how long does it take to break in speakers?

[darien87]

I'm not a big believer in speaker break in either but when I was unhappy with the sound Danny told me to give my CSB's about 100 hours of break in time before critically evaluating them. It turned out that placement was the issue but still he made the suggestion. Was that a ploy to try to prevent me from returning the speakers? Who knows?

 

[j_garcia]

I'm not a big believer in speaker break in either but when I was unhappy with the sound Danny told me to give my CSB's about 100 hours of break in time before critically evaluating them. It turned out that placement was the issue but still he made the suggestion. Was that a ploy to try to prevent me from returning the speakers? Who knows?

I highly doubt it. Even after 100hrs, he would have taken them back I am sure, if you were really dissatisfied.

 

[Pyrrho]

I'm not a big believer in speaker break in either but when I was unhappy with the sound Danny told me to give my CSB's about 100 hours of break in time before critically evaluating them. It turned out that placement was the issue but still he made the suggestion. Was that a ploy to try to prevent me from returning the speakers? Who knows?

I highly doubt it. Even after 100hrs, he would have taken them back I am sure, if you were really dissatisfied.

It is a way to get one to take more time to get used to the speakers and come to like them, so from a business standpoint, it makes a lot of sense to promote the idea of "break in" for speakers.

When a business is saying what is in its own financial best interests, one should not be surprised if what is said has little to do with the truth.

The fact is, once you have speakers in your possession, you should listen to them long enough to be a fair hearing, but just saying that to people is likely going to result in more returns than telling people that it is the speakers that are breaking in.

 

[mtrycrafts]

And yet John Danny at GR Research, (a well respected speaker designer), has a page about it on his website.

http://www.gr-research.com/burnin.htm

Yes, he has a number of measurements for a number of different conditions. I'd like to see a re-measurement after the driver rested overnight as one's speaker would tend to do.
Tom Nousaine and Richard Pierce measured similar events with drivers.
Also, an interesting read from Richard here
https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!topic/rec.audio.high-end/IBFD0zAUXWw
very close to the bottom of that page.
No evidence for audibility of the changes.

Here is another one of his posts on this :

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!original/rec.audio.high-end/pR8bKAy4Ibc/ML0RaAhZLOUJ

 

[defmoot]

(Always late to the party...)

The thing for me is, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say their speakers sound WORSE after "break in." They always sound better, fuller, less harsh, etc. I know that's true in my case.

 

[j_garcia]

(Always late to the party...)

The thing for me is, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say their speakers sound WORSE after "break in." They always sound better, fuller, less harsh, etc. I know that's true in my case.

Excellent point IMO, and one that definitely points to this being more in the mind than in the ear. People usually figure out they don't like a speaker right away unless they haven't heard something better. The rare occasion that I've seen people buy speakers and end up not liking them is when they either didn't listen to them before buying or listened to them in a setting that doesn't match their own listening environment.