2. analog
  3. 1138564922

Cartridge Break-In

Installed new cartridge and was just wondering about break-in techniques. Manufacturer recommends 50 hrs of playing time to presumably work in the suspension components. Obviously, playing a record would work best, but would simply placing the tonearm/cartridge on a non-spinning record and leaving it there also contribute to break-in? I'm thinking it really wouldn't be as effective since the suspension has only been displaced, but is not kept in motion the way playing a record would cause. Here's where it get strange, suppose I placed my turntable (a non-suspension design) on top of my subwoofer and played some bass oriented music thru my CD player? I could play with the volume level to control the amount of acoustic transfer from the sub to the turntable/arm/cartridge and thereby "excite" the cartridge into some sort of, hopefully controlled, motion. Alternatively, I could place the turntable directly in front of my woofers and play music at a high volume from a digital source. Would any of these "techniques" even roughly accomplish what playing a record does as far as cartridge break-in goes?

Just speculating on a hypothesis.
128x128onhwy61
stevecham
3,340 posts
 
Just play records, forget about break-in and enjoy the ride. It will happen and you will be glad that you controlled the break in process to get, about 50 or so hours of playing from now, the sonic satisfaction you seek. Like music itself, the break in is a journey, not a destination, and one to be enjoyed in this hobby.

Cheers
Steve
Ag insider logo xs@2x
emilg1955
16 posts
 
A very interesting idea! I purchased a Benz Ruby 3H last year and it was unlistenable for about 100 hours. After that it was muddy and lacked detail and speed up untill 150 hours. Since then, it has become the magic that is Benz and is still gaining speed and detail. But I had to play 200 records/ 150 hours to get to this point. Benz also says 40 hours to break in-not true with the Ruby 3 anyway. After 40 hours-it was ear fry city.

Any method that could get you thru the breakin period without play a boatload of records would be welcome. Your method sounds feasable as the movement by groove modulation is miniscule.

However, the breakin may be attributed to the large swings of the cantilever caused by non flat parts of the record. In this case you're method wouldn't work.

Anyone know which movement contributes the most to break-in?
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
I enjoyed reading some of your proposed alternatives, especially the one about the subwoofer ;~) I think the best way is still playing records as Steve said. However, you can break in a cartridge while you're away by using the Cardas sweep/burn in record. It has white noise bands that are continuous (don't run out.) The record is made of extra hard vinyl just for this purpose, and if you leave your whole system on at low/moderate volume, you get some additional burn-in for your system too.

RE the recommended break-in time: I don't know why cartridge manufacturers all seem to quote such low break-in times! If you ask around, you'll discover that most folks will tell you a new moving coil cartridge requires a minimum of 100 hours (150 just to be sure) so I don't understand the manufacturers' lack of candor on this pooint. And that would take about four to six days playing the Cardas record 27/7. Which is what I did, and it worked just fine. However, I heard no difference after the first 60 hours (the manufacturer recommended 30!) It was bright and glarey, and I thought I'd made a terrible mistake! But after 100, everything changed and continued to get better and better until 125-150 or so.

It would be a lot smarter for the manufacturers to be honest and not raise expectations unnecessarily.
More to discover