Stratos Burn in...When did you think Amp was at its best

carusoracer · « **on:** 14 Dec 2005, 11:26 pm »

Stratos Burn in...When did you think Amp was at its best?
Just as the title suggests...After logging how many hours did you notice that the Amplifier(s) were sounding the best?

I have not really listened at all and will be hitting the 150 hr mark today.
Looking forward to hearing other forum members experiences.

Happy Holiday's,
Oydssey Stratos Extreme newbie

Jim N. · « **Reply #1 on:** 14 Dec 2005, 11:55 pm »

I noticed a big change in my Stereo Extreme around the 275-325 hour mark of continuous inital play. It is an upgraded b-stock so your results may vary

. It was running at low volume 90% of that time. Sounded great out of the box but took a big leap foward after about 2 weeks of contstant playing.

rosconey · « **Reply #2 on:** 15 Dec 2005, 12:09 am »

cant say exact hours-but when it starts to happen you will know

F-100 · « **Reply #3 on:** 15 Dec 2005, 12:27 am »

I concur with Rosconey. You will notice a big difference.
Be sure to leave your system on 24/7.

Musky_Don · « **Reply #4 on:** 15 Dec 2005, 03:18 am »

"I have not really listened at all and will be hitting the 150 hr mark today. "

Listening during and through break-in is half the fun. I suggest you pour yourself a glass of 12 yr old (or whatever may be your choice of libation), sit your ass down and enjoy.

To answer your question, about two weeks (however many hours that is). I noticed improvement into 4+ weeks. How much of that is the scotch - I can not be certain. I have a set of standard monos and a set of Ex monos. The Exs were better out of the box - meaning the standard monos had a more defined break in.

My wife is at a business gig. Life is grand. (Wisers very old 18 yr - had a freind bring it back from CN.)

Listen and enjpoy.,

Digi-G · « **Reply #5 on:** 15 Dec 2005, 03:15 pm »

I heard a big change just a couple of days into my Stratos. The initial 'tinny' sound started going away and the bass started reaching waaay lower. Then it seemed to slowly get more refined at the frequency extremes.

There's a good chance your amp is most of the way there by now, although it varies. What I found is when I was actively listening for the changes (after the initial break in) they were hard to spot, but when I was just listening and enjoying the music the amp would surprise me. YMMV.

jkm · « **Reply #6 on:** 15 Dec 2005, 04:57 pm »

I'm not able to have mine playing continuously because I live in a loft and I would get no sleep. So in my case the full bloom didn't start happening until after a couple of months.

bunky · « **Reply #7 on:** 15 Dec 2005, 09:58 pm »

Quote from: James K-M

I'm not able to have mine playing continuously because I live in a loft and I would get no sleep. So in my case the full bloom didn't start happening until after at least four months. I've had my monos now since August and in some ways am still waiting for them to sound as good as my previous Stratos stereo. I'm also a slow reader you see.

the extreme monos take the longest of any of the Odyssey Amplifiers to fully break in. i have had mine since May and i know it took more than twice as long as my Khartago monos took to burn in. i thought the extremes still sounded pretty good right out of the box though. thanks....WCW III

carusoracer · « **Reply #8 on:** 16 Dec 2005, 02:38 pm »

Thanks for the replies.

I do not believe mine is close yet. It does not sound better than my previous Amp in the areas I was hoping that it would excel. (yet)

OTH, It does have quite the Wicked amount of current. If this is 150w/Ch @ 8ohms I would like to see the specs

Nice power. My Lower Mid's and Midrange itself is very good and is one of the best I have heard at this price point. This is a very nice revelation, but it was exaclty what I expected to hear given the reviews and conversations with Odyssey. So I expected no less.

I'm just waiting for the 2 opposite extreme ends of the frequencies to come to join the party

jkm · « **Reply #9 on:** 16 Dec 2005, 05:37 pm »

Regarding break-in: If I have my two amps + preamp + sacd player all plugged into the same wall outlet, would this create any constraint of current that would constrain sound or break-in?

James

Marbles · « **Reply #10 on:** 16 Dec 2005, 06:15 pm »

carusoracer,

I'm curious what the rest of your system is like. It could be there is something else besides the amp that is keeping you from enjoying the "Frequency extremes".

carusoracer · « **Reply #11 on:** 16 Dec 2005, 06:34 pm »

Quote from: Marbles

carusoracer,

I'm curious what the rest of your system is like. It could be there is something else besides the amp that is keeping you from enjoying the "Frequency extremes".

I can only seem to get my system components to come up in the members systems registry but not attached to my Signature? I must not have check something?

Here is my System link:http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?action=systems;system=570

buckeyefanandy · « **Reply #12 on:** 18 Dec 2005, 03:35 am »

When I bought my Khartago a couple of months back I did not have a repeat mode on my cd player so I just kept playing cds as possible.

I kept the gear on at all times, but when I began to read this thread I thought well maybe I am missing something. So long story short I have been playing a loop of TSO, Fairfield four, the Beatles, Keb Mo and U2 for the last 48 hours at various levels and holy moly. Even with my cheap BB ICs and Onkyo CD changer I am begining to see this thing open up. Wow, Santa Klaus has come again with my new Khartago, when did he sneek in and change my amp?

Chapman T7 speakers to be added this weekend, should be a solid step forward over the DCM TF,

carusoracer · « **Reply #13 on:** 20 Dec 2005, 06:55 pm »

Quote from: buckeyefanandy

When I bought my Khartago a couple of months back I did not have a repeat mode on my cd player so I just kept playing cds as possible.

I kept the gear on at all times, but when I began to read this thread I thought well maybe I am missing something. So long story short I have been playing a loop of TSO, Fairfield four, the Beatles, Keb Mo and U2 for the last 48 hours at various levels and holy moly. Even with my cheap BB ICs and Onkyo CD changer I am begining to see this thing open up. Wow, Santa Klau ...

I have always done burn in with my old beater CD player or Tuner. I been playing music for 14 days straight. I will be able to give a strong listen again this weekend.
I had a nice seesion on Saturday for approx 5 hrs... no listening fatigue,despite the fact that this Amp does play loud. No audible distortortion that I can hear. Or was just me wanting to play the music louder

I read through the manual again and it does not seem like I will be able to hear it at its best untill 500 hrs if I'm reading it right. That should be this weekend...

carusoracer · « **Reply #14 on:** 2 Feb 2006, 02:31 pm »

"The Odyssey Amp does offer a bigger soundstage, a deeper and weighty bottom end, with a very tight control over your speaker. The midrange is a close call with the nod to the A3cr, the upper midrange and ulitimate top end extension goes to the Odyssey. The A3cr does have sweet treble with details but somehow the Odyssey goes further. The big winner with the Odyssey is the slam factor,it takes the cake there. I think it would be very versatile with HT usage.
IMHO, the Odyssey does have a very smooth sound with good extensions in both frequency extremes. Downfall is you must be very,very,patient with 24/7 Burn in, approx 1000 hrs. Even at that point with the unit always left on it still needs to play for 1hr at a good listening level before critical evaluation."
This is my response to another member thinking about the Odyssey Line.
I wanted to repost regarding my Burn in concerns. I'm enjoying my Stratos Extreme as it has settled in nicely. There are still somedays where the Amp will sound a bit too smooth or have too much warmth and other days it will sound just right. I cannot attribute any outside elements to this phenom so I simply turn it off untill the light is very dim and turn it back on. This was a suggestion of another forum member. I then will play track "7" from my Ayre Efficacious disc and comeback and listen a half an hour or so later. The high and low level details comeback into focus...

Maybe someone can chime hear. I'm no engineer but I can only attribute this to the big Caps(180,000uf) in my case.

I'm now very curious about the Mono Extremes but not sure I could endure the long burn in period

Nice amplifier,but remember the Caveat and read the instruction manual carefully. Burn is critical

Randy · « **Reply #15 on:** 2 Feb 2006, 09:10 pm »

I suspect that right out of the box the Mono Extremes will sound better than your Stratos Extreme, and will only improve from then on during the "burn in period." My ME's were great from the get-go and replaced, take your pick, a top rated Plinius integrated, a Classe 200 (power amp) , and a Musical Fidelity CR (power amp). I've never looked back.

"Not sure I could endure the long burn in period," you said, as if it would be a painful experience. Nothing could be further from the truth.

AJS · « **Reply #16 on:** 6 Feb 2006, 02:47 pm »

This thread reminds me of something similar in the world of cycling: the initial break-in period of a Brooks leather saddle. A lot people are scared away from them because they can be hard and unforgiving at first, but once they conform to your butt, they are some of the most comfortable bike saddles ever devised my man, and they last virtually forever.

carusoracer · « **Reply #17 on:** 27 Mar 2006, 06:11 pm »

Well after a few extended listening parties and some good A/B comparison's about a month ago, I finally was satisified to see the "Blue Light" on when I come home to listen to some music. I had been out of town and attending to Life in general and had not listened for about 2 1/2 weeks to the "Rig". I decided to play some newly acquired sounds.

I'm sure many of you are after the Grail of elusive recordings. For me it was Jazz @ the Pawnshop. A fellow AC member,Thanks Tony! helped me out and I was able to finally listen to this vaunted disc.
I did my normal 1hr warmup, not any critical listening, then plopped in the Mapleshade Sampler. Very nice recording,some tracks better than others. But what really stood out was the Soundstaging and pinpoint imaging. I could hear the seperation of the instruments and the Wetness of the Reed from the Alto Sax player blowing. It was very nice, a little bass shy but open and airy.
Next I qued up the "Pawnshop" disc and nearly dropped my beverage during the first few Stanza's. I cannot believe this was recorded so cleanly in 76'. The only memories I have of 76' was the BiCentennial, and some very inept and poor excuses for Sportscars "Mustang 2"

The 4th or 5th track was outstanding as you could hear the cups being placed on the saucers and the cash register ringing in the back ground,precisely placed throught the recording. The horns and vibes were stunning. The "Liveness" of the Soundstage was spooky. It seemed like I had a different AMP then 2 months ago.

Now, comes the kicker. I have been looking at new equipment,as usual to compliment my foundation and have been looking at CDP's. I had just talked to Mr Hampton of Z Cable about his latest Z Sleeve products. He advised me to change the location of my sleeve from the Power chord to Hotbox, distributing a little of the effect of the sleeve to all the components, to placing the Sleeve on one speaker cable and A/B ing the 2 speakers. Or putting the Sleeve on the IC's from the CDP to the PreAmp.

I opted to try the CDP IC placement and wait the cursory 24 hrs and take a listen for any change. Wow is this a revealing Amp. Of course the "Reality" cables did not hurt either. I could feel the energy of strong transient Bass tracks and Twacks of sticks,Cymbals, strings Etc. I could hear the power behind the Horn now. Everything is more Palpable,Coherent, and Focused. And Of course Bass Slam and Extension with articulation.
This is a very revealing Amp. It does need time to work it's magic from Day 1. But good things come to those who can wait. I look forward to tweaking a few more pieces. But the Anchor has been weighed and set

BobC · « **Reply #18 on:** 27 Mar 2006, 07:57 pm »

Does the volume affect the burn-in time? Specifically, does burn-in take longer if done with low listening levels?

Thanks!

carusoracer · « **Reply #19 on:** 27 Mar 2006, 08:24 pm »

Quote from: BobC

Does the volume affect the burn-in time? Specifically, does burn-in take longer if done with low listening levels?

Thanks!

I'm no authority here but I played mine at low levels in the evenings and during the day played it at a pretty good level when no one was home. I seemed to get good results when the Heatsinks were fairly warm to the touch. I liken it to the Amp is starting to work up a little sweat

I'm sure there is a full technical breakdown by others but I equate it to the same procedures as my Gallo Speakers which need to be played fairly loud for extended hours "to limber up the Woofer" if I remember the manual's quote....YMMV

Good luck