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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
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.
slaw's avatar
slaw
21,258 posts
 
I'm surprised the dealer was demoing a cartridge that wasn't fully broken in.
simao's avatar
simao
1,818 posts
 
Without the information that others have requested, like what cartridge it is, it's hard to judge your situation.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Cartridges are like ski boots. Once you use em you own em. Unless it is a demo unit it will not be returnable. Whether or not it sounds better in a few hours depends. I have a Clearaudio cartridge that out of the box was very bright. I had to program a special curve for it. But it tracked wonderfully and had great separation. Eventually it started sounding dull. I set the curve back to flat, perfect. I can't tell you how many hours it took. I would say a month of steady listening.
Most important is set up. Unless you are using a test record it is unlikely that you are getting it optimal. I recommend the HiFi News Test record. Get your anti skate set right and your resonance frequency down around 8-10 Hz and I promise it will sound better. 
You got a great deal so it is unlikely that you will find a $2500.00 cartridge that is better. I do not know of any bad $4500 cartridges although you will never see me buying a Decca. 
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