how to "break-in" speakers?

[Erman_94]

what are the proper steps to ensure a proper break in of speakers? what is a complete list of stuff to do? (i.e. what volume should i keep it at? for how long? how many hours should i listen at a time, if any?)

etc etc


im new to this so fill me in

[Johnny Vinyl]

The "break-in" of speakers is a much debated point. Some audiophiles and manufacturers swear by the fact this should be done, but the whole concept to me about how is rather vague (even after several decades of having owned various equipment).

The only think I can conclude from "breaking-in" speakers is NOT to play them at high volume. But what volume is that? So many different parameters fall into play that it's impossible to say what volume level that is for any given amplifier.

As such, I just use my "ears". I refrain from playing my speakers very loudly. On my amp that means not higher than the half-way mark for several weeks. I then gradually start to increase that level.

Does that improve the sound? I think it does, but it's not always immediately apparent. I found after breaking-in my Totems I didn't notice anything, but then something changed. I put on a fave recording and things seemed more noticeable...I could now hear things more clearly and more defined. Was that because of the "break-in"? I don't know. Maybe my ears and my mind were just more in tune with the record that was spinning.

If you want to be safe and follow the recommended guidelines, I'd suggest you keep the volume at a reasonable level for the first few weeks.

John

[zedd_117]

I wondered about this too, when I got my Def Tech Mythos system a few months ago. So I contacted Definitive Technology, via email, (surprisingly fast responses, like a couple hours tops!) and they said basically the same thing stated above. Play sorce material at reasonable levels (for me on my Onkyo 705 this is around -40 to -30Db, I know I'm a pansie, but with good ears )
They said the break in should be around 40 to 50 hours, which probably comes out to a couple weeks of normal use. That's only like 15 to 25 movies, or probably around 45 to 60 albums.
Also, very important to remember, not to turn the speakers on until they warm up to room temp. Had a friend blow out some Cerwin Vegas by bringing them in from his car, hooking them up and turning them on. sad but true.
Course we're in Pittsburgh, in February, so it's cold!

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by Erman_94

what are the proper steps to ensure a proper break in of speakers? what is a complete list of stuff to do? (i.e. what volume should i keep it at? for how long? how many hours should i listen at a time, if any?)

etc etc


im new to this so fill me in

Rubber surrounds on drivers are initially fairly stiff. Repetitive flexing loosens them up, over time.

While it may be that before they've moved back and forth a few million times, they may not perform to the specifications one expects, it can't hurt them to be played normally.

The only speakers I've ever heard that changed after use for a few hours are subwoofers with very big rubber surrounds. I don't think this applies to any other type of driver, personally. Certainly not with metal dome tweeters, for example.

[Big Daddy]

According to Paul Barton, Canada's most famous speaker designer and PSB Speakers founder, speaker burn-in is a myth:

Finally, and perhaps most controversially, Barton talks about the supposed break-in effect of components that has become so popular in audio today. Break-in refers to running components for a long time (sometimes hundreds of hours) to the point where their components "settle" into their proper operating mode. Barton doesn’t doubt that some components do change subtly, but he thinks that the major improvements people think they’re hearing aren’t in the components at all. Barton doesn’t doubt that people are hearing these changes, but thinks that what they’re hearing is actually brain break-in.

Barton has examined his own speakers to test this. He has taken a Stratus Gold loudspeaker, built and measured some ten years ago, and re-measured it today. The deviation is slight, perhaps 1/4dB at most. Although that deviation can possibly be heard, it is certainly not a huge difference that one may attest to hearing. Instead, Barton surmises that the difference in sound that people are hearing over time is conditioning of the brain. He cites experiments done with sight that indicate the brain can accommodate for enormous changes fairly quickly and certainly within the hundreds of hours that audiophiles claim changes occur in. Could this apply to hearing, too? Barton thinks that more often than not, what happens is that the changes in perceived sound that are attributed to component break-in are simply the brain becoming accustomed to the sound. He warns listeners not to fool themselves.

From PSB's FAQ page:

Q. Do your speakers require a "burn in" time?
A. No, our PSB speakers will sound great straight out of the box.

Home Theater HiFi:

I dutifully ran them through several days of break-in at varying volumes and with a variety of source material. There was no noticeable change to my ears, and of course I had been listening to them every chance I could.

[CasualKiller]

http://www.audioholics.com/education...act-or-fiction

[Driver_King]

When I ordered three new drivers for my left SDA speaker, they sounded completely lacking, weren't very "quick", were totally different sounding, and just sounded wrong. After a few hours of break in, there was a huge difference in sound that even my friends and parents could tell there was something different. I do believe most speakers have some sort of break-in period. You can't tell me that a speaker playing for over 20 years with the same drivers are going to sound the same as another matching speaker with brand-new replacement drivers. That's just not going to happen.

[Intamin]

To second what Big Daddy quoted, the crossover designer of my speakers, Dennis Murphy, also said that speaker break in was a myth and couldn't figure out what would need to be broken in to begin with or what would be changing with multiple listenings. I would attribute hearing differences over time to just becoming accustomed with the speakers and the sound they produce, not that anything is actually changing. A personal example for me was the other day I was auditioning cdp's on a pair of Dynaudio Contour 5.4s, and for the first time heard very distinctly the bass line in a song. When I got home, I put that cd on again, and sure enough, I heard the bass line again, and it sounded every bit as good. I guess I wasn't trying to listen for it, but now that I've heard it, sure enough its there and always has been.

[Driver_King]

Did what I say make sense? I hope it did. You're not telling me that a driver playing for over 20 years is going to sound the same as an identical replacement driver that has been never played before, right?

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by Driver_King

Did what I say make sense? I hope it did. You're not telling me that a driver playing for over 20 years is going to sound the same as an identical replacement driver that has been never played before, right?

Since this appears to be a rhetorical question, I have to ask: What's the difference between the two speakers, if they're identical?

[Driver_King]

That wasn't my question. My question was about the replacement drivers vs. the older drivers already installed on the other speaker.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by Blu-Dog

Since this appears to be a rhetorical question, I have to ask: What's the difference between the two speakers, if they're identical?

Age

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by Driver_King

That wasn't my question. My question was about the replacement drivers vs. the older drivers already installed on the other speaker.

I'm just confused about your baseline for comparison. You take two drivers, one twenty years old, the other brand new, from the same manufacturer. I don't see how they can be identical, even if they have the same model number.

More important, even if they were made at the same time, and you tested two brand new ones, and two that had been used for twenty years straight, there are probably minor differences between them. Very minor, certainly, but differences nonetheless.

I find logic in the idea of break-in, but there are certainly limits to that logic. Thin, highly flexible surrounds on smaller drivers don't really change much with constant break-in flexing, even though the coils that drive them back and forth are pretty small. It probably depends on the material used to make the surrounds.

Big subs - think the massive rubber surrounds on JL Audio W7 series, for example - may change over time, but they're so thick, they may never appreciably change, even with long break-in. I think they do, but it's subjective and I definitely couldn't quantify it.

Overall, I think it's one of those myths that are used to cover all speakers, and may apply only to a tiny minority of speakers.

[Yeha-Noha]

Whether it's myth or subjective or whatever, my Energy speaker's manual say that playing the speakers loud before breaking them in could damage them. I think we can rule out the aluminum dome tweeters. What's is there to break-in for those tweeters anyway? So do they mean the woofers which have composite fiberglas cones and their suspensions? I faithfully did the 100 break-in anyway but feeling it was ludicrous. I still don't think it's necessary. I think it's just our ears that were really being broken-in by the speakers. The speaker mfrs are probably trying to prevent a lot of returns because people may not like the sound at first. Then give them 100 hours of listening, they are prone to.

[zicmubleu]

Other than the possible damage from radical temperature changes as mention on an earlier post, breaking in a speaker sounds more like wearing it out. If the speaker doesn't play its best when it is brand new when will it? These aren't piston rings on your V8 you are talking about, it is material that looses its designed charateristics over time. I say push them to the stops when they are brand new and take them back if they fail you.

This is a thread about speakers but what about breaking in your new amplifier/receiver? Capacitors are known to 'form' after use, vacuum tubes mellow but solidstate shouldn't change - I think?

[Big Daddy]

Please don't shoot the messenger. I am just reporting this. I have never done any controlled experiments myself and cannot make any comments, but I do have quite a lot of respect for people like Paul Barton of PSB.

According to some experts, most speaker manufactures know that the break-in period is not an important factor and do not write anything about it in their manuals. However, when you call them or email them, they will tell you that you need between 30 to 50 hours. The reason is because they do not want you to return their speakers. They are hoping that you get used to them or the return period expires.

Others claim that the only part of the speaker or subwoofer that needs break-in is the spider and that normally requires less than an hour. They argue that if the manufacturer insists that their drivers need break-in, it means that they are mass produced and never been tested.

[Driver_King]

Originally Posted by Blu-Dog

I'm just confused about your baseline for comparison. You take two drivers, one twenty years old, the other brand new, from the same manufacturer. I don't see how they can be identical, even if they have the same model number.

No. Each speaker has three drivers. I replaced three drivers on the left speaker with replacements while the right speaker was left untouched. There was a significant difference in sound (bad) between the speakers that scared me for a while. I was on my phone today and couldn't respond after this morning by the way.

[BluHavik]

Originally Posted by Driver_King

When I ordered three new drivers for my left SDA speaker, they sounded completely lacking, weren't very "quick", were totally different sounding, and just sounded wrong. After a few hours of break in, there was a huge difference in sound that even my friends and parents could tell there was something different. I do believe most speakers have some sort of break-in period. You can't tell me that a speaker playing for over 20 years with the same drivers are going to sound the same as another matching speaker with brand-new replacement drivers. That's just not going to happen.

Same thing for me. After a few hours of letting them loosen up, they sounded much, much better to me.

[BluHavik]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

Please don't shoot the messenger. I am just reporting this. I have never done any controlled experiments myself and cannot make any comments, but I do have quite a lot of respect for people like Paul Barton of PSB.

According to some experts, most speaker manufactures know that the break-in period is not an important factor and do not write anything about it in their manuals. However, when you call them or email them, they will tell you that you need between 30 to 50 hours. The reason is because they do not want you to return their speakers. They are hoping that you get used to them or the return period expires.

Others claim that the only part of the speaker or subwoofer that needs break-in is the spider and that normally requires less than an hour. They argue that if the manufacturer insists that their drivers need break-in, it means that they are mass produced and never been tested.

I'm aware I don't have anywhere near audiophile quality stuff. But I can attest to speakers sounding better after about 10 hours or so. When I first got mine it was like WTF? Now at the same level they can rock the place.

[Blu-Dog]

Originally Posted by Driver_King

No. Each speaker has three drivers. I replaced three drivers on the left speaker with replacements while the right speaker was left untouched. There was a significant difference in sound (bad) between the speakers that scared me for a while. I was on my phone today and couldn't respond after this morning by the way.

I'm thinking that the replacement speakers weren't really identical. Something is significantly different if the sound is that different.