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.
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Showing 1 response by ballywho

My ZYX Bloom "bloomed" after only about 4 hours - I'm quite sure it'll only get better with time, but obviously didn't take much initially to be noticeable.

So, in regards to Stevecham's comments...I concur. Just play and play and play - the thing will ultimately open up (it better), and the experience along the way will probably be quite interesting. Figure it as hearing a metamorphosis, if you will, hopefully "ending on a note" that is what you expected when you purchased it.

Enjoy.