How long is the break-in period for the Universal Truth mods

Pretender · « **on:** 27 Aug 2004, 11:35 am »

A couple of months ago, I had the Universal Truth mod installed on my Denon 2900..

Overall, I am quite pleased--especially with the quality of the workmanship! However, I have a couple of small quibbles related to vocals: Sometimes there is a bit of sibilance, and occasionally, for lack of a better description, they can sound like they are coming out of a tin can.

Is this related to the break-in process, or am I now hearing a more accurate rendition of the recording? I have done some research, and it seems as though the the Black Gates are very slow to settle in?? I currently have bewteen 75 and 100 hours on the unit.

I must restate that overall I am delighted with the mod--especially dynamics and separation/delineation of voices and instruments.

Thanks for all input!

Levi · « **Reply #1 on:** 27 Aug 2004, 01:30 pm »

We might have to wait for Dan as he is in Pacific time.

Bill Baker · « **Reply #2 on:** 27 Aug 2004, 11:25 pm »

Pretender,
Be patient. Black Gates (not to mention all the other components used throughout the mods) take forever and 3 days to break in. What you are experiencing now is common prior to these caps reaching potential. When the time comes, you will know it. Vocals will be lifelike and focused and overall, the midrange on up will settle down and smooth out but still retain exceptional inner detail, transparency and air.

It took my RAM units upwards of 150-200 hours to start settling down.

Rocket · « **Reply #3 on:** 28 Aug 2004, 02:23 am »

Hi Pretender,

I recently had my aksa 100 nirvana amplifier upgraded to plus status. It was mostly upgraded with blackgate caps and it has taken forever to burn in. Imo it has taken almost 200 hours to burn in properly.

As the amp was burning in i thought it sounded worse than the nirvana upgrade level of the amplifier. Play it 24/7 for a few days like i have, it should make a difference.

To be perfectly honest i used to laugh at people who stated products had a Long burn in process.

best wishes

rocket

ted_b · « **Reply #4 on:** 2 Sep 2004, 03:06 am »

I just received my Modwright Platinum level 999ES. Dan, before heading north to Canada, told me to expect "200 hrs plus three days"

for the Black gates, and to expect about 40 hours on the tubed stage/power supply. I'm frankly not sure how long to expect the MCH ouptuts (new opamps I guess) to take, but not worried about that right now. The break-in marathon began Monday afternoon and tomrw morning I will turn off the tubed stage for now. The poor SACD (Weather Report - heavy Weather) will continue to spin and send ever-clearer signals to my preamp for another 7-8 days or so, 24/7. Ah, audiophilia.....we are crazy frickin whackos.

Ted_B

modwright · « **Reply #5 on:** 7 Sep 2004, 01:51 am »

I would say that the BG's will take about 200 hours and are largely in the PS circuitry, so simply have the player on will enable this burn-in process. The tube stage and MCH circuits shouldn't take more than 48 hours or so to fully burn-in.

Enjoy!

Dan

Pretender · « **Reply #6 on:** 7 Sep 2004, 03:25 pm »

Thanks everyone for your input!

I have been doing some serious break-in with a Ocean Waves CD that I had on hand from Joule Electra; and the unit is sounding mighty fine. The "problem" before was that I was using music CDs--They would sound so good as background, that I would want to sit down and seriously listen...

BTW--Does anyone know if the tube output stage inverts phase?

modwright · « **Reply #7 on:** 8 Sep 2004, 06:06 am »

The tube stage does invert absolute phase, but the outputs from the player are IN PHASE. The signal feeding the tube stage is phase-inverted. In this way, the player outputs the signal in the correct phase.

Thanks,

Dan