Breaking in new speakers

[mtrycrafts]

Almost eveyone agrees that it takes a little time for the spider & surround to fully break in. A transducer is a mechanical device, so that doesn't sound at all farfetched to me. Some brands claim exhorbitant lengths of time are necessary, but I've never found that to be true.

Some interesting reading; he is the best:

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=author:DPierce@world.std.com+and+speaker+break+in&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=55f3ca$opt@agate.berkeley.edu&rnum=1

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=author:DPierce@world.std.com+and+speaker+break+in&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=76ghfk$1tr$1@ccsi.com&rnum=2

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=author:DPierce@world.std.com+and+speaker+break+in&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=4m5ij6$7a9@biosun.harvard.edu&rnum=3

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=author:DPierce@world.std.com+and+speaker+break+in&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=43n5sm$l5f@agate.berkeley.edu&rnum=5

Or, search for a library of his writing on this subject

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&q=author:DPierce@world.std.com+speaker+break-in&btnG=Search

 

[Rob Babcock]

I'll spare myself the blizzard of "self appointed expert witnesses." At any rate, whether break in takes 5 seconds or 50 hours is irrelevant. By the time a guy gets a few CDs or movies on his speakers, the deed is done if there's any deed to do.

I suppose if you had the money and the motivation, you could buy two pairs of identical speakers, then set up an ABX test to ensure they sounded identical out of the box (one can't assume they will even if they're the same model). If they do prove to be indentical in sound, you could then rebox one pair while "breaking in" the second for, say, 500 hrs. Bandwidth-limited pink noise should do it, with speakers wired out of phase pointed at each other (so you don't get kicked out of your house by someone less "scientific" than you are ). Then simply repeat the test. If the "broken in" pair can be reliably differentiated from the "new" pair, then voile!

In the end, who'd really give a rats keister, anyway? All speakers will eventually reach the point where skeptics & true believers would both agree they're "broken in" anyway. As audio beliefs go, true or not, this one's pretty damn benign, don't you think?

 

[mtrycrafts]

I suppose if you had the money and the motivation, you could buy two pairs of identical speakers, then set up an ABX test to ensure they sounded identical out of the box (one can't assume they will even if they're the same model). If they do prove to be indentical in sound, you could then rebox one pair while "breaking in" the second for, say, 500 hrs. Bandwidth-limited pink noise should do it, with speakers wired out of phase pointed at each other (so you don't get kicked out of your house by someone less "scientific" than you are ). Then simply repeat the test. If the "broken in" pair can be reliably differentiated from the "new" pair, then voile!

This is exactely what Tom Nousaine did. Maybe the company sent him the drivers to test

"Breaking Wind", Nousaine, Tom, Car Stereo Review, Jan/Feb 1997, pg 90-94. (Break in myth)

"Test Report: Dynaudio MW 190, 12" Subwoofer", Nousaine, Tom, Car Stereo Review, Oct 1997, pg 83-88.

From the links in my previous message by Pierce, it appears by measurements that the low driver is the one affected by use. But he also shows that they recover after being off. So, it is a constant change

In the end, who'd really give a rats keister, anyway? All speakers will eventually reach the point where skeptics & true believers would both agree they're "broken in" anyway. As audio beliefs go, true or not, this one's pretty damn benign, don't you think?

Yes, most benign. No harm one way or the other unless you buy CD with specific signals to do the job.
But, the effect is that a non issue gets so much attention and flamed on. It should be burried.

 

[markw]

Here's my non-technical experience.

About two years ago I picked up a pair of Athena Audition AS-f1's. Out of the box, I noticed just a trace of harshness around the vocal range. I was not too pleased but, having some time to decide wether to return 'em or not, I let 'em play for a few hours while I went about my business.

The next day I turned the stereo on and , lo and behold, the harshness was gone. No DBT, but the same DJ certainly sounded much cleaner. Then , a CD I played before was tried and again, the voices were much smoother.

So, I don't see a problem with giving new speakers a few days to "settle in", but if the manufacturer demands an unreasonable amount of time, like several weeks or several hundred hours, then I'd be a little leary of them.

But, if you don't like the overall sound of the speaker from day one, don't expect miracles. The change I noted was very slight.

 

[Leprkon]

Breaking things in

I would say that what would be most important to me would be that the warranty where I get all my money back is at least several times as long as the the "recommended" time to break in. A good (bad??) salesman might use break in is a poor excuse to bust a warranty.....

 

[bray]

Ditto! Rip Van Woofer.

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

As audio beliefs go, true or not, this one's pretty damn benign, don't you think?

Yes...unless, as Lepkron points out, the "break in period" is equal to or greater than the seller's return-for-refund-or-exchange period!

A quick word about surrounds, spiders, and other elastic components. I always figured most elastics were like the waistband of your undies*: after a brief (pun not intended) break-in (or stretch) they're pretty stable for a long time until they reach a rapid final breakdown period.

Of course, speaker spiders and surrounds don't have to deal with a gradually expanding cone diameter!

Thanks, Bray!

----

*If you are unfamiliar with this concept, we'd rather not hear about it!