Is There a Breaking-in Period for an Amplifier?

[Verdinut]

Is there a breaking-in period for a new amplifier? Some manufacturers do believe so, notably Parasound.

If so, then how long would that period be? Classé say 72 hours of overall or continuous operation for a monoblock amp and around 300 hours for the CT-M300 stereo amp.

Could it just be our brain getting used to the sound after a while, a kind of placebo effect that also make many audiophiles believe in the breaking-in period for speaker cables for instance, which is totally absurd?

The only other possibility might be a certain period required for coupling capacitors to break-in.

Your comments and experiences are welcome.

 

[Irvrobinson]

Absolutely there is a break-in period for amplifiers. It is exactly how long it takes from the time you plug the amplifier into the AC outlet, until the time you turn on the power switch. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

 

[Speedskater]

Save for vacuum tube amps and amps that have been sitting on the shelf, break-in would be a matter of seconds.
However it might take a half hour of warm-up for the bias circuits to finalize. While I really doubt that you could hear this warm-up difference, you might be able to measure it.

 

[Bucknekked]

Is there a breaking-in period for a new amplifier? Some manufacturers do believe so, notably Parasound.

If so, then how long would that period be? Parasound say 75 hours of consecutive or continuous operation.

Could it just be our brain getting used to the sound after a while, a kind of placebo effect that also make many audiophiles believe in the breaking-in period for speaker cables for instance, which is totally absurd?

The only other possibility might be a certain period required for coupling capacitors to break-in.

Your comments and experiences are welcome.

break in or burn in periods are touted by many audio enthusiasts as the real deal. I believe those that give an audio review often refer to getting passed the burn in period where a system "really opens up" and they can then claim to hear all manner of mystical and magical sonic improvements. This serves not to demonstrate anything about the equipment, but, does give the reviewer an opportunity to show you how talented his golden ears are and his ability to write purple prose.

I'm just an audio hobbyist and music lover. I'm no expert on anything. I try really hard not to claim any ability to be an expert either. There are experts on the forum and available for us ordinary folks to quote however. Jim Salk, owner of Salk Sound and long time speaker manufacturer I think would qualify as a bona fide expert. He will tell you point blank there is no burn in or break in period for speakers. If there is any device in an audio system that would seem to require a break in it would be an electro mechanical device like a speaker. Jim says "no such thing".

I think you described the amplifier burn in pretty well : you keep listening to it and eventually it sounds great to you.

 

[MrBoat]

Any electronic device that could reveal an 'audible' difference in a matter of hours, or even days of use, would have a very short life. This would have to change the actual values of the components used, and this is not something you want to happen and it would be very difficult to limit this with a warrantable piece of equipment.

You would hope that the factory that manufactures these things would have given them a sufficient run-in to see if it would survive it's warranty period at the very least with revealing any possible weaknesses. So in that respect, yes, if it survives the first few days, weeks or months, you can feel lucky that you didn't end up with a lemon.

 

[lovinthehd]

Is there a link to the Parasound recommendation? Just looked at a coupla amp manuals and didn't see anything about the burn-in thing...

 

[Speedskater]

Parasound is a mix of good engineering, expensive over engineering and audiophile myths & misunderstandings.

 

[PENG]

Parasound is a mix of good engineering, expensive over engineering and audiophile myths & misunderstandings.

I would add one more, a little marketing strategy too perhaps...

 

[Hetfield]

Are we really picking on Parasound now? I guess everyone company on these forms gets picked on at times. What marketing do you really see from Parasound? I've never seen an ad in a magazine or online really.

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[PENG]

Are we really picking on Parasound now? I guess everyone company on these forms gets picked on at times. What marketing do you really see from Parasound? I've never seen an ad in a magazine or online really.

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I am a happy owner of my A21. I can't find anything about "breaking-in" or similar words in the manual. IMO. My point is, even if they did mention it somewhere in the past, website, manuals of other products etc., it wouldn't necessarily mean they were serious about it, unless it was stated by the design department. We should know that more often than not, engineers/designers don't have a lot of say in how to advertise (including what's on their company's websites).

 

[j_garcia]

No.

 

[lovinthehd]

Parasound is a mix of good engineering, expensive over engineering and audiophile myths & misunderstandings.

Great description. Had a girlfriend a long time ago who was one of their sales reps, remember she had a nice little integrated amp with some horrible crap department store 3-way speakers, guess she'd been sold on the electronics voodoo (I remember her telling me Parasound was so much better than my gear at the time, which it wasn't, lol). She was good looking so I'll add marketing to the list....

 

[Verdinut]

My mistake friends!

I was sure I had seen a High-End manufacturer printing a reference to a break-in period for their amplifiers in the owner's manuals.

The company is not Parasound but CLASSÉ -They go as far as 300 hours of breaking-in period for at least one of their products.

See: https://classeaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CA_CT-M300_ENG_1.5.pdf -Page 8

Sorry for the initial misinformation.
Cheers,

 

[Hetfield]

For what Classe charges that thing should sound like heaven out of the box.

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[lovinthehd]

Not very classy of classe

 

[Bucknekked]

My mistake friends!

I was sure I had seen a High-End manufacturer printing a reference to a break-in period for their amplifiers in the owner's manuals.

The company is not Parasound but CLASSÉ -They go as far as 300 hours of breaking-in period for at least one of their products.

See: https://classeaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CA_CT-M300_ENG_1.5.pdf -Page 8

Sorry for the initial misinformation.
Cheers,

Its one way of delaying a return for crappy sound by 300 hours. A very classe move.

 

[Verdinut]

https://classeaudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CA_CT-M300_ENG_1.5.pdf

Not very classy of classe

For the prices they're asking for their equipment, they should have a procedure to break-in the caps before installing them in the products. Then, they could charge more for the additional work and make more profit with their BS.

 

[MrBoat]

They are probably just stating it so people actually listen to the thing critically and enjoy it and let it actually sink in that; "Hey, this all sounds great and I got what I paid for." These companies probably well know that the break-in is at the user end. But god help the company that dares to tell us that, for we are all experts these days.

 

[TeDe]

I hawe seen this discussions - its obvious there is a break in periode. Study thermodynamics? Now i learned that many substrances like metals expands while heated , and contracts coldening- and then gets different in size... So course impossible too see- but point is: it changes physicaly MEASURABLY a little components, this is small but is it audible - yes i think it is. Thoose who say "nothing measureble physicaly changes" are are simply wrong - metal changes by warm up and scrinkinage as i beleave!

 

[highfigh]

Electronic devices do perform differently if the temperature changes, but the question is "What range of extremes are we talking about and what is the acceptable temperature tolerance of hte devices and circuits?". Thermal failures are easy to replicate- either cool it drastically, or make it hotter- the problem will come and go, depending on which extreme causes it. Can we hear the difference if the ambient temperature is normal? I doubt it. Can the difference be heard if the circuits and devices experience wide temperature fluctuations? Maybe, but it would probably require some kind of design flaw.

Any changes in performance that may occur between the temperature extremes must be deemed 'acceptable' or 'unacceptable' by whomever designs, builds or sells it but even going from the quiescent state to the 'balls out' state will show differences. Again- whether it can be heard is up to the design.

On some quantum level, it's possible some kind of variances will occur- this is one thing that's constant- changes are inevitable.

I know someone who thought his Mark Levinson amps warmed up much faster with the new power cords- cut the time from about two hours to around 20 minutes. I told him that was a load of crap and he said "It's experiential".

Guess who he called to connect the house they just bought.