As a math major, I agree...err...wait a minute, what's math got to do with it?

It may have more to do with Sun spots than burn in.. No pun intended..

Maybe you guys were sleeping in class the day they talked about capacitor "forming" and dielectric migration.
Just so you don't misunderstand my position, I don't follow the Mystic Audio Snake Oil Voodoo garbage out there but I also am not so closed minded as to dismiss what others purport to hear. Especially without experiencing the same event. That's just plain stubborn. And that's not how science advances. As engineers you should know that. When I find something that challenges my belief system I want to explore it further, not dismiss it out of hand simply because it doesn't fit the template.
Oh, and by the way, I agree that most of the differences one hears as a new component "burns in" is an adjustment period experienced by the listener. I think the listener gradually calibrates his/her expectations of what it should sound like and compensates accordingly. The ear/brain is an amazing thing.

Another engineer here

Speaker cables don't burn in either :p

Or it could be $ vs the brains ability to deny a bad purchase that makes it sound better. But whatever the case, it does.

All I know is my last (smaller) HT using the 1050 sounded better than any HT I have heard since, anywhere, period. It had something to do with the extrodinary luck I had selecting the peices that just folded together like silk and I miss it.

Sometimes you just have to enjoy the movie and not analyse the sound to death...

Well, as yet another EE, I'll weigh in.

I used to believe that was no such thing as burn in until a couple of weeks ago when I upgraded all of the capacitors and resistors in my main speaker crossovers.

I'm using Polk Audio SDA SRS's. The "SDA" stands for Stereo Dimensional Array which just means that they eliminate interaural crosstalk. Half of the drivers on the right speaker are driven from the left speaker (there is an interconnecting cable) and out of phase as to cancel what your right ear hears coming from the left speaker. Same deal with the left speaker. The purpose is to widen the soundstage and add depth (think headphone-like sound from your speakers). It works. Well, it did, until I upgraded the crossovers, after which the effect was noticably diminished. After about 10 hours of play, it started coming back. I attribute this to the capacitors in the crossovers burning in. I never would have expected it, but there it is.

I still don't believe in speaker or interconnect cables needing burn in, or solid state devices, but there's something going on with those capacitors...

Cary

To burn or not to burn. Well I must admit that I've never truly been in a position to need to burn in my audio quipment. Most of the audio gear I ever bought was either second hand or demo (my other passions are also very expensive). But to hear the many salespeople who pretend that it exists, to read the numerous commentators who talk of it with conviction, and to see the claims of wire peddlers about the gadgets they add to their interconnects or speaker cables in order to eliminate the need for burning in the cables, one may be excused for thinking it is a real phenomena.

Hey guys I got a great business idea. I will buy all the used 950's that will end up on Audiogon very soon and repackage them as pre-burned in equipment! The older the preamp, the more I will charge, like fine wine... Example: Here is our deluxe pre-burned in 950, it has been "burning in" for years and has just now reached its peak potential for sonic quality. It can be yours for a mere 3K! Of course you could buy a newfangled 990, but then you would have to wait quite a while before it sounded like our exquisitely aged 950's! I could start a whole new paradigm: Older audio equipment is worth more and is better than new!! Any takers???

You just gave me the weirdest mental picture, elikd: an "electronics cellar" with rack after rack of processors, amps, and DVD players all hooked up with fancy cables and powered up continuously so they age nicely. The shelves even tip slightly back to keep the electrons "soaking" the rear panel jacks. Would you like an '01 DVD-RP91? Ah, good year...

I never considered discrete capacitors as being included in the term "solid state"

There is certainly an effect of dielectric migration, etc, and some dielectrics used in capacitors are liquid and can "dry out" or burst.
Temperature also can have a large effect on how well a capactior performs.
The tolerance for such discrete components can also vary widely (which is a very real difference between high and low end products) I had a Professor who would replace every capacitor in his stereo gear with a high end,strict tolerance tantalum capacitors. It did make a huge difference.

However, most capacitors (with the exception of heat when the gear first warms up) will change pretty slowly.. I don't think a matter of weeks would do it, but that may depend pretty heavily on the particulat type of capacitors used...