in the speaker can take considerably longer to reach the point they are no longer changing.
And from now on it's BREAK IN, not burn in... Even though Steve Guttenburg has called it such, but I guess he's really no authority on the matter, either. :-)
I have the Audiodharma and this device takes my cables to a point I could never reach with normal practices. I was especially impressed with the burn in of the tonearm cable. I am a believer because I have heard the difference and it isnt subtle.
A lot of us would attest to the new "break in" of even old gear, but "breakthrough" is more like it. The addition of Total Contact and Omega and E+ mats continued to improve seasoned gear over many weeks. The TC on connections and the mats under and on components did not break in---the signal pathways and components rose to such previously unknown levels of performance by responding so dramatically to the field effects of the mats, "break in" or "burn in" doesn't come close to what has changed.  Most of us gave up trying to understand how---just try to accept that what you believe to be settled audio dogma is subject to revision.  "He who knows that he does not know, knows."  
Once again, for the benefit of the community: 

Audiophile Law: Thou Shalt Not Overemphasize Burn In" at Dagogo.com 


When i had MAGICO MINIs 2 they took 800hrs burn in then they sounded amazing.
Doesn't matter what you call it.     The process will happen, whether you can hear it, believe in it, can figure out how to measure it, like it,  or not.
I cant explain the scientific reasons behind the burn in on cables. 
I have listened a lot to new cables breaking in.
What usually happen is that first it sounds compressed with lack of deep bass, its also sounds more harsh in the top.
After playing them the bass will extend, the top will get more smooth, and the last things that happen is that the sound open up with a holographic soundstage.
Sometimes it can sound pretty good from the start and sometimes it sounds awful. Some cable gets better and better, and some goes through changes where they can sound good, and then worse to the point i thought something is wrong with the cable. Some cables takes extremely long time to break in, specially high-end interconnects and digital cables.
I have experience that break in took 3 days and some 2 months.
The changes are more profound then simply subjective opinions. Its very much real. If you are willing to go down the rabbit hole, and test as much as I have done you will discover this. I usually dont discuss cables on forums online due to abuse, but if you are interested in this topic I thought this could be of interest.