is this normal ?

[soundslikemusic]

hi guys

i now have 210 hours in REF5SE and 300 hours in REF75.

what i notice is this.

at this stage of time, the first 2 hours of music playing is very good. Great sound, but after 3 hours or so heading to 5 hours of playing, music all of a sudden becomes a bit dry and a bit hard sounding. Sometimes i feel i have to crank up the volume higher to have the same level of loudness.

I have observed this already on the last 3 listening sessions.

This is something i did not notice too much on the earlier part of the break in process.

Does this mean, i need to run in in more hours ?

Thanks !!

[Ritmo]

Let them break in some more - enjoy the ride!

[analog brother]

the paperwork does say 600hrs.
doesn't mean you can't enjoy it before then; it may take you 6 months to get there.

[pete6737]

I have 252 hrs on my Ref5se. I have not had the experience. Conversely, my first 30 minutes sounds harder ( not bad) but the sound sweetens up when it's been running for 30-45 minutes. I guess it's a little like me in the morning. I need time to warm up and work out my stiffness before I can really jump into a workout.

[Banter]

Originally Posted by Ritmo

Let them break in some more - enjoy the ride!

The vary reason, I had to get rid of my 5se! How can electronics after 200 hours get wonky and gets normal and then plays yoyo till 600 hours?

[joel6m]

In my view there is no reason for that.
It looks like a misfunctionality. Perhaps a wrong solder or defective component...
Keep us informed with sound evolution.

Good luck,

Joël.

[Alki]

Originally Posted by pete6737

I have not had the experience. Conversely, my first 30 minutes sounds harder ( not bad) but the sound sweetens up when it's been running for 30-45 minutes. I guess it's a little like me in the morning. I need time to warm up and work out my stiffness before I can really jump into a workout.

This is my sediments exactly. Even after the break in period I still find this to be the case.

I have never experienced what the OP is going through. I should also add that I have always used a solid state amp with my ARC pre. Could this be an amp issue? What you are experiencing does not sound like a normal break in experience.

[soundslikemusic]

Originally Posted by joel6m

In my view there is no reason for that.
It looks like a misfunctionality. Perhaps a wrong solder or defective component...
Keep us informed with sound evolution.

Good luck,

Joël.

in my non-expert opinion, if above was true then it will always sound bad or abnormal.

my experience is that when things been running for a good 3-4 hours, its when things become to sound a bit hard and the treble a bit dry... fortunately today at about 3 hours things were still sounding good. I will observe again tomorrow and see what reckons.

[stock78]

Originally Posted by soundslikemusic

hi guys

i now have 210 hours in REF5SE and 300 hours in REF75.

what i notice is this.

at this stage of time, the first 2 hours of music playing is very good. Great sound, but after 3 hours or so heading to 5 hours of playing, music all of a sudden becomes a bit dry and a bit hard sounding. Sometimes i feel i have to crank up the volume higher to have the same level of loudness.

I have observed this already on the last 3 listening sessions.

This is something i did not notice too much on the earlier part of the break in process.

Does this mean, i need to run in in more hours ?

Thanks !!

Hi Soundslikemusic,

I have now over 1000 hrs on ARC Ref 5SE with Krell Mono 400E.
I listen mostly in the weekend, so on saterday I switch my gear on after 6 days off and it had to been warmed up properly.
The first 15 to 30 minutes the music is less accentuated, less air around instruments. Nevertheless I enjoy the sound even at this stage.
After this SQ increased for every parameter, however somewhere around indeed 2-3 hours it happens to show it's potential.
Music-lines become clear, i've got now a big stage with a lot of air around and a firm and articulate low-end well integrated in the whole picture. Like this a lot!

Maybe you hear this as a little dry, however here it never sounds hard, not even from minute 0 after switch on.
No need also to crank up the volume; I mostly listen to very low sound-levels on Ref 5SE, around 2-6 is most of the time sufficient, out of 104 possible!

Normally the sound had to sweeten up indeed when warming up, so reversing this after 2-3 hours is strange.

I think you just hear what's your system is all about. When you did not like what you hear after 2-3 hrs, there will be somewhere a mismatch with 5SE/75.
Unlikely I think it has to do with the break-inn process, but hey, this is also possible.
Just my thoughts of course.

Success!

[Frank750]

I have a Ref 10 line stage and phono stage currently breaking in. I had inconsistent and quite frankly not very good sound until I hit 300 hours on both pieces. My system was all over the place (bad) until then. I crossed 400 hours yesterday and things have improved dramatically. I now have consistently excellent sound in all frequency ranges with great layering and a wide and deep soundstage, something I was never even close to before I hit 300 hours

If you haven't hit 300 hours then I wouldn't be concerned about what you're hearing from your system. I'm using the Ref 10 pre and Ref 10 Phono with Pass Xs 300 amplifiers and I'm absolutely thrilled at what I'm hearing now. I think you will be too once the Ref 5 and 75 have a little more time to break in.