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What should I do?

Recently, at a brick and mortar audio dealer, I listened to a high-end moving coil cartridge.  It sounded really good, and I was impressed.  The retail for this cartridge was more then I wanted to spend ($4500), but to make a long story short, the dealer offered me a rare deal, ($2500+tax) brand new, so I bought it.  Got it home, and carefully installed it last night.  I listened to it for about 2.5 hours.  It is really good, but I don't think (at this point), that it's that much better then my old cartridge (at least, not yet).
Ok, so this morning I played around with the loading.  Better, but still I'm not happy.  Now, with only about 5 hours on this new Cartridge, I realize that it's not broken in yet.  I'm looking for input as to your thoughts on how I should proceed.
1.  Are cartridges purchased from high-end dealers returnable (I don't want to create any bad feelings with this dealer, since he gave me such a good price)?
2.  I was told 50 hours of break-in time for this Cartridge.  Should I wait the break-in period to make any decisions?
Any thoughts on how you think I should proceed are appreciated! 


louisl
audition__audio
1,465 posts
 
You cant judge the cartridge until is actually past break in. You need to experiment with loading as the proper setting can sometimes be surprising and not what is suggested by specs. You also need to have a system of sufficient quality to appreciate the more sublime aspects of a better cartridge. Details about your entire system would also be helpful.

Something to keep in mind is the conditioning of your tonearm cable. We just bought a Audio Kharma conditioner and the most profound improvement we have ever heard was the conditioning of this wire. 
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
If it doesn't sound good right out of the box odds are it never will. That goes for everything. Even cartridges. You should be loving it from the first side. Then loving it even more after you've got it nicely dialed in with VTA and loading. Then from that point on there should be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months of one night after another being surprised at catching yourself enjoying aspects of music you never noticed before.

That's what it should be like. Unless you are prone to buyers remorse. Which tends to be more likely on impulse purchases. Which between the way you said zero about doing any research, or even that you were looking for a cartridge, and seemed to have bought based on price without even asking about terms, sounds like an impulse purchase to me. 

Don't really know what you should do. What I would do is pay more attention and consider a little more carefully next time.
edgewear
543 posts
 
First you need to share a few things:
1. What cartridge are we talking about?
2. What system did you hear it with at the shop?
3. What system do you use at home?

The dealer should obviously have told you this, but the sound of a cartridge is system dependent. This might go a long way to explain why you were impressed at the shop and less so in your own home.   

There are exceptions, but it's highly unlikely that the dealer will accept a return and offer a full refund. Not immediately and certainly not after another 50 hours of break-in. If you stay underwhelmed, you might consider asking the dealer to come over and check if you installed it correctly. 

chakster's avatar
chakster
6,144 posts
 
 It sounded really good, and I was impressed.  

 Got it home, and carefully installed it last night.  I listened to it for about 2.5 hours.  It is really good, but I don't think (at this point), that it's that much better then my old cartridge (at least, not yet).    



Then why did you buy it ? Hypnosis ? 

Some of the reasons it did work in your room:
-The dealer system was completely different than yours ? 
-You don't have an appropriate tonearm or phono stage ? 

Personally i don't believe in warm up process, if your cartridge is brand new the things getting better in first 50 hrs, but not so much. 

Maybe you just don't like the character of this cartridge in your system, especially if it does not sound better than your old cartridge.

If it's not better than save $2500+ 

Return it, explain your opinion to the dealer, ask for another cartridge (ask for something to match to your tonearm and your phono stage).

Or bring your old cartridge to the dealer and compare them.  

Or just get full refund and forget about it.  
rsf507
2,311 posts
 
Sounds like a super deal without a return. You should have initially inquired before buying.
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