How much does volume matter when breaking in amps and cables?

@mijostin  
millercarbon there is a huge difference between mechanical devices and electronic devices. Undoubtedly, electronic equipment drifts slowly overtime as some component values shift with recurrent heat cycles although I have never seen objective evidence of this. There is no electronic device that I know of that changes its characteristics in the first several hours of usage. Imagine what that would do to computers! Certainly tubes need to warm up and stabilize. Maybe class A or highly biased AB amps sound a little different after they heat up although having had several class A amps I have never been able to hear this and again have not seen any objective evidence of this. People come up with a bunch of fuzzy theories why electronics and wires need to break in. All of them conjecture, mythology. I can say that all the full range ESLs I have dealt with do require a period of loosening up. Their diaphragms are tightened up with a heat gun after they are mounted and they do relax over time. This only effects the very low end. Perhaps some dynamic woofers may improve with break in as you can imagine their spiders and surround loosening up a bit with use. But again I have never seen any objective evidence of this.

Thanks for the above. I make tube amps. I cycle and burn them in for 24 hours but only to catch the infant mortalities, which I do. If burnin of electronics was real why wasnt it "discovered" in the 1950's?

Break in explained! Not for the squeamish.

From Alan Kafton’s web site for his Cable Cooker,

Cable break-in occurs as current flows through the conductors of wiring components. Dielectric stress from voltage differences between conductors also contributes. It takes many hours of in-system use for wiring components to break in, primarily because audio/video signals from normal program material are so low-level.

Consider an interconnect from pre-amplifier to power amplifier. The maximum signal level for full power output of the average power amplifier is 2 volts peak, and the average signal is much less. Typical input impedance of a power amplifier is 10 kohms at the low end for consumer gear; 47 to 100 kohms is typical for a solid-state amplifier, while several hundred kohms impedance is not unusual for a tube power amplifier.

Taking the best-case values from the above, the maximum current seen is 2 Volts/10k ohms, or 200 micro-amperes. This would not be continuous current, because the voltage value is peak, not rms. One can calculate a "use value" from the above equation multiplied by the total time this current flows. Let's call that the Current Time Value (CTV).

Playing an interconnect cable in an audio system for one week (168 hours) of continuous use would expose it to the following CTV: 168 hours x 0.0002 amperes = CTV of 0.0336.

The CABLE COOKER produces signal levels far higher than those seen in normal audio/video system use. The Cooker's sweeping square wave oscillator drives a high-efficiency "H" bridge MOSFET switching circuit. The output signal is a square wave from below 100Hz to above 16 kHz, plus harmonics. Output voltage is 12 volts rms. The measured current flowing through the interconnect is 120 milli-amperes.

Installing an interconnect on the Cooker for one week results in a CTV of 168 hours x 0.12 Amperes = CTV of 20.16. This is a value 600 times greater than under the most ideal audio system conditions. The "stress" on the dielectric is also much higher due to the higher output voltage. Results with the Cooker are typically audible after less than a day.

The same signal also feeds the speaker cable binding posts. The load at the speaker cable inputs draws a continuous 1.88 amperes of current through the wire. With a potential of 12 volts, this is equivalent to a continuous signal level in excess of 22 watts rms. This continuous signal level played through loudspeakers in a home environment would be unbearably loud. Put simply, there is no way for conventional in-system playback burn-in to approach the intensity and efficiency of the Cooker.

Hasn't Alan Kafton been pretty well cooked by now. Does anyone really buy these things or believe his writings?

If you want to do the same thing for no cost take a 12-24 volt AC wall wart, cut off the plug and go to it on your cables. Its going to do the same thing.

Kosst_amojan

You seem to keep up with many of these post here on Audiogon and other sites and your telling me you have not read John Curl, Ralph Karsten ,Neilson Pass, Caelin Gabriel to name just a few top designers talk about break in. You seem to have selective reading so Im calling BS and yes they have test gear but they also know that doesn't tell them how it will sound. You also like arguing with other members who hear differences.

Just because it cant be quantified doesn't mean you cant here a difference.

Kosst you need to list your system so we know why you cant hear a DIFFERENCE.

ramtubes
I make tube amps. I cycle and burn them in for 24 hours but only to catch the infant mortalities, which I do. If burnin of electronics was real why wasnt it "discovered" in the 1950’s?

>>>>Oh, there’s the problem! Amp manufacturer. Problem solved! 🤗

If black holes were real why weren’t they discovered in the 1950’s?

If gravity waves were real why weren’t they discovered in the 1950’s?

Yeah, who needs David Hafler, Peter Walker, Sid Smith, Bill Johnson, Frank Van Alstine, Ralph Karsten, Tim deParavicini, Nelson Pass, Roger Modjeski, and all the other great designers and builders of hi-fi electronics? We have self-appointed amateur audiophile arbiters who REALLY understand music reproduction. and are not shy of proclaiming what is "true". Funny how some of them seldom mention what music they actually listen to. Many electronic designers are (or were if RIP) also often themselves musicians.