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In Reply to: RE: Why Do You Believe Audio Equipment "Sounds Better" After It's Warmed Up? posted by thetubeguy1954 on May 02, 2008 at 08:38:31
you may be getting break in confused with warm up. In a sense both may be related, but I consider the term break in as being associated with long term changes.
In terms of capacitors, particularly large electrolytics, the cap needs to be literally warmed up in order for the electrolytic wetting fluids to permeate all through out the wrapped material, perhaps one reason why people like film types which have no fluid better. The longer the cap has being sitting the greater chances of a slow but inevitable evaporation of the fluid and the warm up or forming takes a significantly longer time for the fluid to distribute itself.
Still, application of working voltage causes the cap windings to often shift a bit. I have some custom caps which sound great, but I have to be sure to leave it on for at least 10 minutes before initial use because I can literally hear popping noises from the cap as the voltages either burn through or shift the layers. The fact that many makers, particularly the Japanese custom ones encapsulate their film caps also indicates their thoughts on the nature of this particular issue.
Dampening the large electrolytic cans with an O-ring or even better, the 3M tube rings yields a noticeably changed sound: smoother and with cleaner presentation, further indication that the film windings are probably moving a bit as AC goes through them.
As for transformers and coils I am believing that the process may be due to a annealing. Copper, like many metals anneals through heat, and in the case of copper, there is a small 4% change in conductivity. In the miles of wire used in inductors, such a change will be audible as the crystalline borders of the metal itself changes slightly as things heat up.
A speaker designer I know mentioned this as a primary cause for speaker break in, after noting that simply playing a speaker at low levels does little to for the perceived break in process. In his experience, (and mine) you have to have cycles of playing the speaker loud in order to accelerate the break in, and he believed that the heat was an essential part of that process.
As in many things in life, YMMV.
Stu
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