Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems G68 break-in time?

I've hade my G68 running continously for 4 days now, do you think that is enough?

/SA

I suggest you just listen to some music and worry about break-in issues (be it the g68, cables, your ears)if you don't like the sound in about a months time.

Would be interested in your first impressions to compare with mine

Cliff

The first G68 unit I had at home was a demo unit from the dealer... I found the sound very harsh even after playing with it for 20 hours.
Appearantly it had a board switched before I got it, so it only had 10 hours on it.

I decided to give the G68 I bought a thourough break-in

I'll let it run 24/7 for a few more days.

Right now I'm looking at amps to drive the mains and center channel. It's probably going to be something based on the B&O ICE class D circuitry.


/SA

[This message has been edited by saster (edited 08-10-2004).]

G68/861/568.2 about 4 seconds.
Cables 0.0000001 seconds.
Speakers a couple months.
Ears a couple months.

GM,

You wish
I'm not sure why it always takes so long to break in digital equipment... Speakers I can understand but...

/SA

[This message has been edited by saster (edited 08-11-2004).]

George

Totally agree! Cliff

I was wondering how long it would take for the war to begin with a question about break-in.

Love the responses!

Soren, Just listen and decide for yourself. Everyone has different views about break-in. Some hear it, some don't.

I'm with Saster on this. My last Meridian purchase took a month to a month and a half to settle down and all my cables were broken in, speakers and all. I went from a 568.1 to a 568.2 so it wasn't my ears breaking in. There was a difference. After a month or so the two sounded about the same with the same sound track. There was a peak in the midrange that was forward and a little harsh and my unit was a demo so it already had some play time on it. My 568.1 had years of play time on it already.

Ron

At great risk, I'll continue the break-in debate.

10 things below which, in my opinion will influence the sound more than your cables breaking in:

Your listening position (+- a few cms)
Position of room furnishings
Ambient temperature
Ambient noise
Humidity
Condition of your speaker cones
Your state of mind (mood)
Your state of body (alert, tired)
Status of your ear muscles
Expectation of change (placebo effect)

A super computer analysing a digitized air-pressure curve might be cable of discerning minute changes in sound quality, but the human brain?? Add to this the problem that these comparisons are being made over a long time period and I think we have measurements which are beyond the capacity of the human brain (even your's Ron)

Well, beyond my acoustic abilities anyway.

Cliff

Cliff you may be suprised with just how sensitive our ears and brains can be.

Hi Cliff,

I agree with everyting you said that can change the sound. And I can hear those changes too. I know them well. I also recognize differences in cable designs. I can hear the differences. More so with speaker cables than others. All the high end dealers can hear the differences. I can sit in one place and someone can change a cable and it can be a major change. I've witnessed it too much to blow it off. Some designs sound very similar so those are harder or imposible to tell the differences.

There are other factors that can mask the differences such as power line noise, ground loops that cause low level noise to flow between components on the interconnects. Get rid of these or reduce these gremlins and the differences between cables will show up quite well.

What can I say! I know what sounds right to me and my ears. Can it be better? Yes it can with higher end electronics such as the 861 or separates like WADIA DAC's or Mark Levenson DAC's or higher end cables but I don't strive for the ultimate. I can't afford it and at some point we all need to sit back and enjoy the music. I just want it smooth and clear with good imaging at all volumes. I'm there with my system.

Cheers,

Ron

I totally agree with Cliff.

I can't believe how much people talk about digital cable differences and don't even mention humidity, barometric pressure and temperature. These have SO much more effect than any cable.

Ever notice how different your voice travels on a damp evening just before a thunderstorm is about to hit. I can hardly hear my wife talk in the other room because the air is so thick you can almost see it. In fact sometimes you can see it !!!

A poorly designed piece of electronics may have some break in because components do change with heat and time (tubes are a good example). But a well designed one should change very little.

And unless cables are getting hot or deteriating extremely fast they should not change at all. I suppose a poorly made cable with paper insulation may get some moisture into them that might change them some (for the better?). Or is some chemical or dampness drying out in the cable. I'd say if they are changing then they are poor cables because they should not change.

Most break in is acquired taste.

I also agree with mood and how tired you are. My system sounds totally different in the morning than in the evening due to many factors cliff listed.

Yes, the human ear and brain is amazing. It adjusts.

I agree with all these factors, but I had two G91's in my possession to play with and I COULD hear the difference between the broken in unit vs. the new out of box.

Wish I could do a blind a/b to really know if I'm just trippin'?