A run-in for your money

摘要

Manufacturers give little or no information as to the run-in period needed for pick-ups to sound their best, yet their sound can change dramatically over time due to a sort of 'bedding-in' process, which I do not fully understand. From experience, the run-in time required for a cartridge to settle down can vary from a few hours to 30 or more. An Ortofon 2M Black [see HFN Mar '11] with a Shibata stylus sounded so strident initially that I was tempted to go back to a lower-specification model. I persevered and after around 32 hours' use, the cartridge sounded superb, the stridency having disappeared as if by magic. What is going on here? Do different cantilevers and suspensions make a difference? We hear of boron cantilevers, aluminium cantilevers, sapphire cantilevers. Are moving-coils likely to need more running-in than moving-magnets, or less? My Ortofon Quintet Black moving-coil didn't take anywhere near as long as the moving-magnet to settle down, and sounded very impressive right from the start.