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Brake in for the Aesthetix Calypso and Rhea

If you could take a minute to help me with a question, it would be appreciated. I am borrowing a new just out of the box Aesthetix Rhea phono preamp and Calypso line stage from a dealer with intention to buy depending on how it sounds in my system. He just sold his demio units. How long does it take to break in the two units? I have approximately 20 hours on the Calypso and 3 hours on the Rhea.
The Calypso is starting to sound wonderful espcially in the midrange except for a slight upper midrange hardness that I think may be slowly going away, a slight loss dynamics and a drop dark. The Rhea nedds alot of time and is still very tight and very hard in the upper midrange but I've only played about 9 album sides. The unit is set for 250 ohms and 62db of gain. Easiest settings ever.
I need to make up my mind this week so any help and insight is appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Al

Sota, SME V, Benz 2 (.6mv)
AR CD3
Coherence I Series I (Original)(Trying to replace)
Rowland 8ti
Mirage M-1
Transparent Ultra xl cable
dra1
bingaman
10 posts
 
I can't help you with the Calypso, but my Rhea took about 100 hours or so before it really started to sound it's best. I've heard the Io in a system I'm familiar with and I'd have to say that the Rhea gives me nearly identical performance. If you don't buy it now I'm pretty sure you'll return to it later. It is an amazing phono stage once you've given it time to break in.
rwd
695 posts
 
So Dral....tell us! What do you think? Especially of the Rhea. I am considering buying one.
albertporter's avatar
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albertporter
4,949 posts
 
Dra1, your complaint about "hardness" in the upper midrange can result from slightly overloading the Calypso's input stages.

The Rhea has a lot of gain, making it compatible with a wide variety of cartridges. Lowering gain slightly will not adversely effect the noise or dynamics and might be the solution to the tonal balance issue.

Another idea, and you may have already considered this, this pair resolves VTA adjustments more clearly than you may be accustomed to. It costs nothing to check again, could make the difference in whether you buy or return.

Good luck with this. Keep us posted on what you decide to do.
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