Confuse: REF75 or REF150

[soundslikemusic]

Originally Posted by TMcD

It's a journey, but well worth it. It will start to sound really good after 100 hours or so and just get better.
Congrats on a great amp.

Thanks! it really is a great amp! now in its cycle, not sounding so good... a bit thin.. now have 88 hours roughly in there.

[Bobvin]

I am at ~160 hours on my Ref10/REF75/Alexia pairing, and my last listening session was the best sounding thus far. The 'body' of the music is starting to really fill in--I suppose the "meat on the bone" analogy is appropriate. Harmonically there is becoming so much more "fullness" to the sound. If the changes are just going to continue for the next couple hundred hours I'm excited!

As I am about to list my REF110 and REF3 for sale, I dropped them in individually to check hours. With the REF10 feeding the REF110, the sonic differences were subtle, I would have had to spend an evening listening to find the key markers between the amps. But when I put the REF3 with the 110 I realized immediately improvements the REF10 had added. The REF3 is great. But the transparency the REF10 adds is obvious. Again, if I spent an evening with the pre I'd have more notes, but just turning it on was all that was needed to know the REF10 was superior (as it should be, of course.)

[Frank750]

Originally Posted by Bobvin

I am at ~160 hours on my Ref10/REF75/Alexia pairing, and my last listening session was the best sounding thus far. The 'body' of the music is starting to really fill in--I suppose the "meat on the bone" analogy is appropriate. Harmonically there is becoming so much more "fullness" to the sound. If the changes are just going to continue for the next couple hundred hours I'm excited!

As I am about to list my REF110 and REF3 for sale, I dropped them in individually to check hours. With the REF10 feeding the REF110, the sonic differences were subtle, I would have had to spend an evening listening to find the key markers between the amps. But when I put the REF3 with the 110 I realized immediately improvements the REF10 had added. The REF3 is great. But the transparency the REF10 adds is obvious. Again, if I spent an evening with the pre I'd have more notes, but just turning it on was all that was needed to know the REF10 was superior (as it should be, of course.)

Are you running your Ref 10 on a continual basis to break it in or are you only using it when you sit down to listen to music? I have the pre amp and Ref 10 phono arriving shortly and I'm torn on what to do with break in. I'm thinking about running both pieces constantly for a week or so and then gutting it out one listening session at a time. 600 hours is an awful long time!

[soundslikemusic]

i run mine from 8 am to 6 pm everyday and just put volume setting @ the lowest level when not listening and when listening i put it at normal levels.
during listening session when its not so good sounding due to the break in cycle, i put it back @ the lowest levels.

[soundslikemusic]

when i get my ref5se, i plan to do a 24 hour breakin in just leaving the tuner on and the ref5se on, putting off the ref 75.

[Bobvin]

I only turn it on to listen, maybe an hour before to let things warmup and stabilize. That way I can turn the heat on in the room if its cold so I can turn it off while listening. Sometimes I even let the cartridge spin through one side of an LP before switching to the phono - which lets the cartridge warm up a little.

I tried faster burn in on prior gear, now I'm being more patient and listening for the changes as the gear evolves. I think I'll have my REF10 and Alexias for at least five years, so no need to rush things along. The amp may migrate to a GS150 sometime this year.

[soundslikemusic]

Originally Posted by Bobvin

I only turn it on to listen, maybe an hour before to let things warmup and stabilize. That way I can turn the heat on in the room if its cold so I can turn it off while listening. Sometimes I even let the cartridge spin through one side of an LP before switching to the phono - which lets the cartridge warm up a little.

I tried faster burn in on prior gear, now I'm being more patient and listening for the changes as the gear evolves. I think I'll have my REF10 and Alexias for at least five years, so no need to rush things along. The amp may migrate to a GS150 sometime this year.

That's a good point!! anyway it does sound good and at times not so good... we shall see... ill probably at least run the REF75 and ReF5se around 200hours and from there just let time take its course.

[4RE]

burn in is enhanced with cycling, better to turn on-off on daily basis then let it work for weeks on end. with phono section buy the KAB phono burnin tool for some 80 dollar and connect the CD player on repeat. with regular vinyl spinning it would take lots more time and effort.

with the on-off cycling process the whole circuit and its parts will be enhanced in the 'formatting' it is basically the same as the old car batteries of yesteryears time, which needed formatting to get to their 100 percent charging status

[soundslikemusic]

4re, i plan to run it 8 hours a day and turn off and night and start again the next day.

maybe on a few days run it 24 hours and let it rest for a few hours and run again 8 hours straight. will see how things progresses.