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Cartridge break-in: with or without tears?

Or: how do you do it? I think I must have gone about it the wrong way. This weekend I changed my very old cartridge with its broken-down suspension for a new Benz Glider. With this new cartridge I listened to records in the normal fashion for a couple of days, happy enough with what I was hearing but calculating how many weeks it would be until I got to hear what the cartridge would sound like once it was broken in--and thus until I would be in a position to decide whether my turntable (a Rega P3) was something I could live with for a while longer or whether (as I suspect) it really needs to be replaced with something considerably better very soon.

Then I got impatient. I set the stylus down on the locked-out pink noise section of a Cardas frequency sweep burn-in record (well cleaned beforehand) and let it play for a few hours. Every once in a while it occurred to me to wonder whether this could possibly be a good idea, since normal vinyl doesn't like a stylus repeating the same track even twice over within a couple of hours, and here was this track being traced some hundreds of times all during the same afternoon. Meanwhile the pink noise was still pink (though what else would even *destroyed* pink noise sound like?), and nothing was smoking. After three or four uneasy hours I decided enough was enough and went to lift the arm. The stylus had accumulated gray junk all over it and up the cantilever. Since I'd brushed and Premiered and RRL'd and Loricrafted the record beforehand it seemed unlikely that the junk was record mould release or normal dirt, which left the unhappy possibility that it was instead chewed up vinyl, ploughed up by my brand new stylus. I cleaned everything up, and the cartridge sounds okay (or sufficiently okay: I am guessing that the tizzy treble I sometimes get is a matter either of bad lps or of the cartridge's newness). So I am hoping I did no real harm (except to the break-in record, which had other problems in any case). But I feel I may have narrowly averted real damage.

So what do you guys say? Have you ever done this, and have you ended up with pulverized vinyl and traumatized cartridge? Have you all known from the beginning not to try this?

I am coming to the unhappy conclusion that I don't deserve to upgrade my turntable this year or possibly ever.
sre

Showing 2 responses by dougdeacon

dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
I've used those Cardas tracks to help break in several cartridges. One friend's Shelter 901 spent weeks on the damn thing before it started sounding decent.

My TT turns itself off after 45 minutes, so I take that opportunity to brush things off and switch to a different groove. Going several hours in one groove does seem like pushing one's luck. Give that poor groove a break.

I clean my records exactly like you, but there's always some stuff piled up around the stylus after an extended stay in the same groove. Clean the stylus and cantilever thoroughly and you should be okay. A very gentle scrub with a piece cut off a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (household cleaning product) works wonders for that baked on gunk.

BTW, I'm not sure it's very useful to actually listen to the pink noise. I think most of the breaking in is mechanical, especially if the cartridge is the only new component. I prefer to spare my ears.
dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
Rene,
Your theory makes sense and my break-in experiences have been similar. A low compliance Shelter 901 took forever. It was virtually unlistenable (screechy) before 50-75 hours and I'm not sure it was fully broken in even at 150. It lived on that Cardas record for days.

OTOH, two mid-compliance ZYX Airy's were a joy to listen to right OOTB. It was easy enough to hear their suspensions loosening up for 25-50 hours, but neither was ever unpleasant. We didn't bother with the Cardas tracks for them. Like Twl and Kurt_Tank said, why not just enjoy the music?

Susan,
Regarding your somewhat "unbalanced" RCM/TT mix, at least you have a RCM for life! It's surely better for your vinyl to be played really clean on an entry level TT than to be played dirty on some fancy rig. Like you we admire the Loricraft's impressive BQ and its cleverly effective and efficient design. Nice job finding one used. That must be rare.

I don't remember if we've discussed it, but at the end of each sweep we move the arm off the back of the machine (so the nozzle is sucking air) and leave the vacuum pump on while performing the next step. IOW, the pump is pretty much running full time during cleaning sessions. IME this keeps the tube clear and stops the thread clogging up. We've never had a thread jam since we started doing this.

Kurt_tank,
If you can afford a Loricraft or Keith Monks, get one. I've played records cleaned with RRL fluids and modded shop vacs, NG's and VPI's. In nearly every case the noise level was unacceptable. In nearly every case a re-cleaning on the Loricraft did the trick. The only ebay seller I know whose vinyl is as clean as ours is Black*Pearls from Frankfurt Germany. He cleans every record on a Keith Monks. Vacuum wand/felt designs just don't compare.

If you want to hear for yourself before deciding, mail me a couple LP's and I'll clean them for you. No charge except return postage/insurance. Email me if that's of interest. (That's an open offer to anyone BTW.)
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