Select a disc that offers both a high average listening level AND a wide frequency response to it i.e. lots of deep bass, lots of extended treble and a loud recording. Let this play in the machine on repeat 24/7 for as long as you can. Obviously, i'm talking about doing this outside of normal use. While the machine will continue to break in further down the road, if you don't like the machine after several days of continuous play, you probably never will.
As a side note, i've found that most units respond to this type of "break in" exercise phenomenally well. What works even better is to use a disc like the Ayre Acoustics for one week and then select a disc of music like that mentioned above for the second week. After using this approach on several different players, the difference in sonics after 2 weeks of continuous play was pretty drastic. This approach can even be used on older players with some benefit, depending on how much actual playing time they have on them.
I don't know how much time you have to test this unit before you can't return it, but the more time that it spends playing discs and not sitting idle, the better it will sound. Sean
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PS... current Rotel gear tends to sound somewhat lean and bright to my ears i.e. similar to solid state Musical Fidelity gear but not as smooth or refined.
As a side note, i've found that most units respond to this type of "break in" exercise phenomenally well. What works even better is to use a disc like the Ayre Acoustics for one week and then select a disc of music like that mentioned above for the second week. After using this approach on several different players, the difference in sonics after 2 weeks of continuous play was pretty drastic. This approach can even be used on older players with some benefit, depending on how much actual playing time they have on them.
I don't know how much time you have to test this unit before you can't return it, but the more time that it spends playing discs and not sitting idle, the better it will sound. Sean
>
PS... current Rotel gear tends to sound somewhat lean and bright to my ears i.e. similar to solid state Musical Fidelity gear but not as smooth or refined.