[SteveFord]

I really don't know where the appropriate place is to post this so I guess it'll go here.
I've been lucky enough to be present three times when a new component breaks in and goes from kind of underwhelming to WOW!
It happened two times on the upstairs system (an Ortofon 2M cartridge and then the 1.7 speakers).   I could hear the speakers getting better but then all of a sudden they just totally opened up.  It was funny how it did it as the soundstage got much taller over the course of about an hour right before they finished breaking in.
The cartridge was just dead as can be and I was thinking how I'll never have to worry about replacing it as it will never get worn out because it sounds so crappy so I'll seldom use the turntable when suddenly it just changed and it was back to vinyl for me.

That's the upstairs system and once those two things happened I've been happy with it.

I've always been unhappy with the downstairs system as I could just never get it to sound as good as the upstairs does.
I've always been really interested in preamps and feel that they're the heart of the system. 
So there I sit, blaming the preamp for being such a blah and lifeless underachiever; the deHavilland does just about everything right except for dynamics.  Flat, blah and lifeless, kind of like Jewel's hair, what's a mother to do?  Nice soundstage, good overall tonal balance but I'm listening to some early Brian Eno, not Perry Como.  Robert Fripp's guitar solo on "Baby's On Fire" should be ripping out of the speakers but it's not.
So there I sit, thinking that maybe it's time to go demo a few preamps and see what's out there nowadays when suddenly the sound of the album I'm playing changes dramatically.  It's like somebody took the volume knob and cranked it up a few notches and the soundstage and yes, the dynamics, improve dramatically.
I was afraid to look as I've also heard that happen when a power tube goes Chernobyl but nope, no tubes having a melt down.
The Ortofon 2M cartridge finished breaking in while I was lucky enough to be sitting there listening and it did it in a real hurry.
The magic hit.

Has anyone else been lucky enough to be there when it happens like that?

[Maritan]

Or you're high on your post-surgery pain meds? 

Nah, I haven't been lucky enough for that to happen yet. But, maybe my ears aren't good enough to hear that anyway?

How many hours do you reckon you put on the UV3 when you heard it transform today?

[SteveFord]

Pain killers can't hurt matters any.  I might start my own radio talk show.  I don't know much about politics so I think I'll make that my main focus.  Hey, it worked for Rush Limbaugh.
I'll check out the other sources tomorrow but I'm pretty sure it was the Ortofon finally hitting the 50 hour mark, not the preamp doing anything different.  The sound was being held back by a new cartridge.
I did ask the importer about cartridge break in a few years back and he suggested leaving the cartridge on an album with the turntable off to help loosen up the suspension when it's not in use but I never tried it.  Instead, I slogged through 100 cruddy sounding albums!
No golden ears required for that one, the change was pretty dramatic.

[SteveFord]

The wife went out so I had a chance to give a listen and it was the cartridge finishing the break in as everything else sounds the same.
I did swap out a few tubes recently but that wasn't it.  This is what's in there and it worked out well:

[jsm71]

I've had two such experiences.  The first was when I had Maggie 1.7s.  They were at about the 6 month timeframe and I had recently switched to a Sanders Magtech.  I was running some volume and I swear I could actually hear the bass extend deeper and with more weight than before.  It was like that last bit of stretch that it needed to do.  They never got any more after that, but I heard the change.

The second was a few months ago.  I had added a gently used Lyra Delos along with a new Bob's SUT to my analog front end at the beginning of the year.  The Delos was broken in when I got it, but the transformers on the SUT took some time.  On one listening session as everything got to warm up (all tubes) I experienced a clear increase in transparency that wasn't there on the last listening session.  I believe the SUT took a few months for the transformers to finish their break in.  It's very cool when the system clicks in.

[audio.bill]

Some cartridges seem to require some warm-up time each playback session. This is different than their initial break-in, but each time you listen with some carts it takes a side or two for the suspension to 'loosen up' and the sound then opens up. Initial playback can seem somewhat restricted or dynamically pinched until this happens. I have a buddy with a high end Benz cartridge that is particularly prone to this issue, but once it loosens up it sounds great.

[SteveFord]

audio bill,
Do you recall if the rest of his system changed sound as well?
I ask because sometimes it simply takes that long for a stereo to sound good.
Both David and Eve Anna Manley said not to do any serious listening for 45 minutes and I've found that to be true with my stereos.
I just put on a CD and walk away and do something else.

On a semi-related note, I've also found that equipment which has been allowed to sit for a considerable amount of time can require quite a bit of use to sound normal again.  My Stax Sigmas and Hafler XL-280 both sounded dull and "off" for a good 20 hours and then suddenly they popped back to life which was a pleasant (and unexpected) surprise.

[audio.bill]

Steve - I really appreciate your perspective on this, but in his system it is the cartridge that "warms up" after a side or two. He has an all tube system, but even after allowing it to warm up for over an hour by playing his digital source it takes time for the analog to warm up. He's had the table and phono stage with other cartridges and didn't experience this, so we are sure it's the cartridge. Before it has adequate spinning time he best describes the sound as being "constipated".

[I.Greyhound Fan]

I have had this happen a few times.  First was when I put 8 new tubes in my BAT preamp.  It sounded awful the first 20 hours and then bam, sonic bliss.  It happened when I inserted a pair of Sparko Op amps in my AVA DAC.  They sounded terrible for the first 30 hours and then one day I turned it on and my jaw dropped,  it sounded like some one else's system with great detail and dynamics.

My Nagaoka MP-200 cartridge also completely changed at about 20 hours of play.  It sounded dull and flat and then morphed into this warmer, musical and lush sounding cartridge.

I have also replaced all the oil caps in my BAT preamp with new original oil caps and they are still breaking in after about 80 hours of play.

[SteveFord]

Nothing I hate more than a constipated cartridge!
Well, maybe two constipated cartridges...

It's funny how audio stuff works. 
On another forum a bunch of bored guys were going on about how capacitors couldn't possibly need a break in and the whole notion was just ridiculous and anyone who said so was an idiot, etc. so I sent them an interview from the guys at Conrad-Johnson who said just the opposite and then they changed the subject.