Vinyl Asylum

Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ.

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RE: Turntable/cartridge burning in

Posted by cactuscowboy@bresnan.net on March 29, 2012 at 09:41:56:
Hi rondos and welcome to the Vinyl Asylum.

In my opinion, based on 40+ years in Hi Fi, "break-in period" is a myth, promoted to facilitate sale of high priced cartridges and other audiophile gear while quelling buyer's remorse.

Think about it....

What better way for a "high end audio" retailer to explain away underwhelming performance while a customer is auditioning pricey cartridges and cables than to blame it on break-in period? And once the sale is made and the customer listens to the new gear at home and doesn't hear the 'magic', he then needs to be patient, allowing for the break in period to pass. By then of course he's accustomed to the sound of the gear (which really hasn't changed at all) and less prone to return it to the retailer.

In the past forty years, I've bought a lot of new cartridges. None have ever exhibited any sort of "break-in" where sound improves over time. It either sounds good out of the box or it doesn't.

Quote:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I purchased a Shure M97xE cartridge a few weeks ago and after installation the sound was awful. I thought it was defective and asked for a replacement. Yesterday the replacement arrived. I installed it. The sound is better than the previous one
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

It's possible the first cartridge was defective. Also consider that poor alignment and improper VTF will adversely affect the performance of any cartridge. One common newbie error is setting VTF at the low end of the manufacturer's recommended range in the erroneous belief that it will reduce record wear. In reality, it's more likely to cause mistracking, damage to records, and poor sound. I've always run my cartridges at or close to the manufacturer's maximum for best performance.

Always good to hear from a new convert to vinyl. Have fun with it!