Burn-in and Equipmemt Value

We need more tales of folks having TWO of something. So they can break in one. and save the other to compare first play vs broken in play.
Though this could easliy be tested with sets of cables..
If someone bought two identical sets.. Break in one. then have a gang over to compare broke in vs new.

But as long as the peanut gallery has an expected outcome placebo is nearly impossible to separate. I would prefer to swap them out without the owner knowing and then see if there was any notice or reaction.

Mceljo, I for one have zero issue with buying used gear -- period!!! In fact, I prefer it for the reasons you just mentioned.

Case in point: ARC says that most of its gear requires 600 hours of burn in. Who the heck wants to wait 600 hours!!! So when I bought my Ref 5 with 1000+ hours on it, I was quite happy. Ditto with my PH-8 (ARC refurb with 750+ hours) Ref 150 (pre-owned with 1050+ hours) and my Ref CD-8 (??).

I mentioned in another post that my CD-8 is about 5 years old now. ARC says that it's pretty maintenance free. Just use a camel hair photo lens brush to kick the dust off the lens in the transport.

I think a fair point is that good quality equipment like ARC (and many other fine brands) just doesn't age like cars did in the 50s and 60s -- 60,000 miles and you had one old car. :)

Hey, who ever heard that an I/C or speaker cable ever wore out???? ;-')

Audiophiles have more myths pertaining to audio. Then Greek mythology has legends and hero's.

Hi Mceljo

IMO when something is burned in it is being used and like cars as soon as a piece of audio equipment is used it goes down in price dramatically. That and you never know truly how babied or abused the gear was by the previous owner. I guess I never questioned it because it seemed like the law of the land.

You do pose some interesting questions though with your post.