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Speaker Break In?


Fido

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I have read that I should wait between 400-500 hours before I critically listen to my new Forte IVs. My question is does it really take that long for the speakers to break in? I play the speakers approx 4-5 hours a day but to reach 500 hours it will be almost 4 months before they are broken in according to those parameters. I think they sound great now but what should I expect as the hours add up?  Do almost all speakers need hundreds of hours to break in? Also do all the drivers take the same amount of time for break in or do the mid range drivers and tweeters and woofers break in at different rates?

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This is quoted from Critesspeakers.com........

 

Q:  How about break in time for drivers or new driver diaphragms?

 

A:  Yes, and depends on the size of the driver.  Tweeter diaphragm probably break-in at a matter of seconds.  They are very low mass and move very little, so any break in would happen almost instantly.  Probably happened when the factory tested the diaphragm after manufacture.

Midrange are a bit bigger and have a bit more mass.  Break-in is probably on the order of minutes with these.

Woofers would take the longest.  I think that break-in on a 12 to 15 inch woofer would be less than an hour played at pretty good volume using music with a lot of low frequency content.

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Thanks - I will find some bass heavy music and crank it for a few hours - play with some speaker placement and get in my sweet spot and listen to some vinyl I know extremely well. Probably stream some of my favorite playlists and listen critically at my normal listening volumes. I will share my impressions and report back for those that are interested.

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I think 4-500 is a little much. But you will hear improvements for the first couple hundred hours. I know that runs contrary to what the “wire is wire” crowd around here believes, but that shouldn’t surprise you. Trust your ears and you’ll hear the difference.

 

Shakey

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A few hours sounds good to me, BUT ...

 

One Klipsch engineer, whose name I forget (not Roy) said, speaking generally, "15 minutes."

 

I've heard other people say "30 hours," but never "400 - 500 hours."

 

Some manufacturers do recommend very long break-in periods.  I'm suspicious that they are hoping that adaptation occurs, when, despite your best intentions, and intense self examination, you are fooled into thinking speakers sound better after you are good and used to them.  This might protect manufactures against negative first impressions.

 

That being said, back in 2005 I put AK5 updates in my Klipschorns.  The kit (from Klipsch) included redesigned crossover networks with very different slopes, and new midrange drivers and tweeters.  Yes, they sounded a bit different, and a bit better on some program material, right away.  But I burned them in with all kinds of music, at concert volume, for about 2 weeks for an average of 3 hours a day.  That would be about 42 hours.  So help me, they improved, sounding smother, and better in all those wacko audiophile ways, like "better integrated," etc.  Placebo effect is real.

 

I, too, eagerly await your impressions.

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I think that 4 to 5 hundred hours stuff is fantasy and goes hand in hand with your cables need hundreds of hours of break in to sound right. I have had plenty of new drivers here woofers to tweeters and don't hear any improvement after a solid day or two so of playing. IF there is any past that time it is very subtle and the vast majority is done quickly. I am betting your speakers are broken in by now.

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3 minutes ago, garyrc said:

Some manufacturers do recommend very long break-in periods.  I'm suspicious that they are hoping that adaptation occurs, when, despite your best intentions, and intense self examination, you are fooled into thinking speakers sound better after you are good and used to them.  This might protect manufactures against negative first impressions.

 

1000% agree with this.

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5 hours ago, Fido said:

Thanks - I will find some bass heavy music and crank it for a few hours - play with some speaker placement and get in my sweet spot and listen to some vinyl I know extremely well. Probably stream some of my favorite playlists and listen critically at my normal listening volumes. I will share my impressions and report back for those that are interested.

Sounds like most of the break in required is YOU! LOL.

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2 hours ago, garyrc said:

That being said, back in 2005 I put AK5 updates in my Klipschorns.  The kit (from Klipsch) included redesigned crossover networks with very different slopes, and new midrange drivers and tweeters.  Yes, they sounded a bit different, and a bit better on some program material, right away.  But I burned them in with all kinds of music, at concert volume, for about 2 weeks for an average of 3 hours a day.  That would be about 42 hours.  So help me, they improved, sounding smother, and better in all those wacko audiophile ways, like "better integrated," etc.  Placebo effect is real.

My best friend is a world class hobbyist speaker builder (retired Architect/Builder of the highest caliber). As a measure of pre-tweaking, if you will, he breaks in all his raw woofer drivers with a 20 Hz. sine wave for a full day at a pretty high excursion. He does this with cones up/magnets down on a table.

 

A bit extreme perhaps, but it does loosen things up a bit and it has NEVER hurt speaker performance in any way. He claims the Thiele/Small Parameters shift a bit when he does driver testing. That being said, he always uses the T/S data from the manufacturer to design the crossover because within acceptable tolerance, that is the most accurate. I hear saying a couple of Hail Mary's helps too! LOL.

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Quote

I've heard other people say "30 hours," but never "400 - 500 hours."

 

The last pair of speakers I owned before my new cornwalls were the Spatial Audio X3s.  They improved significantly up to the 350 hour mark. The difference was in no way subtle. I also had a pair of Von Schweikert VR4s back in the mid 90s that took at least 300 hours to break in. And my ears didn't break in because I played them in a room for weeks until I even bothered to listen again. I was fully prepared to move them on out.

 

I love it when people think if they can't hear it, it doesn't exist. Very pretentious to think that way.

 

Shakey

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13 minutes ago, DizRotus said:

 

PWK was the leader of that crowd.

 

Is that supposed to sway me? It doesn't really concern me what PWK thought about wire. My ears tell me that there are differences between cables. People that can't hear any difference should thank the good Lord (and PWK) because they can save a lot of money by using zip cord and the throw away interconnects that came with their 50.00 DVD players.

 

Shakey

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