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Tonearm wire burn-in question.

I have my ET2 arm wired with one continuous run of wire from cartridge clips all the way to the circuit board of my phono preamp; where it is hardwired. I just replaced the Discovery tonearm wire that I used for years with Audionote silver wire. It is an absolutely fabulous wire. AN claims it needs very little break-in, but I would like to burn it in anyway using a line level signal.

I would like to not have to dismantle and unsolder the existing wire arrangement.If I send a line level signal from the cartridge clip end of the wire to the preamp (turned off, of course!), will the wire get broken-in? Or does the device at the receiving end need to be active (turned on) for the burn-in to be effective?

Thanks to all
frogman
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
I'd be cautious about keeping the signal volume low, particularly if it is a solid state moving coil phono stage with a low input impedance. You would be subjecting the phono stage's input load resistor, and the junctions of the input stage active devices, to much larger voltages than they normally see.

I would guess that would be no problem, but without detailed design information (such as the power rating of the input resistors, and specifications on the ability of the active devices to handle input voltages outside of the zero-volt power supply rails they would have when turned off), I would not feel comfortable applying to them hundreds of times the voltages they were designed to handle.

Regards,
-- Al
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Adding to my previous post:

And in any event, I wouldn't be surprised if the burn-in effects on the phono stage input circuit were more significant than the burn-in effects on the wire, for better or for worse.

Regards,
-- Al
zargon's avatar
zargon
453 posts
 
Adding some to Al's concern of over driving the phono stage input...

If you want to be ultra safe, there is a Granite Audio Phono Burn-In & RIAA Test CD which I have used which would ensure protection. It provides for both MM and MC cartridge levels and includes RIAA compensation. You could drive it thru the tonearm wire and into the phono stage thus killing two birds with one stone.

Test CD

Regards,
frogman OP
7,469 posts
 
Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions. A point of clarification: The tonearm wire is hardwired to the preamp's circuit board, and I am trying to avoid having to unsolder them.

Al, your concerns are valid, I will consider them. Zargon, while I understand the principle behind the burn-in CD (I have used, with success, the Cardas frequency sweep burn-in lp)isn't the idea to send through the wire a signal of much higher voltage than the tiny .2-4 mv normally outed by a cartridge, in order to burn it in?
zargon's avatar
zargon
453 posts
 
Frogman, you are correct that a higher voltage may accelerate the burn in of the wires, however, as Al points out it may also cause harm to the phono stage assuming you don't unsolder the tonearm wires. My recommendation is to use the lower voltage produced by the CD and just run it longer. In truth, just playing records will also work just as well over the long run. It just depends on how anxious you are.
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