ARC gear really does need 600hrs

[gardener]

My ARC ref 10 phono stage just got to 575 hrs
A real journey
Good out of the box but a bit controlled
200 hrs really started missing my old ref2 SE and actually that lasted for quite a while
From 450 on it started being far more consistent
Now well it is such a complete sound .I feel very lucky to have it

I have all ARC gear it all needs time to get to its full potential

[MPS]

It was pretty much same with REF PH2SE, sound quality was somewhat unstable until 300h and from thereon steady improvement. Hard to say if status quo was reached at 400h or 600h mark but end result is rewarding

[soundslikemusic]

agree! i have about 280 hours in my ref5se and the sound changes from time to time...
what i noticed is its great on the first 3 hours of use, after that it changes in most case for the worst...
i cant wait 600 hours... 3 more months to go at roughly 100 hours / month

[guitardave]

Originally Posted by soundslikemusic

agree! i have about 280 hours in my ref5se and the sound changes from time to time...
what i noticed is its great on the first 3 hours of use, after that it changes in most case for the worst...
i cant wait 600 hours... 3 more months to go at roughly 100 hours / month

Maybe buy used next time?

[ehoove]

I bought a LS16MkII preamp and it took maybe 300 hours to really sing. It replaced a used LS15 that had more hours on it, but it still took over 100 hours to settle down. Unless a owner is a dedicated music listener, 600 hours of listening takes a while.
Regards,
Jim

[kngale1]

I have 550 hours on my Ref 250 and it's really SINGING. SQ dramatically improved after 450 hours.

[Bobvin]

Ugh, I am in process now of running in my REF10/REF75. Will cross 300 hours today. Just letting it play quietly and sometimes a bit more volume shuffling through my digital library. Was trying to just add hours while actually listening, but around 180 hours the sound took a turn for the worse and sounded hollow and thin; at which point I decided to go ahead and run it in. Looks like a couple more weeks as I don't run it 24/7, but 10-12 hours stretches. Sometimes will turn it off for an hour then back on. I heard letting the caps charge/discharge helps move things along. Now I wish I'd perhaps have gotten a Ref Phono 2 SE at the same time—then I could have run them all in together.

[cmalak]

Bob...just make sure that when you turn it off that you don't turn it back on for at least 5 mins.

[gardener]

Originally Posted by kngale1

I have 550 hours on my Ref 250 and it's really SINGING. SQ dramatically improved after 450 hours.

I also have the Ref250s
Love them they are on a second set of tubes

What I was trying to say by this thread is the wait and process is so worth it

Don't fully judge the equipment till after 600 hrs

[cma29]

Originally Posted by gardener

My ARC ref 10 phono stage just got to 575 hrs
A real journey
Good out of the box but a bit controlled
200 hrs really started missing my old ref2 SE and actually that lasted for quite a while
From 450 on it started being far more consistent
Now well it is such a complete sound .I feel very lucky to have it

I have all ARC gear it all needs time to get to its full potential

Good to hear it finally got to its final sonic destination.

I would not have the patience to wait that long for a piece of gear to reach its potential particularly after paying so much money for it. It's even worse with tube gear because the burn-in process uses up tube life and then you have start again after getting new tubes.