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Do MC's Need Time To Wake Up?

I know this is gonna sound silly, but what the heck. Has anyone here ever noticed the output level of an MC cartridge increase some time after installation? I've had this feeling before with several carts, but the differences always seemed very small. So I chose to discard it as some sort of psychological adjustment on my part. As if I needed to wake up to the change of sound.

But today I took delivery of a Jan Allaerts MC-1 cartridge. A previously owned sample, but coming from a reliable source and not having been used for quite some time. This MC-1 (the basic ECO version) reportedly has ca. 0.5 mV output, but at first play it required the same volume level as the 0.25 mV Entré EC-30 it replaced. But after playing a few sides I had to turn down the volume several steps to maintain the same sound pressure. This time there's no way I'm fooling myself. Or am I?

Does this sound familiar or should I just put it in the X-files?

edgewear

Showing 1 response by whart

whart's avatar
whart
2,967 posts
 
That Jan Allaerts MC-1 cartridge is a pretty rare bird. Enjoy it.
With a cartridge that has settled in ("broken in" sounds so drastic), I find that it takes at least a couple of sides for it to limber up and show its stuff. I’m currently using a brand new Koetsu stone body, and though it sounded surprisingly good out of the box, it needs several sides to start sounding like it should. I don’t think this is voodoo. The elastomers in the suspension need to loosen up (what effect does room temperature have?), and if the cartridge hasn’t been played for a while, I could see it making an even bigger difference from a cold start, compared to a cartridge that is regularly in use....
PS: I never regarded this as a matter of  'output' voltage or whatever but I suppose that could be part of it too. 
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