Speaker break-in?

[crazyBLUE]

Originally Posted by rded

As Far as my Dynaudios are concerned, it was the silk dome tweeters that took forever to break in/loosen up, I'd say over a hundred hours or so. Before break in, vocals especially in HT sounded like they were underwater

My Bostons have A silk dome tweeter as well & I noticed it took them some time before they really began sounding better !!

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by crazyBLUE

My Bostons have A silk dome tweeter as well & I noticed it took them some time before the really began sounding better !!

When I rebuilt my Dahlquist DQ-10s I put in Dynaudio Silk Dome tweeters and Dynaudio Silk Dome Midrange drivers. They and the rest of the speaker took time to break in properly.

Rich

[richteer]

Originally Posted by zicmubleu

After reading some of the comments about how the poster's speakers sounded much better after a break in period and how they were less than expected before hand, I am wondering why the manufacturer doesn't break in their own speakers before they let them out the door? If I was manufacturing a product I would want it to be at its peak the first time a consumer used it. With a car engine you do have a small amount of latitude but even car manufacturers break in their engines I believe. With something like a speaker the manufacturer could hook it up to a sound source and break them in for you with no real effort, then they would be assured that the speakers were performing at their peak to start for the consumer which would help their reputation.

It's probably a logistics thing. Think how much space would be needed if manufacturers burned in all their output!

I'm not a car afficiando, but I'm not aware of any car manufacturer that runs in their engines prior to delivery to a customer.

[Yeha-Noha]

Originally Posted by Big Daddy

John,

Your Totems are not a new car. You can blast your speakers out of the factory box and nothing will happen. In fact, you may "break them in faster".

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.

As your fellow Canadian, Paul Barton of PSB, has said it multiple times, it is not the speaker that requires break-in, it is the brain that requires break-in and getting used to the new speakers.

I concur 100%, Big Daddy.

The Energy speaker manual says 100 hour minimum for break-in. It also says that playing loud before being broken-in can damage them.

Not knowing any better, I naively went along with the Energy recommendations for the Towers I bought during the holiday season 2008. They sounded great then, and they sound great now. I am unable to make any claims that after "break-in" that they sound better though.

More recently, I bought the matching Energy center channel and four bipole surrounds. I didn't follow the "break-in" recommendations at all. I played them loud and I mean really loud during some action/adventure movie scenes in my BD collection within the first week after hooking them up. They performed flawlessly and extremely well. They didn't get damaged at all. That was a couple of months ago. They sound fantastic now just as they did right out of the box.

I agree with you and with Paul Barton too. It makes more sense. In fact, I would recommend playing new speakers comfortably loud before the return date expires. Because if they are going to fail, it will likely be when they are pushed closer to their limits. However, I am not suggesting that anyone try pushing their speakers beyond their specified limits at anytime, whether it be during "break-in" or after. But, playing them as loud as you would like to hear them within those limits right out of the box isn't going to damage them. Period! At least I can say that for Energy speakers since I have experience with them, but I think it would apply to most brands (non exotic) as well.

Yes, I too think it has more to do with what's going on between one's ears than it has to do with a speaker getting conditioned to sounding better with time.

[Scooby Blu]

A good way to look at a break in period is to think about when you buy a new pair of leather dress shoes or cowboy boots. It takes a while for them to not be as stiff and to become more pliable. Same way with speakers the moving parts take a while to become pliable!

[Slec]

While I do subscribe to speaker break-in. Something that I, personally, feel is more important is environment acclimation. Only takes 24 hrs. With any material that expands and contracts with heat/humidity changes, you want to ensure that the speakers and cabinet are in tune (no pun intended) with the room that will be there final resting place.

It may sound silly, but I've seen what happens with regular building materials if you put them in an unfinished room and immediately put them up. When movement occurs (which isn't always) everything has to be redone. For that reason alone I won't play my speakers loud the first week.

[Woody]

There are many schools of thought on speaker break-in. My speakers came with a detailed owners manual that recommended 100-200 hours of break-in for "best" performance.

[richteer]

Originally Posted by Scooby Blu

A good way to look at a break in period is to think about when you buy a new pair of leather dress shoes or cowboy boots. It takes a while for them to not be as stiff and to become more pliable. Same way with speakers the moving parts take a while to become pliable!

Great analogy!

[Driver_King]

Originally Posted by Scooby Blu

A good way to look at a break in period is to think about when you buy a new pair of leather dress shoes or cowboy boots. It takes a while for them to not be as stiff and to become more pliable. Same way with speakers the moving parts take a while to become pliable!

I agree. I also agree that most of the break-in we may notice is psychologically induced. There definitely are certain speakers that would more benefit from break-in than others.

[Yeha-Noha]

Originally Posted by Scooby Blu

A good way to look at a break in period is to think about when you buy a new pair of leather dress shoes or cowboy boots. It takes a while for them to not be as stiff and to become more pliable. Same way with speakers the moving parts take a while to become pliable!

But considering the number of times per second the suspension moves even upon the application of the first signal, and if there really is such a thing as "break-in", then it's going to be short and all done and over during the first few minutes of playing. If a speaker cone's suspension is as stiff as your analogy suggests, then it won't even be able to move enough to produce any sound when you first apply a signal.

Your analogy would be better if restated for an older, used pair of boots that are all ready pliable like a speaker suspension is. Thus it won't take very long for them to conform to the contours of your feet.

What some of the manufacturers are theorizing is that a speaker's compliance doesn't reach it's specified nominal value until the "break-in" period is completed. That sounds plausible for the very short term. But, do you really believe that it's going to take 100 - 200 hours for that to occur? If you do, then really it's your ears that are being "broken-in".

[Big Daddy]

Originally Posted by Scooby Blu

A good way to look at a break in period is to think about when you buy a new pair of leather dress shoes or cowboy boots. It takes a while for them to not be as stiff and to become more pliable. Same way with speakers the moving parts take a while to become pliable!

If your analogy is correct and the moving parts become "pliable", imagine what will happen to your speakers in 5 years or 10 years. At best, they will be like your old shoes and not even worthy of donating to Salvation Army.

[efesbe]

Speakers that require serious break in before they sound good must have a lot of returns. If I bought speakers and didn't know anything about break in, and they sounded like crap out of the box compared to what I already had, I would be very upset. Like I said, some people don't realize that break in is needed and they will go straight to the store and get a refund.

[cembros]

i suspect that alot of people that are claiming they hear improvment after a break in period are mistaking break in with calibration. I know my speakers didnt sound great out of the box, but that wasnt because they hadnt been broken in but instead because i hadn't set them up properly. The settings in my reciever were for my previous speakers, not my new ones. Once i calibrated everything properly they sounded as deseried, and not because they were broken in.

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by cembros

i suspect that alot of people that are claiming they hear improvment after a break in period are mistaking break in with calibration. I know my speakers didnt sound great out of the box, but that wasnt because they hadnt been broken in but instead because i hadn't set them up properly. The settings in my reciever were for my previous speakers, not my new ones. Once i calibrated everything properly they sounded as deseried, and not because they were broken in.

Not correct in that presumption. I say this because, I never had the system calibrated nor adjusted and there were no changes made to the Pre/Pro amp. Also I am talking about upgrading and replacing the speaker drivers, crossovers, wiring, etc. of my Dahlquist DQ-10 speakers. No doubt in my mind they definitely improved with playing. This was true of the same speakers when I did additional work on them this past July. I further tweaked their performance by using feet under the pedestals and the isolating pads under the speaker cabinets and adjusted the position slightly so their performance is further improved.

Since this was all done, the system has been calibrated but that was 5 months after the rest of the work and I have noticed little or no change since the calibration with the exception of further balancing the speaker output because of the repositioning of the drivers in the cabinets when they were redigned and the position of the speakers in relation to the walls.

Rich