[AlexH]

I started a new topic because i did not want to hijack  losttumbs build thread.

mlundy57

I speed the break-in process up considerably by letting new speakers play almost constantly. At night I turn the volume down low enough that it doesn't bother anybody sleeping then turn it up during the day when no one is home. I set up a playlist with 24-48 hours of varied music and let it go. After two days I turn them off overnight then start up again the next morning. This way I get 120+ hours of break-in a week.

This is a great idea, but both of us are recently retired and are home a lot more now a days. I am pretty sure this would drive my wife nuts.  So let me ask you this does increased volume speed up the break in period?

[mlundy57]

I vary the volume so they get a full workout but I don’t know how much volume affects time.

[cujobob]

Can’t you just wire them out of phase pointed towards one another?

[twitch54]

I've owned many pairs of speakers over the years and never have they sounded bad enough from the get go that I couldn't enjoy the music. Granted a conventional box speaker is an electro-mechanical device and 'some' exercise does help but when I hear folks talk of 100's of hours of break in, nonsense IMO.

[Jaytor]

I think speaker break-in time has more to do with the capacitors in the crossovers than the drivers themselves. The drivers are fairly well broken in after 20-40 hours although may continue to change in subtle ways after that. But the caps can take a couple hundred hours or longer, depending on the type and size.

I usually run some kind of white noise at night - like ocean waves or rain sounds - and at fairly modest volume so it's easy to sleep with. During the day, I play something that my wife doesn't mind playing all day while I'm at work - jazz, classic rock, folk, etc.

My NX-Oticas now have close to 200 hours on them and I can tell a significant difference from when I first turned them on. There was a lot of "tubiness" in the mid-bass for the first 5-10 hours which has slowly dissipated, which I suspect is driver break-in. The sound has also gotten smoother, clearer, and more integrated, which I suspect is primarily crossover break-in.

I suspect they still have a bit of break-in to go, but they are sounding pretty sweet at this point. I don't have the subs turned on yet (cabinets are done and waiting for the drivers to be installed), but the NX-Oticas play low enough in my room that it's not obvious on most songs.

If you really want to minimize the noise, then doing what cujobob suggests is a good strategy, but you can't enjoy them like that. If you aren't home all day and live close to your neighbors, that's a good approach.

[Early B.]

Granted a conventional box speaker is an electro-mechanical device and 'some' exercise does help but when I hear folks talk of 100's of hours of break in, nonsense IMO.

Agreed. Yeah, virtually everything in your system can improve with break-in, but the hundreds of hours thing isn't practical. Three hundred hours of break-in is playing your system 24/7 for almost 2 weeks. That's ridiculous. I'm not saying it doesn't work, I'm saying that it's not worth the time to do it. I've found that 15 - 20 hours of break-in is sufficient, regardless of the component. The exception are amps with those really big caps in them. I avoid purchasing those because break-in can take forever. 

[Wind Chaser]

As with all things - it depends. It took 95 hours before mine became listenable. I kept a running log documenting the hours, amplifier, and source material to keep track of their progress. I played bass heavy material with all the power I had on hand for 238 hours before I was quite satisfied with the result.

And depending on your home, running them hard 24/7 can be sort of be a nonissue. Night time is not a problem, I can push mine hard well into + 100 dBs and no one will lose sleep except for the dog, so for his sake I don’t do it. But that hasn’t stopped me from the odd late night loud listening session. 

Anyhow some speakers are notorious for taking a long time to break in. Lowthers immediately come to mind.

[richidoo]

I bought some used Legacy speakers a few years ago. I was the 3rd owner. When I played them I was surprised how bad they sounded. I didn't consider break in since they weren't new.  I was actually worried that something was broken but everything checked out. After a dozen times through Rush Chronicles and some organ music at very high volume they were sounding like I expected. I always wondered if the previous owners never actually played them hard enough to break in, then sold them because they didn't sound good. Or whether speakers can stiffen-up again after sitting unused for a long time, like some electronics do. I think film caps are like that, use it or lose it.

[JLM]

My Fostex F200a ($575 each when last available, 30-20,000 Hz, 90 dB/w/m, 8 ohms, large AlNiCo magnets, 8 inch diameter) drivers reportedly needed 500 hours to initially break in (the speaker builder reportedly put 250 hours on them before I took delivery, so was harder to judge the affect).

Have experienced shorter break in with other speakers/components.

I've actually experienced re-break in with 3 pair of speakers I hadn't used for several months.  But re-break in each case occurred much faster. 

[Early B.]

Part of the break-in period may not be the component itself, but our ears adjusting to the new sound. The more we hear it, the more we like it. Radio stations know this trick all too well. 

[rollo]

My Fostex F200a ($575 each when last available, 30-20,000 Hz, 90 dB/w/m, 8 ohms, large AlNiCo magnets, 8 inch diameter) drivers reportedly needed 500 hours to initially break in (the speaker builder reportedly put 250 hours on them before I took delivery, so was harder to judge the affect).

Have experienced shorter break in with other speakers/components.

I've actually experienced re-break in with 3 pair of speakers I hadn't used for several months.  But re-break in each case occurred much faster.

  Fostex and similar single drivers are known to take forever to break in. Some say they never do. Mine took about 1000 hours to stop changing. Frustrating as hell.


charles

[Danny Richie]

Most of our small woofers (6.5" and 5.25") need about 80 hours to get them to a fairly settled state.

I posted some before and after results on this stuff years ago.

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

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

Caps like Sonicaps can take a good 100 hours or so. Some say even as much as 200 hours.

Even fresh out of the box neither the woofer nor the Sonicaps are very offensive, and the change is always more relaxed, smoother, and more musical.

Caps like the Copper Caps that we just started carrying go through a more aggressive burn in where they do not sound so good out of the box, and then change a LOT. And those things need close to 500 hours or so to settle in. Other caps using Teflon film also take a long time to settle.

Wire and tube connectors also have a burn in period, but I have not found them to be game changers. The difference can be very subtle.

And that was a good recommendation from cujobob. I've done that as well. Just face them about 1/2" apart and through a blanket over them.