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AUDIO FORUMS >> General Discussion and Support >> UFO Tranny's Breakin
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Message started by jcmusic on 02/14/21 at 17:18:44

Title: UFO Tranny's Breakin
Post by jcmusic on 02/14/21 at 17:18:44

So I got my CKC amp upgraded with the UFO Tranny's about how long is a reasonable break in period?

Title: Re: UFO Tranny's Breakin
Post by piezoman on 02/19/21 at 18:04:10

something in the back of my head tells me that somewhere posted on this forum [though i can't find it] that it takes about 1,000 hrs. until the transformer is fully burned in.

maybe someone will chime in here to either correct me or confirm.

Title: Re: UFO Tranny's Breakin
Post by Lin on 02/19/21 at 19:22:05

32 years
I bought a tube amp in '88 and it finally settled in last year.

Edit: sorry I got this mixed up with another thread about the LA Dodgers. ;)

Title: Re: UFO Tranny's Breakin
Post by piezoman on 02/19/21 at 20:49:02

LOL

Title: Re: UFO Tranny's Breakin
Post by CAJames on 02/19/21 at 21:33:07

Title: Re: UFO Tranny's Breakin
Post by will on 02/20/21 at 00:01:18

Hey jcmusic,

This is clearly an unusual question, a fairly rare occurrence to be burning in a transformer only. In most cases I have noticed on this forum, folks are taking about burnin impressions for the whole amp, including lots of parts and wires.

I wonder if this is what Piezoman is remembering.

I have seen and experienced the 1000 hour estimation as the relative area where an amp can go through a small refinement shift after having felt pretty fully burnt in for quite a while. And after ±1000, no more noticeable shifts, but continued refinement. I imagine it is possible that some shift in the transformers could contribute to this but don't know.

As I recall with my Toriis, ±300 hours seems to get the amps close to, or into, a relatively consistent sound quality. After that you might still hear some minor ups and downs in SQ, but the more obvious ups and downs experienced earlier are more-or-less sorted out. Then there seems to be a steady improvement period up to about 600 hours, more and more stable with subtle but progressive increases in complexity and ease.

If I am remembering correctly, after ±600, I no longer thought I noticed discernible up/down shifts in SQ. I suspect this is when many caps are likely pretty complete, but some, like V-cap teflon reportedly can continue longer.

Then, for me, at ±1000, a more general and pretty subtle, but discernible shift in deeper refinement seemed to occur. I have heard others report likewise...and this to me was not a major deal, just interesting. How much of this is the transformers, I can't say.

It seems caps are the biggest players all along for the notable ups and downs. And sonic improvements from wires, resistors, connectors, pots, etc refining steadily with use....these are more progressive changes. I am guessing they are mostly sorted by 300-350 as well. Transformers seem like they might fit more with this group to me, with progressive improvement, but perhaps taking longer to be fully complete, being a lot more to burnin.

That said, in my experience, Decware amps sound really good from the start, and especially after the first ±300 hours, relatively stable, with steady refinement after that.

Sorry not to be able to answer your question more specifically, but hope this helps.

Title: Re: UFO Tranny's Breakin
Post by piezoman on 02/20/21 at 01:27:35

I think Will explained it beautifully, and I'd take it to the bank.

Title: Re: UFO Tranny's Breakin
Post by jcmusic on 02/20/21 at 11:51:20

Well thanks guys that is good enough for me, I did speak with Steve a few days ago on this. He said basically they are ready to go from the beginning
but, they do get better with time. He mentioned that amps coming back in for a service with lots of hours on them sound sweeter than the ones with less hours. So I am thinking they will just get better and better with time!!!

Title: Re: UFO Tranny's Breakin
Post by Steve Deckert on 02/22/21 at 03:48:46

To expand on this a bit, specifically amplifiers that have come in for upgrades that were in the neighborhood
of 10 years old or more, had a liquidity that I rarely get to hear since most of what I listen to is only a year or two old most of the time. It always catches me off guard. I think, damn, this stuff is even better than I thought! Now we all know it doesn't take a capacitor 10 years to break-in so I have always attributed the effect to the output transformer seasoning over the many years which makes perfect sense from a technical perspective.

Steve