Mainline Burn In

[Tabaia]

I just Finished my Mainline build. Very happy with the sound, in fact much more than happy, Mainline sounds amazing.
Does anyone have any views on "burn in" ?
Does the sound improve or sweeten over time?
If so does anyone have an idea of how many hours is needed for it to reach its potential?

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Yes, you should find that things open up a bit after 50-100 hours.  You can leave music playing into the amp for a few days to speed things up.

 

[Tabaia]

Just my curiosity, which components change over time?

 

[Paul Joppa]

Tubes, capacitors, and signal-carrying transformers are thought to be the main ones.

There is good evidence for tubes, as the cathode "forms." It's a long, technical story, poorly understood by most people (including me!).

There is, as far as I know, no proven theory for capacitor burn-in, though there are several more-or-less plausible ones. Mostly it's a matter of observation - many people hear it (again, including me!).

Transformers and plate chokes seem to break in similarly to capacitors, perhaps due to the winding capacitance, though there are other effects like magnetization history.

 

[Tabaia]

Thank you Paul J.
Very insightful answer.