[L300TED]

Just received my M3s I have been listening for about 100 hours. The imaging is outrageous. But I feel like they sound is rolled off in the midrange and top end.
I am a air motion lover. Owning the Legacy Focus SE I wonder if I should have ordered The X5 ?

[Audiosaurusrex]

Just received my M3s I have been listening for about 100 hours. The imaging is outrageous. But I feel like they sound is rolled off in the midrange and top end.
I am a air motion lover. Owning the Legacy Focus SE I wonder if I should have ordered The X5 ?

I have the M3's cir 2019. It took a serious amount of time to break mine in. Much more than 100 hours. Clayton advised me based on my room size and I was glad I followed his advice. Of course there are many variables including room size and amps which I wound up changing from SS to Tubes. Your comment about loving air motion drivers is a little concerning though, I wouldn't fret just yet. You have at least another 100-200 hours to go. Seriously.
Mine keep getting better!

[Mr. Big]

I own the M3's I have no such issues at all. My mids are open and dynamic and their highs natural and pristine.

[L300TED]

Thanks for responding I'm using the Hegel H390. My room is 12x20 I will be running them 24-7
Thank goodness for long playlists.

[Mr. Big]

Thanks for responding I'm using the Hegel H390. My room is 12x20 I will be running them 24-7
Thank goodness for long playlists.

So much info on break-in on this site, and if you read them you will find your speakers need 100 hours or more of a break-in. Mine took months only because I played them only when I wanted to listen to music, today they are so good and only limited by the cables I use to connect my gear, they can show you any change you do, even switching one power cord to another model, it is clearly heard.

[morganc]

For the X Series, it’s more like 300-500 hours for full break in.  I cranked mine up and would just leave the house for 10-12 hours. After hitting 200-300 hours, I played with position, cables, tubes, etc and started dialing it in more and more.  The last bit of break in was subtle but definitely noticeable.

[aniwolfe]

Is your cabling up to par? Maybe more toe-in?

[abomwell]

What are your room treatments? Rolled-off top end could be too much padding on the walls.

[L300TED]

I have been looking at some of the break in articles that are posted. What changes have M# owners experienced ?
                                                             Just curious                         

[newzooreview]

My Sapphires definitely reinforced the advice that everyone gives. Even 400 hours was not enough to get them to final form, although they did become more enjoyable day to day by that point.

When I decided to try AntiCables (just the inexpensive 3.1 cables with banana connectors), the presentation evened out from top to bottom and even more detail came through.

As difficult as it is, I would aim for 700-800 hours before really drawing a conclusion about what the speakers sound like.

[forky]

How does volume/ db levels affect break in? Does listening to at 65-70 db even count? I would think louder is better but not always possible (here anyway).

[Audiosaurusrex]

How does volume/ db levels affect break in? Does listening to at 65-70 db even count? I would think louder is better but not always possible (here anyway).

I would say volume may affect break in times but not by much. I listen between 70-90db based on music preference and it still took me at least a full year listening 2-3 hours most days. This may be just getting the drivers used to moving air. My M3’s sound amazing at low volume and some days that is my preference 40-50db.

[morganc]

How does volume/ db levels affect break in? Does listening to at 65-70 db even count? I would think louder is better but not always possible (here anyway).

My experience: I bought a pair of X-5’s from a SET amp fiend who listened at low volumes.  Initially they sounded ok, and then after a while I realized they were getting better and better with break in, which perplexed me as they were used and I assumed already broken in.   It took months to get to a plateau. And I discovered I definitely could  speed the process up by pluggin in a SS amp, cranking it and leaving home.  If you have neighbors, have the speakers face each other, and change the phase of one by reversing the speaker cables.  Another option, cover them with heavy blankets. 

[doggie]

My experience: I bought a pair of X-5’s from a SET amp fiend who listened at low volumes.  Initially they sounded ok, and then after a while I realized they were getting better and better with break in, which perplexed me as they were used and I assumed already broken in.   It took months to get to a plateau. And I discovered I definitely could  speed the process up by pluggin in a SS amp, cranking it and leaving home.  If you have neighbors, have the speakers face each other, and change the phase of one by reversing the speaker cables.  Another option, cover them with heavy blankets.

This should be a "sticky"!

The other thing is to play music that has a high dynamic range and plenty of low end, something like a big orchestral or choral piece.

[sockpit]

My M5s sounded bright and imbalanced out of the box and took many months to break in.  My advice: don't waste money on swapping out other things thinking that might fix it until you have put lots of hours on them. I futzed with new cables and even a new amp way too early.  It was foolish impatience.  Ultimately room treatments in my small room did a lot for them.

[Mr. Big]

My M5s sounded bright and imbalanced out of the box and took many months to break in.  My advice: don't waste money on swapping out other things thinking that might fix it until you have put lots of hours on them. I futzed with new cables and even a new amp way too early.  It was foolish impatience.  Ultimately room treatments in my small room did a lot for them.

This is just spot on wonderful advice. Room treatments are a must in any room. Room affects the response of all speakers, any Panel, electrostatic, or open baffle the front wall and both corners need treatments. Even Box speakers helps if the corners have bass traps and sidewall damping, the wall behind you where you sit also, I am lucky there, I have no wall behind me, its open due to me using my loft for my system with the family room below me. 

[forky]

Thanks all. I'll see what I can do to speed up the process some. I've been continuing to play at lower volumes - the past few days for 8-10 hours per day but understand that won't do as much. I also purchased some Lessloss cords/cables which arrived last week so wanted to burn those in anyway and keep reading the PL amp also comes alive after several hundred hours.

All that said, I'm still extremely  w/ my system. Just a bit too bright on probably 10% of the recordings (which I know are just......bright recordings although I think once everything settles it will be reduced).

Room treatments are next but have a rug on top of carpet (on top of slab) and ceiling is a drop ceiling w/ that soft material (whatever it is) so the room is somewhat tame already - but could use a little help.

[DBT AUDIO]

Thanks all. I'll see what I can do to speed up the process some. I've been continuing to play at lower volumes - the past few days for 8-10 hours per day but understand that won't do as much. I also purchased some Lessloss cords/cables which arrived last week so wanted to burn those in anyway and keep reading the PL amp also comes alive after several hundred hours.

All that said, I'm still extremely  w/ my system. Just a bit too bright on probably 10% of the recordings (which I know are just......bright recordings although I think once everything settles it will be reduced).

Room treatments are next but have a rug on top of carpet (on top of slab) and ceiling is a drop ceiling w/ that soft material (whatever it is) so the room is somewhat tame already - but could use a little help.

I have the X5s and had trouble with the top end kinda in my face on several tunes too many, but I have the AMT tweeter which is not the same as your M3s.  However, my PL seemed to push the top end in my face more than any other amp I’ve tried at this time.  I listened to the M3s at Linear Tube Audio’s store and I heard absolutely “NO” brightness coming from the M3s using LTA’s gear.  They were using a Wolf streamer and Holo Audio May DAC, KTE.  They were very impressive!

[glenmschneider@gmail.com]

I have a pair of X5's that keep getting better by the day and with every appropriate tweek. When I spoke with Clayton at the CAF, I had just gotten them and his advice to me was that break in would happen much quicker playing louder and more dynamic music. And I did find that to be immediately true.
 
On another similar note, yesterday I had a dedicated power line installed for my rig and the results were also immediately audible. The sound became more transparent and the bass became slightly more defined and also more full (mind you there was no shortage of bass before the new line was installed).

I'm guessing I'm at about 250-300 hours of playtime into the speakers now.

[DBT AUDIO]

I have a pair of X5's…..
 
On another similar note, yesterday I had a dedicated power line installed for my rig and the results were also immediately audible. The sound became more transparent and the bass became slightly more defined and also more full (mind you there was no shortage of bass before the new line was installed).

Do you have the 250 or 500 watt plate amp on your X5s?