How much time needed for a cartridge to break in?

Even if there are other variables at work that would change your opinion, *generally speaking* how many hours do you think a new cartridge needs to be played before achieving "break in"?

 

Generally speaking, 20 hours or so.

 

In my experience things tend to get better around ~20-50 hours, but it takes more than 50 hours to get it to really open up.

 

You will get almost all of the break-in by 40 hours or so, but, some cartridges will continue to change for quite a while (something I found out about the Transfiguration Orpheus when I tried to make final adjustments too soon).

 

What surprises me is that there are forum members who don't believe a cartridge breaks in.

John K.

 

100 hrs minimum.

 

I'll let you know. I'm breaking in an Ortofon 2M Black right now. I've got about 5 hours right now.

 

Phono cartridges are one of the few components I can easily see the need for a break-in period. I would say it takes somewhere between 10 and 50 hours depending on the cart and materials used.

 

Me too. I've measured several cartridges that clearly exhibited lower harmonic distortion after about 20 hours than when new. Also some minor tracking ability and frequency-response changes for the better. How is that not break-in?

I voted for 10 - 50 hrs.

 

20-40 hours

 

20 - 50 hours.

 

I chose 50+ hours, and I believe this statement says it best.

 

I voted more than 50 due the wording of the question, which seems to ask when break-in is complete. You can hear changes before that however throughout the process.

 

I voted for 10 to 50 based on my historical logs I kept for the cartridge I'm presently using. At 19 hours it started opening up more, at 32 hours there detail and soundstage was more pronounced and when I played the same music at the 57.5 hour mark, I could not distinguish any further improvements.

I kept the log running up until 223.5 hours and didn't keep up with it after that annotation.

Bob

 

Or that anything in the signal path else needs to "break in"!

About 50 hours or more to break in a cartridge.

 

Yeah it takes a couple hours to have my ears broken in to the new sound.

 

That's an excellent point. Once the improvement is truly heard, there is no going back.

 

Hi John,

Folks who think it is simply one's getting "used to" the sound might want to try starting with two identical, brand new units (cartridges, cables, etc.). Leave one fresh, in the box and use the other for a week or two. Then switch to the unused one.

If it is simply getting "used to" the sound, does the unused one start out sounding identical to the one you've gotten "used to"? My bet is that you may well have to get "used to" the new one all over again.

That said, I have found over the years (and said many times on this forum) that different folks have different sensitivities to different aspects of sound. Some folks simply may not hear a change.

I know folks who hear benefits from green marker on CDs or lifting their speaker cables off the floor. I believe them. But I don't hear either of these. On the other hand, break-in of cartridges, cables and other gear is something I find relatively easy to hear.

Best regards,
Barry
www.soundkeeperrecordings.com
www.barrydiamentaudio.com

 

3 hours, tops.

 

I said 10-50, as I personally feel that it depends on the cartridge, some may require more of a break-in period than others.

 

I'll respectfully disagree with you and leave it at that.

 

30-40 hours is good.

 

In a long out of print 'Hi Fi Choice: Cartridges' Martin Colloms found that with very few exceptions the diamond tips on new units were pretty unpolished and in his opinion accelerated record wear for the first tens of plays until the surfaces had some wear on them and got smoother.

With ADC (original), Shure M97HE and Ortofon cartridges I have myself experienced some 'scoring' of new condition albums for the first few plays, then all was fine. These days I don't have much new stuff to use; but I'd break in on a combination of old and new discs if I did it.

(Scoring: as the record is played, the grooves begin to reflect light differently before and after the stylus position, but without any audible noise or damage; a damaged stylus will also do this, but with a lot of distortion)

 

I'm sure people get used to the sound a bit. But I've also measured frequency-response changes after a few hours of break-in with cartridges from AT, Shure, and Denon. Most recently, my NOS Shure VST-III has flattened out a little bit after a couple of hours. Maybe 0.50dB closer to true neutrality. A little less at 100Hz, a slight bump at 10kHz. Plenty audible, easily measurable. My ATs usually showed a drop-off of harmonics in the upper-mids and treble as they broke-in. Less THD = less harsh, IMO. And less harsh is what a lot of people claim to hear as ATs break-in.