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Post by 1960broookwood on Mar 26, 2013 17:35:29 GMT -5
As someone who's worked for a few manufacturers of dynamic loudspeaker drivers, I can tell you there is really no valid reason for loudspeaker "break in." Drivers are "broken in" before the leave the factory. But people will do what they want, and it certainly won't harm anything. I'm curious how this is done. I work for a large Fortune 500 company and our electrical components are thrown on a Hipot tester just long enough for the display to stabilize.
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guitarforlife
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Post by guitarforlife on Mar 26, 2013 17:38:42 GMT -5
IMHO I can say I don't really know.
I have had my Maggies for a few weeks now. They play every day 8 to 10 hours a day. ( Ya it is still winter here and work is slow).
I can't tell any difference from the first second I hooked them up until now.
The only trouble with all this is we are trying to take a constant (the science of sound) and make it all the same with a inconstant. Our human ears. Yup No two are the same and we have all treated them differently. Loud music, factory work, loud Bikes, Age, etc,etc.
So we all hear things differently. So my point is maybe on some spec sheet or audio analyzer there is a difference but can I hear it the same as you?? NO.
So again we chase the ghost.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2013 18:00:01 GMT -5
I agree with monkumonku, however there is a reason for break in procedures. As listed by RLW the purpose to it is that the brand new suspension of the speaker has not flexed, or atleast not much. The accordion holding the cone in the gap (beyond the magnetics) actually does limber some over time. Those pleats need to street. Likewise the surrounds on most speakers these days are rubber and will loosen with playing allowing more give and easier excurion. This actually has measured changes over the speakers t/s parameters and is quite real. 100 hours? 500 hours? 2 hours? Every speaker is different. How loud they play, what they play, etc. will all change the outcome. I use the reversed polarity trick myself. Another great way is if you have a signal generator and can play a very low tone but at low volume. These tones cause much great excursion and can significantly improve the break in time. Just careful not to over do the excursion and break the new speaker! "Spiders" can loosen up after time as well as very stiff suspension but that doesn't mean it's going to change the sound of a speaker. Having build subs from scratch and doing actual measurements at Mach 5, sure there "may" be very minor variations in T/S spects but you assume that it makes a difference in sound.... which it doesn't.
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Post by frenchyfranky on Mar 26, 2013 18:01:30 GMT -5
Speakers break in, but it only takes about a millisecond for them to do so, ok, maybe longer. But it's really your brain that gets used to how the new speakers sound. There have been many tests to prove this. Which test do you refer? Are you trying to mess this thread? With over 30 years in audio, the only thing I'm pretty sure that is benefit from a break-in period are specially the speakers, the reasons is very simple because the sound is the result of a mechanical and a physical works. I observed this phenomenon many times, I'm sure like most of the people in this forum.
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DYohn
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Post by DYohn on Mar 26, 2013 18:24:39 GMT -5
I'm curious how this is done. I work for a large Fortune 500 company and our electrical components are thrown on a Hipot tester just long enough for the display to stabilize. The point is it does not need to be done. There is no break-in. Again, how could you ever design a loudspeaker system if you thought the T/S parameters would change significantly enough to be heard after use? You could not. Plus, explain how, if a change does occur, it is always in the same direction and always a predictable value? It can't be.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2013 18:29:53 GMT -5
I think your ears just get use to the sound after a few hours. Your ears break in
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cgolf
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Post by cgolf on Mar 26, 2013 18:34:09 GMT -5
Whether there is any change in the mechanical function of the speaker would be absorbed in the changes that really occur in the way the ear hears the speaker. The changes occur in the ear/hearing, not the speaker.
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jlafrenz
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Post by jlafrenz on Mar 26, 2013 18:41:16 GMT -5
I'm curious how this is done. I work for a large Fortune 500 company and our electrical components are thrown on a Hipot tester just long enough for the display to stabilize. The point is it does not need to be done. There is no break-in. Again, how could you ever design a loudspeaker system if you thought the T/S parameters would change significantly enough to be heard after use? You could not. Plus, explain how, if a change does occur, it is always in the same direction and always a predictable value? It can't be. I think you make a very good point here. I found the following link online and was curious if you had ever seen it? www.gr-research.com/myths.htm
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DYohn
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Post by DYohn on Mar 26, 2013 18:45:48 GMT -5
Danny is a decent designer, but his data proves my point: none of the minor compliance-related changes he reports are audible, nor do they effect system design in any significant way. It's another of the audiophile myth-understandings about how audio works. I again fall back onto a quote from one of my heroes, Henry Kloss: "Everything that can be heard can be measured, but not everything that can be measured can be heard."
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2013 18:54:17 GMT -5
I've talked to Danny alot over the last few weeks. Also i've started to think twice about the things he has told me.
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Post by 1960broookwood on Mar 26, 2013 19:20:44 GMT -5
I've talked to Danny alot over the last few weeks. Also i've started to think twice about the things he has told me. Care to elaborate?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2013 19:37:13 GMT -5
I've talked to Danny alot over the last few weeks. Also i've started to think twice about the things he has told me. Care to elaborate? He said the the side rail pockets on my front baffle would change how my speakers sound. Well even if you can measure this does not mean you will get the same result in a living room. I do not hear a any difference in sound quality because of the way my front baffle is. I didn't use the Electra speaker connectors that came with my GR kit. Danny clams they make a "night and day" difference. Calling completle BS on that. He wanted me to solder the wires to all the connectors. I am using tin quick connects. Starnge that the connectors on the drivers are also tin. Wouldn't make a difference other than a more secure connection. I used damping sheets from PE and not the No-Rez he suggested. These sheets got rid of all the ring in my cabinets but he clams the No-Rez will bring it to another level. Ahhhh idk. Danny is very devoted to his work. He takes it a little far sometimes. Especially when he emails me and says sorry to be a party pooper but you have it all wrong.
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Post by dcg44s on Mar 26, 2013 20:47:16 GMT -5
I think your ears just get use to the sound after a few hours. Your ears break in By golly you just might be onto something there! ;D
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Post by monkumonku on Mar 26, 2013 22:24:59 GMT -5
The only time I believe I had speakers that changed with breaking in was a pair of Monsoon desktop flat panel speakers, the M700's, I believe. When I first listened to them I thought they sounded very flat and boring - no dynamics and very plastic-sounding (for want of a better term). I was disappointed. A day or two later they sounded much better to me and I'm sure they underwent some sort of change. They weren't traditional cone speakers, though.
I've had other speakers that sounded disappointing at first and I was hoping they would break in but they never did. They still didn't sound that great later on, either. Every other speaker I've had has never in my opinion had any appreciable change in sound over any sort of "break in" period be it a few hours or many hours.
I remember getting some Grado headphones and at the time all the advice in the head-fi.org threads said to make sure and burn them in for at least 40-80 hours. I did that and didn't notice any difference at all. Of course your memory plays tricks on you over such a long period of time but I remembered the general character of the headphones and nothing struck me as having changed over the breaking in period.
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Post by mickeyharlow on Mar 26, 2013 22:34:18 GMT -5
It seems to me that if a true break-in period was needed then the manufacturers are not selling a product that is designed to at best at point of sale. Do you really want to a buy product that you are required to do something that supposedly makes it better? The product should be at its optimum when you buy it. If not, why risk it not becoming optimum?
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Post by lar on Mar 26, 2013 22:54:26 GMT -5
It seems to me that if a true break-in period was needed then the manufacturers are not selling a product that is designed to at best at point of sale. Do you really want to a buy product that you are required to do something that supposedly makes it better? The product should be at its optimum when you buy it. If not, why risk it not becoming optimum? What about a new car? Or perhaps some tube gear?
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pips
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Post by pips on Mar 26, 2013 23:52:49 GMT -5
IMHO I can say I don't really know. I have had my Maggies for a few weeks now. They play every day 8 to 10 hours a day. ( Ya it is still winter here and work is slow). On one of the maggie forums, someone took readings over a period of months from out of the box. The lower end curved up around 15-20db over I think three months. Edit: Here www.hometheatershack.com/forums/rew-forum/60016-speaker-break-data.html
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2013 23:56:35 GMT -5
He said the the side rail pockets on my front baffle would change how my speakers sound. Well even if you can measure this does not mean you will get the same result in a living room. I do not hear a any difference in sound quality because of the way my front baffle is. I didn't use the Electra speaker connectors that came with my GR kit. Danny clams they make a "night and day" difference. Calling completle BS on that. He wanted me to solder the wires to all the connectors. I am using tin quick connects. Starnge that the connectors on the drivers are also tin. Wouldn't make a difference other than a more secure connection. I used damping sheets from PE and not the No-Rez he suggested. These sheets got rid of all the ring in my cabinets but he clams the No-Rez will bring it to another level. Ahhhh idk. Danny is very devoted to his work. He takes it a little far sometimes. Especially when he emails me and says sorry to be a party pooper but you have it all wrong. Oh yuckers, that would be the end of it for me. I can't deal with guys like that. There is being passionate about what you do but when they start getting caught up in the snake oil, it really turns me off to that product.
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emovac
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Post by emovac on Mar 27, 2013 1:42:09 GMT -5
It's simple... the amount of time needed to break in new speakers is slightly longer than the amount of time given for return privileges. You hit the nail on the head! Add two fingers bourbon for 14 days; new speakers will sound just fine.
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Post by mickeyharlow on Mar 27, 2013 2:07:30 GMT -5
You hit the nail on the head!
Add two fingers bourbon for 14 days; new speakers will sound just fine.
Half a bottle in a half hour and everything is good.
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