Do headshell (leads) need time to burn-in?

[Fulci]

Do headshells need time to burn-in? How long should it take and how can I speed it up?

[Wakefield Turntables]

I would say no purely because it's a passive component. It has no electrical current to pass through and the only variable I think of is pressure I.e. how tightly you screw your cart to the headshell, the backwards pressure of the cart when resting on vinyl (and also when travelling across the vinyl) and finally how tight you screw the headshell into the tonearm. I suppose that headshell material may degrade over time but considering the materials used this would be measured in hundreds if not thousands of years. So no, I don't think they have a burn in period. That term usually and solely applied to electrical components or components which may conduct, utilise electricity. That's my 2€ worth.

[Fulci]

I meant the headshell leads, sorry...

[PaulStewart]

Hi Pedro

Good point and worth testing, I/Cs and speaker cables do in my experience. One could get two indentical headshells use one for a month or two and see if it makes a difference. It would be difficult to do this as a proper double blind test however.

[YNWaN]

Do headshells need time to burn-in? How long should it take and how can I speed it up?

Absolutely not.

[Beobloke]

Absolutely not.

^^^ What he said!^^^

[Marco]

Does that still apply to Pedro's correction (see above)? ;)

Marco.

[RobbieGong]

Headshells definately no ! Headshell leads maybe a little or some sort of time like most leads IME.

[Beobloke]

Does that still apply to Pedro's correction (see above)? ;)

Marco.

Yes indeed!

[The Barbarian]

Don't forget you hot water bottle for the turntable bearing before you use it..Oil temprature needs to be spot on.. :)

[Macca]

Good advise Andre - barometric pressure is also a factor, you may need to jack your listening room up (or down) a few cm although this will of course vary from pressing to pressing...

[Ali Tait]

Bicycle pump on the spindle..

[Idlewithnodrive]

Do headshells need time to burn-in? How long should it take and how can I speed it up?

I'm sure they do if you believe they do.

[Marco]

Yes indeed!

Ok, so why should other signal cables for a system burn in through use (such as interconnects and speaker cable: an effect many people have reported they can clearly hear [count me in]), yet not headshell leads?

At the end of the day, it's ALL wire (albeit rather small bits, in terms of cartridge leads)! ;)

Marco.

P.S I can hear the headshells burning in too, but only with enough LSD.

[Beobloke]

Ok, so why should other signal cables for a system burn in through use.....

But they don't... ;)

[Marco]

Lol - in your opinion, maybe...!

Marco.

[NRG]

^^^ What he said!^^^

^^^^^What he said with knobs on!^^^^^^

[The Barbarian]

Old Barbarian lad ole just realised why he does not participate in Hi-Fi convo anymore

:concertina:

[Reffc]

But they don't... ;)


:exactly: ;)

[worrasf]

Old Barbarian lad ole just realised why he does not participate in Hi-Fi convo anymore

:concertina:

:rfl:

[Oldpinkman]

:exactly: ;)

+1

[Joe]

I'm usually far too relieved to have got the things on without breaking them to notice whether they burn in or not.

[Barry]

Old Barbarian lad ole just realised why he does not participate in Hi-Fi convo anymore

:concertina:

That's the spirit André!



Logically, if we're talking about the headshell leads, then they ought to take as long to 'burn in' as the wires in the tonearm and the coil windings of the cartridge, as well as all the wiring in the electronics and the speaker coils. That is, if you believe in any of it! :sofa:

[walpurgis]

I'm far too busy burning in my mains plugs and fuses to worry about headshells and their leads. :eyebrows:

Oh, and I found I'd been running one of my speaker cables the wrong way round for a while. Now I'm going to have to burn that in again the right way round as it's totally cocked the sound up! ;)

[Oldpinkman]

I'm far too busy burning in my mains plugs and fuses to worry about headshells and their leads. :eyebrows:

Oh, and I found I'd been running one of my speaker cables the wrong way round for a while. Now I'm going to have to burn that in again the right way round as it's totally cocked the sound up! ;)

:lol:

[bigmoog]

My new bukkake 666 headshell needs 69 hours to burn in, cos its made from from 6 nines polonium...oh my...it sounds so 3 dee... Highly recommended :ner:

[Macca]

My new bukkake 666 headshell :

Are you quite sure that is what you are using?

Just trying to save you a bit of face...

[walpurgis]

You do all realise that the headshell 'burn in' has to be repeated every time you use it on a different arm or with a different cartridge or change the VTA or downforce. Resonance frequencies and various modes etc., all different! ;)

I'm just off to demagnetise all my control knobs again. What a chore! :)

[YNWaN]

:exactly: ;)

I don't think they do either. At least, I've never heard a cable alter sound in any way over time.

[synsei]

You do all realise that the headshell 'burn in' has to be repeated every time you use it on a different arm or with a different cartridge or change the VTA or downforce. Resonance frequencies and various modes etc., all different! ;)

I'm just off to demagnetise all my control knobs again. What a chore! :)

Sarky bugger.... :rfl:

[walpurgis]

Sarky bugger.... :rfl:

Oh yes! :D

[walpurgis]

Has anybody yet pointed out that silver headshells sound different to black ones?

[Barry]

Has anybody yet pointed out that silver headshells sound different to black ones?

There are those who claim the Quad 57 speakers with black grills sound different to those fitted with bronze-coloured grills.

[walpurgis]

There are those who claim the Quad 57 speakers with black grills sound different to those fitted with bronze-coloured grills.

Very true, as do the black/charcoal Leak Stereo 20s sound different to the bronze coloured ones. ;)

[The Grand Wazoo]

..........as do some people claim about the colour of cable insulation.....ahem.....

[Oldpinkman]

40% of the UK population believe the moon landings were faked in a hollywood studio. At my wife's school its nearer to 70% and the KNOW the moon landings were faked. So speaker grill and cable insulation colours are just taken as read. :mental:

[Barry]

..........as do some people claim about the colour of cable insulation.....ahem.....

Too right - mains cable with the old red/black/green colour codings sounds much better than cable with the current EU colour coding!

[walpurgis]

Too right - mains cable with the old red/black/green colour codings sounds much better than cable with the current EU colour coding!

Don't forget that these too are 'directional'!

[Barry]

Don't forget that these too are 'directional'!

Yes - for the best results they have to be arranged to point towards Brussels, and must cross any lay line at right angles.

[The Grand Wazoo]

This is a photo of the die in the machine that they extrude it from.....

http://www.europarl.europa.eu/elections2004/ep-election/sites/en/yourparliament/hemicycle.jpg

[walpurgis]

I'm surprised this thread hasn't touched on 'directionality' in resistors yet.

[Barry]

I'm surprised this thread hasn't touched on 'directionality' in resistors yet.

No, but the directionality of mains fuses has been mentioned elsewhere on the Forum!

[Oldpinkman]

Has no enterprising soul considered cable lifters for headshells yet?

I believe that it can be worth leaving them in the freezer for a month before using them akin to cryo-treatment for valves

[NRG]

Headshell lead directionality! Now that really would drive the OCD types mad....all those combinations and the need to re-burn them in each time they re-orientate the leads. :doh: :D

[Audioman]

Do people who worry about these things ever get round to playing any records?

[YNWaN]

I've never experienced/heard cable 'burn-in' with any of the cables I have used so I would say that headshells do not need to be 'burnt-in' in any way at all.

[Gordon Steadman]

I believe that it can be worth leaving them in the freezer for a month before using them akin to cryo-treatment for valves

My main hi-fi is in a room without heating so it should be sounding fairly cool by now.

[Wakefield Turntables]

I was wondering if my listening room needed a burn in period. :scratch:

[Macca]

I think a lot of the time, maybe all the time, it is our brains that are burning in, not the components.

[Oldpinkman]

I think a lot of the time, maybe all the time, it is our brains that are burning in, not the components.

Oh no. A serious comment. Obviously true. Most of what we hear is what our brains do with the signal sent by vibrating eardrums. At its mostbasic, when my dad "heard" real violins in the room when he closed his eyes listening to the bach, we weren't smuggling sues college chums in with real instruments, then whipping them out as his eyes opened. But he really heard a totally convincing illusion of real violins.

A truly remarkable example of how my hearing changes due to other stimulus came when I wanted to quickly check a change to alans valve amp while the boys had the cricket on. I muted the tv. Normally, recently, I have stared at a blank screen cos I am listening with sue in a relaxed environment. In a former life I listened with my eyes shut. The cricket was distracting so I shut my eyes. The soundstage which had had good "space" and placement & seemed wide, within the 8 ft between tge speakers went really wide. Far wider than the room.40ft? I could hear instruments in a location which rationally I knew to be outside the physical boundaries of th house. All due to removing the visual cue. And even though I know the reality I can switch the effect on and off by opening and closing my eyes. Next to that a bit of cable burn in is a bagatelle ;)

[Macca]

. The cricket was distracting so I shut my eyes. The soundstage which had had good "space" and placement & seemed wide, within the 8 ft between tge speakers went really wide. Far wider than the room.40ft? I could hear instruments in a location which rationally I knew to be outside the physical boundaries of th house. All due to removing the visual cue. And even though I know the reality I can switch the effect on and off by opening and closing my eyes. Next to that a bit of cable burn in is a bagatelle ;)

Very true. With visual stimulus shut off the brain can pay a lot more attention to the aural stimulus. Although I understand that the idea that blind people have better hearing as a consequence is a myth.

One of the things about home cinema that always amuses me is the idea that having identical drivers all round is important. For multi channel music, maybe, but when you are watching a film 99% of your attention is on the visual side, there is no way you can also pay attention to a what is going to be a very minor difference in tone between your fronts and your surrounds.

[The Barbarian]

I'm surprised this thread hasn't touched on 'directionality' in resistors yet.

Doubt it but i always make sure the tolerance & value stripes are all the same way around :eyebrows:

[Oldpinkman]

Very true. With visual stimulus shut off the brain can pay a lot more attention to the aural stimulus. Although I understand that the idea that blind people have better hearing as a consequence is a myth.

One of the things about home cinema that always amuses me is the idea that having identical drivers all round is important. For multi channel music, maybe, but when you are watching a film 99% of your attention is on the visual side, there is no way you can also pay attention to a what is going to be a very minor difference in tone between your fronts and your surrounds.

Absolutely right. Although whilst exact matching doesn't matter a hoot, the quality of the speakers affects the overall experience. I got to audition some Kef R700's last weekend with the Mrs. She still couldn't drive, after gynae surgery, and NEEDED a pair of tights from M&S, and I was buggered if I was driving into Maidstone on a Saturday just for tights. My price was a trip to the HiFi shop. Their 2 channel room was in use, but they had the speakers in the home cinema room, so we watched a bit of Batman and listened to a music Bluray. Wouldn't want to comment on the R700's at this stage for music due to the dodgy AV amp that was driving them, but the "feel" of the sound in this dem was mighty impressive. Note to self for when I move to France - ceiling mounted AV rear speakers work REALLY well!

Might start a new thread on hearing and brains... :cool:

[walpurgis]

I think a lot of the time, maybe all the time, it is our brains that are burning in, not the components.

Spot on!

Our ears and brains have to adapt to the sound of the system and any changes made to it. I use the term 'tune into' with regard to the period of adjustment. A new component in the system may take some time to 'tune into' before a valid opinion of its worth can be made.

I'm going to use the dreaded 'T' word here. Tannoys, every time I get a different pair they sound strange for a while. All Tannoy dual concentrics have a very distinct character of their own and take a while to get used to, Trouble is once you've 'tuned into' them nothing else sounds quite right.