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Phono Stage Burn-in: This'll take a while!

zenith2134

zenith2134

Lunatic Member
Just got a Cambridge 540P and while it sounds good I've perused the net and have found many a product claiming to burn in your phono stage. Coming from vintage gear, this has never been an issue (guess those stages are more burnt out than in)

Anyway, without destroying my cartridge, how the heck does one do a phono stage burn-in?! This particular model is designed with an external wall-wart which means there is no power switch and it runs 24/7 by nature. Maybe that helps, but shouldn't it be passing a signal in order to truly run-in?

From the manual: "Electronic components have a running-in period of around one week (if used several hours per day). This will allow the new componentry to settle down; during this period the sonics will improve."

Now, Are they saying ON is enough of a run-in? If not, they're suggesting 40 hours burn-in minimum, and thats a lot of vinyl for me.

If I'm getting too obsessed, ignore. LOL.
 
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Just continue playing albums and enjoy! You may or may not hear a difference, not sure. You do need a signal to properly "burn in". I suspect there is a way to do it with a CD player or something so you can leave it running all night long. Wait for someone else to chime in on that though.

Evan
 
zenith2134 said:
Thanks, 240! Anyone else?
Click to expand...

Yes.

Like 240 said, just listen to records and have fun, before you know it you'll be there, where you may or may not hear a change. There are burn in devices on the market, usually for burning in cables, but some for equipment as well. The only one I've used is the Hagtech Frybaby, which can be purchased fully assembled or as a "half kit" (requiring you to solder everything together) for substantially less. It can be used to burn in phono stages, there are specific directions for that in the instructions, but I've only used mine with wire, and yes, it works. You may wonder what the point would be if the thing it going to be broken in on its own soon enough anyway. I'd imagine that, as is the case with cables, burn in devices do the job more effectively than simply playing music for a long time.

But again, don't worry about it too much, especially if you're not interested in the burn in devices, it's still going to sound great. These are really methods of fine-tuning things.
 
240sx4u said:
Just continue playing albums and enjoy! You may or may not hear a difference, not sure.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that you don't need to "burn-in" a well-designed piece of electronics. The idea that you have to do this is just another Audio Fairy Tale.

So just follow the above advice and play some music and enjoy! :)
 
I don't see any reason electronics, or wire, would require a burn-in expecting it to change it's performance. It should be good to go right out of the box. I haven't heard of any physical reason that current going through a device causes any molecular any any other change. It sounds like a sales oriented thing. It sounds like it's ready to enjoy right now.
 
240sx4u said:
I suspect there is a way to do it with a CD player or something so you can leave it running all night long.
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Yes, you can. I've done it!

Just put a CD on repeat play and make sure it's connected to a preamp. You don't have to turn the preamp on! Come back in a few days....

That's why I know "burn in" works! I've listened to a brand new CD player - and regretted purchasing it. I thought that the player was really digital sounding - harsh, edgy. Big purchase mistake!

Then, since I had nothing to loose, I put it on repeat play and made sure that the RCA cords were connected. I came back after 3 days of playing time (I gave it a cooling off period every day...)

The sound was MUCH improved! 'Phew! It was not a purchase mistake after all!

As for the phonostage, you'll just have to play it. Don't worry, it won't sound as bad as my new, not broken in yet CD player! :)

Will you notice a difference? Probably - but it won't be as dramatic as my CDP situation!

Enjoy!
 
If burn-in does work, how do the electronics know which way to burn-in. Has anybody had an experience where the electronics burned-in the wrong way? ...sounded worse after burn-in?
 
Who knows? Does anyone really care? I sure don't!

If burn in happens or does not happen in your own personal world, you're pretty well stuck with the equipment until you can sell it off or get used to the sound and convince yourself that it sounds fine or something like that. If I buy a $500.00 - $600.00 piece of equipment (like my above mentioned CD player) I'm playing that sucker no matter what! Sorry, that was a big purchase for me (it was a Sony SACD/CD player)

I have experienced speaker wires changing for the worse. But that's about it.
 
stuartk said:
I'm sure that you don't need to "burn-in" a well-designed piece of electronics. The idea that you have to do this is just another Audio Fairy Tale.
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Interesting, because there's a whole lot of people who feel otherwise, and who have experienced otherwise, myself included. Your "Audio Fairy Tale" theory is incorrect.
 
Jon_Logan said:
I don't see any reason electronics, or wire, would require a burn-in expecting it to change it's performance. It should be good to go right out of the box. I haven't heard of any physical reason that current going through a device causes any molecular any any other change. It sounds like a sales oriented thing. It sounds like it's ready to enjoy right now.
Click to expand...

This should shed some light on the basics of it for you:

http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=insights&content_id=12&pagestring=Cable+Break-In

I've never bought any piece of audio equipment that did not include advice from the manufacturer/designer to allow for an adequate burn in time before doing any serious critical listening. Here's a quote from the link above as an example:

"As a rule, companies set up audition rooms at high end audio shows a couple of days ahead of time to let them break in. The first day the sound is usually bad and it is very stressful. The last day sounds great. Mechanical stress in speaker cables, speaker cabinets, even the walls of the room, must be relaxed in order for the system to sound its best. This is the same phenomenon we experience in musical instruments. They sound much better after they have been played. Many musicians leave their instruments in front of a stereo that is playing to get them to warm up."

Note that his basic explanation of cable break in is described in the full essay, so you should read that. Burn in is a widely accepted phenomenon in the world of hi-fi audio, and to suggest otherwise is indicative of either a lack of understanding of how this is thought to happen, and/or a lack of experience with devices that are intended to burn in new cables and equipment, which effect a much more dramatic change quickly, making the change much more noticeable than it is with a normal break in time done by just using the equipment.
 
I started this thread since I have heard the (positive) effects of burn-in firsthand with a whole host of things from power cords to headphones to tubes. It may sound crazy, but I am entitled to my opinion and do NOT want to start a debate here.

Whatever it is, I have never heard a product sound worse after some run-in time.
 
Sorry if I'm contributing to taking your thread in a direction you don't want it to go in zenith, but the way your original post is worded gives the impression that you're not only thinking out loud, but asking for thoughts on burn in and how to do it, which directly relates to how it works, and whether or not it does - although you've now made it clear that whether or not it works is something you've determined for yourself many times over. This is the best thing to do IMO.
 
Mr. Lin said:
Interesting, because there's a whole lot of people who feel otherwise, and who have experienced otherwise, myself included. Your "Audio Fairy Tale" theory is incorrect.
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I would have to agree on this one, from experience with out question!
Regards,
Jim
 
Whatever you do, no NOT connect a CD player or any other source like a tuner etc to a phono stage... doing so will burn it out!
 
Play record find soemthing else to worry about if something good changes great if not then it must have sounded the way it was meant to when you brought it home. I can't imagine buying a piece of gear and running it dead head for X amount of time before I listened to it.

Listen to the music don't listen to the gear.

IMHO
 
I say just play it. Maybe the heating/cooling cycle of various components settles in their values, maybe electrons flowing cross p-n junctions makes slight molecular changes over time changing betas or resistance or voltage drop or transient response or who knows what.

Who cares, just listen to some music already! Yer killin' us! :D

Michael
 
Guys, I have been using the unit since last Wednesday when my Cambridge stuff came..... Just hasn't sounded right til a few days had past.

It certainly did break-in; the manual wasn't lying when it said to let it burn for 36 hours. I have it plugged in and on 24/7. It has no power switch and is intended to be used this way.

I'm really enjoying this phono stage and will probably wait a good while before I look to upgrade it. If I change carts, that might change though.
 
zenith2134 said:
Guys, I have been using the unit since last Wednesday when my Cambridge stuff came..... Just hasn't sounded right til a few days had past.

It certainly did break-in; the manual wasn't lying when it said to let it burn for 36 hours. I have it plugged in and on 24/7. It has no power switch and is intended to be used this way.

I'm really enjoying this phono stage and will probably wait a good while before I look to upgrade it. If I change carts, that might change though.
Click to expand...

Great, glad to hear it (no pun intended). Of course forgetting the gear and listening to the music alone is the ultimate goal, but if you never listen to and take notes on your equipment it's not going to develop as nicely as it could. For me this kind of stuff is a huge part of the hobby, despite the fact that it comes second to music.
 
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