ohbythebay
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So you just spent $59, $300, $900, $2000 on a new cartridge. The price does not matter. All cartridges regardless of price require what is known as break in. The amount of hours for break in varies but lets just say a median average is 50-60 hours.
But what is cartridge break in? it is really two things. One more so than the other though people often get them mixed up as to which occurs faster. They are:
Suspension break in
Diamond stylus break in
The first is really the more relevant of the two because the wear of the diamond is a much slower process with a life of between 1000 - 2000 hours. 50 hours would only net 2% to 5% wear and should be (if properly setup) fairly uniform. It matters as it tends to soften the oft times overly bright initial sound.
What really matters initially though is suspension. From the factory or builders, suspensions are stiff. As they should be ensuring solid long life. That does however; present issues in track ability and initial sound reproduction as even the slightest vibration is like a large speed bump. Picture a BRAND new set of heavy duty shocks vs ones that have had a chance to break in. The ride smooths out and so does the cart tracking.
Many people set their VTF to the very high side for the initial break in period to accelerate the process and allow a bit of OVER push on the suspension. I don't adhere to the over push but I do tend to set my VTF toward the high end of factory spec for the simple reason that is where the engineers designed it to be. It is a fallacy that lighter is better.
My Clearaudio Concept MC cart just recently completed (I think) its break in period. It has about 50+ hours on it and the transition is amazing. Initially, it sounded great right out of the box. But being a picky picky, certain notes in the highs seemed too bright on occasion...the bass a bit too deep. Nothing that would make me dislike the cart but I would say it was 96% there...
well, all of a sudden, I just seemed to notice that the sound seemed...Perfect. Nothing sounded off, at any point and albums I had listened to during INITIAL play sounded better, fuller, balanced at all ranges...and it dawned on me...ahhh..I have reached break in.
The moral of this though is that if it sounds pretty damn good initially, it is going to sound incredible when properly broken in. If it is NOT pleasing initially, it may get better, but be warned, it will only go so far. I have rarely heard a cartridge sound bright or fatiguing initially go to awesome - with the except of an AT440MLa MM cart. Pretty surprising. I had a Sumiko that I did not like out of the box and no, did not like it broken in.
Please note, mileage may vary depending on your driving...LOL
But what is cartridge break in? it is really two things. One more so than the other though people often get them mixed up as to which occurs faster. They are:
Suspension break in
Diamond stylus break in
The first is really the more relevant of the two because the wear of the diamond is a much slower process with a life of between 1000 - 2000 hours. 50 hours would only net 2% to 5% wear and should be (if properly setup) fairly uniform. It matters as it tends to soften the oft times overly bright initial sound.
What really matters initially though is suspension. From the factory or builders, suspensions are stiff. As they should be ensuring solid long life. That does however; present issues in track ability and initial sound reproduction as even the slightest vibration is like a large speed bump. Picture a BRAND new set of heavy duty shocks vs ones that have had a chance to break in. The ride smooths out and so does the cart tracking.
Many people set their VTF to the very high side for the initial break in period to accelerate the process and allow a bit of OVER push on the suspension. I don't adhere to the over push but I do tend to set my VTF toward the high end of factory spec for the simple reason that is where the engineers designed it to be. It is a fallacy that lighter is better.
My Clearaudio Concept MC cart just recently completed (I think) its break in period. It has about 50+ hours on it and the transition is amazing. Initially, it sounded great right out of the box. But being a picky picky, certain notes in the highs seemed too bright on occasion...the bass a bit too deep. Nothing that would make me dislike the cart but I would say it was 96% there...
well, all of a sudden, I just seemed to notice that the sound seemed...Perfect. Nothing sounded off, at any point and albums I had listened to during INITIAL play sounded better, fuller, balanced at all ranges...and it dawned on me...ahhh..I have reached break in.
The moral of this though is that if it sounds pretty damn good initially, it is going to sound incredible when properly broken in. If it is NOT pleasing initially, it may get better, but be warned, it will only go so far. I have rarely heard a cartridge sound bright or fatiguing initially go to awesome - with the except of an AT440MLa MM cart. Pretty surprising. I had a Sumiko that I did not like out of the box and no, did not like it broken in.
Please note, mileage may vary depending on your driving...LOL