Break In Question?

Clarification: Paul McGowan was not an editor, but I communicated with him and he graciously consented to my unusual review equipment request. The unusual system configuration appears in the book.

My experiences over the years with poly capacitors in speaker crossovers, then later on in phono stages, preamps, and amps has been that they do indeed go through a significant change from the moment they’re installed to having several hours of playing time on them.   It seems logical to me that any new electronics that contain capacitors have a very good chance of going through similar burn in period.  

Ugh, here I am spending inordinate time on a thread... At some point I will tear myself away from it and get to other writing. I am working on a review of a speaker at AXPONA that was quite popular. It is an interesting exploration of the speaker. 

Knotscott, thank you for the cogent reply. Yes, I think anyone who has been in the hobby or industry for a while knows about the measurable changes to capacitors. The pertinent question; is the change to capacitors audible? 

There is only one problem with the capacitor argument, when you take two identical components containing capacitors, run one in for x hours to "break in" the component, and compare it as close to real time as possible, as I did, they sound identical. 

In other words, in my testing, using a capacitor in a component for a period of time does nothing to change its performance in a component. The capacitor burn in argument is one of the most common and most used explanations for why people believe they hear a component break in. There is only one problem, and that is when two identical products are placed side by side and compared, the broken in one sounds precisely the same as the new one. 

If people were logical about this, they would admit that their perceptions could be wrong. People are not logical, but self-confident, thinking their ears are more stable, more reliable than a piece of electronics. I used to think so, too. But it dawned on me that it would be pretty bad if a piece of kit could change its sound that much, why trust it at all? And is it likely that my perceptions over the longer term are more precise than a piece of electronics? Not likely! So, I tested it. 

Then, just to be sure, to prove that it wasn't a fluke and that I am not bound by preconceptions, I want back and reran the testing, this time with 8 stacked variables. Same result. So now I absolutely pay no attention to the phenomenon of break in. I still have the experience, but I know better than to think the gear is changing. I do not use break in at all in advancing systems, because it actually hinders the process. 

knotscott, yo0u are welcome to do the same. You can take two components, break in one and not the other. Then compare. I suspect you will be surprised to find they sound identical. Ergo, even though measurable, capacitors with use do not change audibly. 

Now, if someone wants to rail against that discussion by stating, "I know break in is real because I had x product and I could hear it change over x period of time," sorry, I'm not impressed! You're fooling yourself!  :)

Anyone who is willing to admit they could be wrong is on the right path to making their system, and their listening experiences, much better.  

Funny about the nicotine as I went to dental school in Richmond Virginia rjr tobacco was there did studies on the patch. Science can have a bias as pharmaceutical companies hire scientists to produce bias research to get the outcome they want. I have studied immunology for decades.when a person is exposed to a disease they developed an immune response to that disease. Scientific literature  was suppressed and manipulated for certain results by people who said they were science .  Follow the money. As a surgeon the is the art and science of medicine. In audio the art is listening and each brain processes differently in each body as with art some like one pic and others don't. Then there is the science of music. Try you own experiences for yourself it's half the fun. Enjoy life stay healthy  and most of all enjoy the music..

Doug,

Your motivations mean nothing, your reasons for penning the book mean nothing, nothing matters but your shameless violation of forum rules and your inability to apologize. And most of the other members arent calling you out and Audiogon is not shutting you down. I am sure I am overreacting but geez somebody has to say something.