burn in - how important?


Over the years following Agon forums I have read many postings about burn in and been fairly sceptical, as many items I have bought over the years have changed SQ very little or at all, after years of use. Recently I replaced my Rogue Stereo 90 with a used EAR 534 power amp. Out of the box it looked brand new, all nice and shiny. I plugged it into my also fairly recently acquired Aesthetix preamp and was horrified by the thin sound, little or no soundstage and was relieved I hadn't yet sold the Rogue. Now I knew why it had been up for sale or did I. Maybe I was too lazy to plug in the Rogue again but I left the EAR in place and after about 30 hours I noticed a difference, more depth, wider soundstage, Now after about 100 hours - WOW huge soundstage, both depth and width. great tight bass, shimmering highs. Now I know why Tim De Paravicini was regarded as a genius and sorry for the seller who probably had not given the unit a chance to burn in properly. I decided to biwire it into my ML Vantage speakers and cut out the second Acurus a250 amp which I was using in biamped format. There was hardly any difference, maybe quieter and more detailed overall. Who would have thought an EL 34 based 55wpm channel Class A amp could drive a pair of electrostatic hybrid speakers rated at 4ohms. OK no longer a sceptic about burn in but a firm believer. What has been your experience?

128x128mazian

I'm not an owner of any of the high end gear you folks own.  But I certainly have noticed a difference in my vintage equipment now that it has settled in and if I leave it on for a few hours before listening....huge difference.  And I think my '86 Monster speaker cables have burned in fairly well.  Happy listening!

Not burn-in but warm-up. In reply to an email, Nelson Pass said his First Watt F8 reaches thermal equilibrium after an hour. He also said you can leave it on all the time if the waste of electricity is not a problem for you.

 

Buying a new amp class d sounded weird

but post 100 hours it was unreal

 

just had same experience with a new Class A

that sweetened up post some “ on time “

 

 

 

Had some expensive speaker cable that sounded great but I replaced it with a much more flexible cable

the new stuff was up for 10 then removed 

and I was a denier!

 

 

 

I leave my oppo BDP 205 disc player powered on all the time.

it was modded by Modwright with dual tubes in the audio output stage and has a single tube in the added power supply, which I do not leave on.

Does not leaving the power supply on continuously have that much of a negative effect on the SQ?