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RE: New Technics GAE has arrived

Posted by John Elison (A) on August 23, 2016 at 09:49:07

In Reply to: RE: New Technics GAE has arrived posted by bill_stevenson@bellsouth.net on August 23, 2016 at 08:24:29:

I tend to agree with you for the most part regarding break-in. However, there are exceptions. I have experienced true changes during break-in with at least two transducers in all my years as an audio enthusiast. The first experience was with my original Audio Technica OC9 cartridge. It sounded very weird for about the first five or ten hours of play and then it suddenly blossomed into a wonderful sounding cartridge. At first it sounded like two separate mono sources coming from each of my two stereo speakers. There was a gaping hole in the center of the soundstage and it had no life at all. I had never heard anything quite like it from other brand new cartridges. After about 10 to 15 LP sides it began filling in the center of the soundstage and its sound quality began to bloom. After another 5 or 10 sides it seemed to have a full fledged soundstage with excellent imaging and wonderful sound quality. I enjoyed it immensely for about three years before replacing it with a Denon DL-301/II.

The break-in experience also occurred with my new Thiel CS3.7 speakers. I bought them directly from the Thiel factory a few months before Thiel's demise. The speakers I heard in the Thiel factory listening room sounded absolutely outstanding but the ones I bought were perhaps the worst sounding speakers I had ever purchased. Even though I paid only half-price, I got sick to my stomach thinking I had wasted seven thousand dollars. On the third day after buying them my wife and I were watching TV and listening through the Thiels when I asked my wife which speakers she thought sounded better, the little speakers built into our HDTV or the Thiels. I was switching back-and-forth between the two and it was no contest. The little speakers in the HDTV sounded noticeably better and my wife agreed. It actually took about a month of playing the Thiels every day for them to come around. Then they seemed to gradually improve for nearly a year after that. There's no question that these speakers changed character significantly during break-in because we could A/B them with the HDTV speakers and hear the improvement. The Thiels now trounce the TV speakers and they sound better than any speakers I've ever owned. However, it took nearly a month of constant play for the Thiels just to become listenable. It was the strangest thing I had ever encountered.

Consequently, I now know that break-in can be real, but most of the time I tend to agree with your opinion on break-in.

Best regards,
John Elison

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