TIME to break in a Denon 103R

Wow,Larry! Slumming or just having fun with the 103R? :)

I seem to remember it taking 50+ hours. It sounds very steely for a while.

Which arm are you using it on?

My 103R was "steely" as Dan described, a bit "tight" and aggressive, although still very impressive, right out of the box. I noticed a major improvement at between 10 and 15 hours, almost like a light had been switched on. It became considerably more "relaxed" at that point and really got the ebb and flow of the music more. From there, I would say improvements were much more subtle. I would agree with Dan also that at around 50 hours give or take you should be fully broken in.

My Denon DL-103D took about 75 hours to fully break in after it was retipped, for what it's worth.