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In Reply to: Cardas Test Record posted by MusicFan on April 15, 2007 at 17:28:30:
The burn in side. Play the 3 "locked groove" tracks on side 2 separated by the blanks. I'd do about 20 minutes on each one and then go back one more time and do exactly the same thing for a total of two hours. Chances are your cartridge will be pretty close to, if not fully, broken in after that. There are instructions on the Cardas website. I think that 2 hours on those tracks is the equivalent of 40-50 hours of playing lp's on most cartridges.I like the Cardas record, and I also use the frequency sweeps on Side 1 about every week or 10 days.
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The Cardas record is extremely hard vinyl. Combine that with the fact that the burn in tracks are locked grooves and you actually get a bit of black vinyl dust grinding off the record doing 20 minutes at a crack on each of the individual burn in tracks. Cardas recommends about an hour on the burn in tracks; my feeling is that two hours is probably a bit better but I'd prefer to give the stylus a bit of downtime just in case there are any heat related/stress issues with the stylus. Probably not, but I'd just rather be safe than sorry.
What do the frequency sweeps on side one do for you?I have a Cardas test record and I have found that I can measure arm/cartridge resonance very accurately with it. The Hi-Fi News test record really sucks for measuring arm/cartridge resonance.
Hi John: The frequency sweeps are designed, according to the Cardas website, to "degauss the cartridge and the rest of the system, plus clean the stylus ultrasonically." I'm using the magic eraser after every side along with an occasional brush with a Last stiff stylus cleaning brush and generally do not have a problem with a dirty stylus but certainly feel it can't hurt as part of normal maintenance/cleaning.The sweeps, though, are very similar to demagnetising sweeps on maintenance CD's like the Ayre or Purist and others and are, in my opinion, effective at cleaning up a bit of grunge-kind of like a mini-tuneup. The effects are subtle (just as they are with a maintenance CD in my experience) if you are using the sweeps every week or so, less subtle on first use or if you go for a much longer period of time.
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