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Phonostage Burn-in to keep unit sharp

There are phonostage burn-in products out there (KAB, Hagerman, Thor) that utilize your CD player. Most frequently these products are used to speed up the break-in process of your phonostage. But are they worthwhile to use every month or so to improve phonostage performance? I was told doing this is akin to driving your car on the freeway to blow out the carbon. I've yet to buy a burn-in unit. Do you think they are worthwhile?
richardmr

Showing 1 response by pauly

pauly
1,012 posts
 
Hi Richard.

I use a Hagerman Frycleaner reverse RIAA to burn in my step-ups and phonostages. I found that they [step-ups and phono cables] tend to go green after about three months, even when used regularly. The phonostages are not too bad, but step-ups and the phono cable (if you use LOMC) needs a regular burn in.

Burning-in aligns the polarity in the dielectric of the wiring. The very low voltage of a LOMC is not enough to keep it aligned so you need to put higher voltage a signal through to realign every so often.

I strongly suspect folks who dislike step-ups, dislike them because they are unaware that low voltage signals allow step-ups to go (or stay) green and therefore sound quite horrible.

I have not used any of the CD’s that output a phono signal from a CD player as yet, but I suspect it work just as well (and no soldering needed!)

Regards
Paul
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