Break in period

"My ARC Ref 3 improved dramatically from 0 to 150 hrs, significantly up to 400 hrs, and subtly up to 550 HRS;"

While I don't have a REF 3... my LS-26 is tracking quite close to the REF in terms of sonic improvement.

I left it on continuously for the first 120 hours or so... then began powering it off at night. I do agree that power cycling components helps the break in process... at least in my experience.

Many thanks for taking the time and the effort to respond.I guess I am going to do nothing special apart from savoring some good/great single malt and let the CJs gradually overwhelm me. I began a complete revamp of my system in Sept 2006 with the CJs being the latest entrant(6 days old as of today).I guess there is a multiple break in underway,since the Cardas Gold Ref speaker cables are also barely 2 weeks old.
I confess the decision to plunge for the CJ gear was not based on actual listening/comparisons given the limited availability of brands in India. It was largely prompted by perceived compatability with the rest of my gear and the desire to build an all tube/ESL system. ie MF kw 25 DAC & transport,Quad ESL 2905s speakers. In a sense the system is largely based on the July 2006 Stereophile which had great reviews of all these components.
The system looks and sounds incredible and the prospect that the sonics can only improve is enough to keep me smiling!!
Many thanks and happy listening.

The bottom line is if you like sound out of box than you don't need to worry about break-in.

Sunnyboy1956

Great system! Enjoy the music and the single malt because in the end that is what it is all about.

Chuck

After reading this thread I am surprised that there are still those out there that adhere to the idea that break-in does not exist.

Some years back we looked into the phenomena to try to figure out what was going on. As a manufacturer I can tell you that we hear break-in all the time- the question was what was causing it. Here's what we found:

built up, one of our units has specific power supply voltages. After break-in (6 months), the unregulated power supplies will measure slightly higher. So something in the power supplies gets more efficient. The appearance is two-fold: filter caps seem to operate more efficiently, although they are 'formed' at the factory. However after break-in the current inrush at turn-on is lower! The other appearance is the transformers themselves, which have substantial lengths of copper wire in them- which has a measureable break-in: lower resistance.

Resistors do not appear to break-in.

Film caps do! -and their qualities in this regard vary according to dielectric and manufacturer. Oddly, we have seen a lot of comments about the V-Cap Teflon (probably the best coupling cap out there right now) breaking in, but we do not find that there is a break-in with it of any significance, which seems to be common with other Teflons we've used. What *does* seem to happen is that the installation of the part can disturb other elements and the part itself is so transparent that it reveals that easily.

Wire does seem to break-in. Copper in particular- silver does too but is much faster break-in, although they both ultimately arrive at the same place if the silver is pure and the copper is pure, and both are installed with correct attention to details of use specific to each.

In all cases, the results are measurable and audible, in this way confirming their reality and not some sort of myth.