cable burn-in / system burn-in

I concur with what you've experienced Johnhelenjake. I just put my system together with speakers that had been shipped but were broken in and an amp that had been shipped for service, cables laying unconnected and dormant. No system up and running for over a month. Since I put the system together it has taken 10 days for the following:
1, the thinness and leanness to go away
2. the midbass and weight in the low bass to fill in (heft)
3. centerfill to come in to play

Johnhelenjake, Usblues implies that this could all simply be in "your mind," a sort of "psychoacoustic phenomenon." I'm here to testify that in all my systems I have witnessed "break in" and "settling-in" of cables, components and systems. One of the key areas that is palpable and cannot be dismissed as psychological or "one's ears breaking in" is in the bass and the way it can strengthen in your room. When I listen to the same discs that were previously anemic and lean at any volume become full and weighty with bass 10 days later, then I know the change I hear is very real. Going from weak bass to strong bass, and from lean and anemic sound to full and weighty is definitely missed when it's not there and easy to hear and feel when it is, especially when you know the discs and music so well. Whether the equipment or cables are settling in after moving things around or break-in/ burn-in with new gear, changes are occurring in the system that affect the sound coming out of your speakers.

Louis you lost me on this fade out thing. For me bottom line is that when I have a system that is taken down turned off, cables and equipment moved, then once the system is re-assembled it takes time for the system sound to come together and play to its potential. That just happened here. If I add new gear, break-in / burn-in (call it what you want) is needed. With equipment that does not need break in then the equipment and cables need to "settle in" before the sound comes together. For me I look at settling-in in the shorter term of time, break-in depending on the equipment involved can take hundreds of hours. The accompanying change in sound is very real and I use bass and its ability to go from lean and thin to pressurizing a room as a palpable example of one of the possible affects of settling in, break-in or burn-in. In my post above, I use bass pressure in a room as a "palpable" example. Bass pressurizing a room gets outside the realm of the more subjective perceptions audiophiles talk about like "imaging," and "soundstage depth."

Foster_9 wrote:

Louis you lost me on this fade out thing. For me bottom line is that when I have a system that is taken down turned off, cables and equipment moved, then once the system is re-assembled it takes time for the system sound to come together and play to its potential.

This is "settling in." This is not burn-in.
07-18-09: Lesslossliudasm

Louis, I never said this was "burn-in." In my post I differentiated between settling-in and break-in / burn-in. I know the difference.

Thanks Rodman.

Sherod, I like your style. Thanks for the post. Your experience of the effects of break in mirrors mine and I'm sure many others here.