So you’ve just snuck some new hi-fi kit into your house and have wired it up to your system (being careful to hide the empty cardboard boxes of course). You’ve lined up your favourite album of 2024 (also a covert household purchase) and are ready and eager to listen to how much better it now sounds compared to yesterday and congratulate yourself on your latest (secret) purchase. But between set-up and performance scrutiny is a process that will undoubtedly irk the impatient but could prevent confusion if the kit doesn’t sound as you remember it from the demo room, or as you've read about in the reviews. Yep, we’re talking about ‘running-in’.
You’re probably familiar with the phrase (also referred to as ‘breaking-in’ or ‘burning-in’), if not in relation to hi-fi than perhaps a car, and it essentially refers to an initial period of use whereby the moving parts begin to work and stabilise in their forever environment, during which a last little bit of shifting could occur.
