Marantz SA 8005 break in

Good 100 hrs of actual playing time - not just leaving it on... 300 hrs should be fully cooked. Marantz players are anything but harsh so just give it some time. If you’re using the stock power cord, throw it back in the box. Don’t have to spend a lot on a cord. Kimber PK10 Gold is a nice cord on Marantz players, and they come up used often.

Agree with the above.  If anything, Marantz players tend to roll off the top end.  If the harshness persists after the break in time I would send it for servicing

Break-in time is a custom ill-defined non-standard variable.

My REGA ISIS Valve cdp took over 350-400+ hours (lost count) in a continuing non-linear series of performance changes and intermittent plateaus before I could finally say it was as smooth as ice over glass.

IMO for sure, just a nominal couple of days and maybe even up to a minimal 100 hours of break-in time won’t cut it to permit the spinner to settle in.

..., patience, patience ....

postscript

independent of of the above, try warming up the whole system first by turning it on for a couple of hours first before you crank it up. Do I find a noticeable difference in taming any "edge" / sibilance / harshness blah blah by doing so .....in my system, yes.

+1 on the prior post re: swap-out of any crap stock power cord and a swap-in if a better quality build one. Experiment with them to weed out the contenders from the pretended... They all have their sonic signature .

What are you running the SACD player with in terms of pre, amp and speakers?

Also, are you in an apartment? They tend to have the worst power issues. :)

Best,


Erik

I did replace the AC cable. It's the first thing I do. Conrad Johnson LS17 pre, Odyssey Audio monoblocks, Soundlabs speakers. Not in an apartment. I'll certainly give it more time. Thanks for the information and advice.