[Housteau]

I have tended to favor buying used components because they are fully broken in and can be fully enjoyed immediately.  I recently had Klaus remake my older Stratos Extreme SE monos into the current no-holes-barred state of his current amplifier art. Everything is basically new and now I have quite a long break-in period to go through.  I have a multi-amped system and so I am able to keep the new Odyssey amps on bass duty until they are ready for prime time. 

I keep them powered up 24/7, weather permitting.  When listening to music I keep them on bass duty, but when not listening I run full range music through them at low volumes continuously, once again 24/7.  I would guess that as of now they have around 500 hrs running on music and even more with just being powered up.  I have heard them go through several stages of improvement already, but they are still far from being close to being ready.  As of now one amp has a noticeable glare with the higher frequencies and the other one, less so.  I am hoping that somewhere between 1000 and 2000 hrs running on music that things should snap into place and become fully listenable?  What say you?  What have your experiences been?

[justjed]

I say, anyone that doesn't believe in break-in should purchase a new Odyssey amp! My Khartago SE Extreme took a couple of months before it completely stabilized. I expected it, so I never had to call Klaus and ask if it was supposed to sound like that. I also leave it powered up 24/7. It's been in the system for a little more than a year now, and it's not going anywhere. To say it was worth it is a serious understatement!

[rollo]

I say, anyone that doesn't believe in break-in should purchase a new Odyssey amp! My Khartago SE Extreme took a couple of months before it completely stabilized. I expected it, so I never had to call Klaus and ask if it was supposed to sound like that. I also leave it powered up 24/7. It's been in the system for a little more than a year now, and it's not going anywhere. To say it was worth it is a serious understatement!

 Could not agree more about run in. May I suggest after so long being on to demag the system. Esoteric, Ayre,discs work wonders. Have fun.


charles

[toocool4]

Equipment break-in is a real thing, and you can hear sound change over time. My kit is left on all the time, I have been in this flat for over 4 years now and the kit has been on all that time.

Even though the sound does change over time, I would also say it does not move too far from the position it started from. We have all heard the saying, “an apple does not fall far from the tree”. If you don’t like the sound of something out of the box and expect a radical transformation at the end of a break-in period, well you are in for a shock.

If you don’t like how your kits sounds after 500 hours ish of use, I don’t think you will like them in the end. 500 hours is plenty of time for thinks to bed-in and settle down.

[Digi-G]

I definitely experienced the break-in sound with my Stratos.  It was not subtle, but I can also say that it didn't take 500 hours.  In my case the biggest change was over several days.  Over the next few weeks it settled in and the sound became a bit... 'sweeter'.  I can't say I heard any changes after that, on my system.  I won't say it was listenable right out of the box, but it was very listenable after 10-14 days or so.

If you're approaching 1000 hours and you think it still doesn't sound right... I guess I'd be tempted to call Klaus.  Maybe there's a bias issue or something unique about your setup.  I think you should be happy and enjoying your amps by now.