Yes, it must be connected. SACD break in IS seperate. I ran mine about 16-18 hrs. a day to break in. Some prefer to keep it on 24/7. It will not be complete until say.. 500 hours, but should sound good at 190 hours or so. Don't believe those who say break in is a myth. Also try to find a reasonably priced way to gain some isolation like Vibrapods or better yet, Mod Squad Soft Shoes. Good luck. |
I totally agree with Bmpnyc, including his suggestions for isolation.
One guy in my audio group broke from the rest of us with this player. He choose Symposium Roller Blocks over my selection of Mod Squad Soft Shoes. Couldn't hurt to experiment with yours to see what makes it sing.
As for break in, the content of the music is probably not worth an argument. I myself try to play a mix of material, shifting from heavy rock to classical to soft Jazz and even dynamic movie sound tracks to insure the components are bathed in a wide variety of sounds.
Good luck with your player, I use the same model in my own system. It is a great value, with stunning DVD capability, and great sound from the SACD section. |
I case you missed it, the player should be connected to a dac,or pre amp, or receiver, during this break-in period.The receiver need not have speakers connected or volume applied, for break-in. |
Don't foget that you have two lasers to burn-in; the cd/dvd laser and then the sacd laser. The most common burn-in times I've heard are 200 min for the cd laser and 200 to 400 for the sacd laser.
The s9000es is a very nice all around unit.
Congratulations on your purchase and price. |
I just used the old method of playing music and waiting for it to burn in. It's not like you are going to be contaminated or anything. So, you have to wait awhile. Big deal. I just kept track of how many hours of CD I played, and how many hours of SACD. When you do it this way, you actually hear the stages of break-in. And it usually happens in "blocks". You will suddenly notice something different, after awhile. Then it will stay about the same for awhile, and then bang, another difference. At least that is what seems to happen in mine. I think it is a good idea to learn what break-in stages sound like, for your own knowledge. If you always use high-speed break-in methods, or non-listening break-in, you will never know what intermediate stages sound like. This information can be helpful when auditioning equipment. |
Thanks much for the good advice, I am very excited to get going with this puppy. I am somewhat torn on whether to listen to the break in (sounds intriguing, but frustrating at first) vs. use the fact that I cannot move in for the time being to get that done so that the music sounds great the first time I have people over. I will go hook it up to the A/V receiver and get it running a bit to get it started and then decide how much of the process I want to listen to later. I will also see if I can find a pair of Soft Shoes -- sounds great!
Thanks for all the ideas. |
I haven't tried this method of determining the hours logged on the 9000es - it was passed on to me by a fellow Audiogon member.
1, tv and any digital receiver ON ready to view the 9000es
2. the 9000es is to be OFF via the remote not the front panel ac switch
3. find the 3 keys .. TITLE, CLEAR, POWER .. and press in rapid sequence.
the service screen will appear
select Emergency History -
remote press: 4
emergency history screen will appear.
read -
cd hours
and
dvd + sacd hours
exit emergency history -
remote press: return
exit service mode
remote press: pwr off |
Damn,...wish I would have seen this thread earlier. I purchased a 9000 and heard this "stuff" about burn-in..so, I put it in my "S.O.T.A." GE Profile microwave on 2days at about half power... Well, after replacing the magnetron tube on the GE..I got another 9000 and(upon the recommendation of a former friend) tried it in a conventional oven at 375 for about 50 min...well, same results...total meltdown! On my 3rd, and last, 9000..I tried just running it for several hours on DVD/SACD/CD and guess what....after around 300 hours, or so, it was very good. |
Dw00, Thanks for passing on that emergency history screen info. I tried it and got exactly what you stated. That was a great thing to know. I wrote it down on the back of my user's manual. Thanks again. |
I have been going with the "play it and listen" approach and am finding it quite rewarding. There really have been distinct improvements in stages. The difference in terms of the highs smoothing out and enhanced detail have been quite remarkable. I am periodically testing the player on a few of my reference tracks (for highs, lows, and detail) and the difference (especially in detail) has been amazing. I am probably up to about 50 hours and it is sounding quite good, but still needs a bit of refinement in the highs. I am looking forward to what it will sounds like once I get to 200+! (And I haven't even started on SACD yet!) |
Gheon, I have over 500 hours on mine in CD and it sounds unbelieveable now. I am at about 150 hours on SACD and it still isn't broken in yet on that laser. I don't have as many SACD's so it gets kind of old listening to the same ones over and over. It is definitely better than when it was new though. I can't understand that some say the 9000 doesn't have good redbook. They must have some kind of great CD players! |
