Break in .....?
I'm sure this topic has been covered repeatedly, but I was completely taken by surprise by my system yesterday. The last time I listened to it was a couple of weeks ago and it sounded terrible. Lifeless, dull, lacking texture, and subtle nuance. Not sure why that was the case because it had sounded pretty good before that and at times it sounded great. But I was ready to give up on it and start making equipment and set up changes.
Then, without changing anything, I spun a few albums I was familiar with yesterday afternoon and voila; the exact same system sounded incredible and the best I had ever heard it by a wide margin. It was one of those moments when there was a huge smile plastered on my face, didn't want to move an inch, and was completely absorbed into the music. The only thoughts I had were about what to play next. Now I can't wait to crank it up and listen some more today!
So what happened? All I can think of is break in. I've got a CAT Legend preamp/phono stage with JL7 tube amps that must be approaching about 300 hours. (I'm terrible at clocking the hours on my equipment and probably should do better at it!) Then I have a relatively new TechDas cartridge that probably has about 30 to 40 hours at this point. The speakers are PK Custom Quads with maybe 200 hours. Cables have been around a while and spent time in the cooker a few months ago. I'm not sure which component(s?) kicked in but whatever it was, I'm not changing a thing and will be booting it up shortly.
Any thoughts?
I'm sure this topic has been covered repeatedly, but I was completely taken by surprise by my system yesterday. The last time I listened to it was a couple of weeks ago and it sounded terrible. Lifeless, dull, lacking texture, and subtle nuance. Not sure why that was the case because it had sounded pretty good before that and at times it sounded great. But I was ready to give up on it and start making equipment and set up changes.
Then, without changing anything, I spun a few albums I was familiar with yesterday afternoon and voila; the exact same system sounded incredible and the best I had ever heard it by a wide margin. It was one of those moments when there was a huge smile plastered on my face, didn't want to move an inch, and was completely absorbed into the music. The only thoughts I had were about what to play next. Now I can't wait to crank it up and listen some more today!
So what happened? All I can think of is break in. I've got a CAT Legend preamp/phono stage with JL7 tube amps that must be approaching about 300 hours. (I'm terrible at clocking the hours on my equipment and probably should do better at it!) Then I have a relatively new TechDas cartridge that probably has about 30 to 40 hours at this point. The speakers are PK Custom Quads with maybe 200 hours. Cables have been around a while and spent time in the cooker a few months ago. I'm not sure which component(s?) kicked in but whatever it was, I'm not changing a thing and will be booting it up shortly.
Any thoughts?
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