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What should I do?

Recently, at a brick and mortar audio dealer, I listened to a high-end moving coil cartridge.  It sounded really good, and I was impressed.  The retail for this cartridge was more then I wanted to spend ($4500), but to make a long story short, the dealer offered me a rare deal, ($2500+tax) brand new, so I bought it.  Got it home, and carefully installed it last night.  I listened to it for about 2.5 hours.  It is really good, but I don't think (at this point), that it's that much better then my old cartridge (at least, not yet).
Ok, so this morning I played around with the loading.  Better, but still I'm not happy.  Now, with only about 5 hours on this new Cartridge, I realize that it's not broken in yet.  I'm looking for input as to your thoughts on how I should proceed.
1.  Are cartridges purchased from high-end dealers returnable (I don't want to create any bad feelings with this dealer, since he gave me such a good price)?
2.  I was told 50 hours of break-in time for this Cartridge.  Should I wait the break-in period to make any decisions?
Any thoughts on how you think I should proceed are appreciated! 


louisl

Showing 1 response by edgewear

edgewear
543 posts
 
First you need to share a few things:
1. What cartridge are we talking about?
2. What system did you hear it with at the shop?
3. What system do you use at home?

The dealer should obviously have told you this, but the sound of a cartridge is system dependent. This might go a long way to explain why you were impressed at the shop and less so in your own home.   

There are exceptions, but it's highly unlikely that the dealer will accept a return and offer a full refund. Not immediately and certainly not after another 50 hours of break-in. If you stay underwhelmed, you might consider asking the dealer to come over and check if you installed it correctly. 

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