Crossover component break-in question please

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Tom899

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Crossover component break-in question please
« on: 4 Mar 2024, 04:01 pm »
I'm getting ready to order some upgrade parts for my crossovers. I understand some of these caps require 400-500 hours of break-in.
So, what is the best content to continuously play for this duration? I'm thinking some pink noise? Also, does volume matter?
Thanks,
Tom

Tyson

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #1 on: 4 Mar 2024, 04:35 pm »
The best trick to do burn in is to reverse phase on 1 speaker, face the speakers towards each other and right next to each other and put a blanket over them.  Now most of the volume gets cancelled out and you can run the pink noise level higher and it's way less annoying.

mick wolfe

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #2 on: 4 Mar 2024, 05:34 pm »
When I  fired up my newly assembled NX Studio Monitors, I ran the Ayre break-in disc occasionally over the first week. This along with streaming music thru a $30 chip amp. However, when I simply started listening to music after a week in my main system, I found nothing offensive. Even from day one, I never found anything unlistenable. Bottom line, I don't waste much time with a rigorous break-in procedure. I start listening to music as usual early in the mission. As always though...YMMV depending on the speaker in question.

mlundy57

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #3 on: 4 Mar 2024, 05:58 pm »
I’ve set up a playlist in Roon called “Break In”. Then I randomly added music from the library, making sure some of it has heavy bass tracks,  until I have 100 hours or so of music in the playlist. Then I run the playlist through, let the speakers settle for a few hours, then repeat the process 4 or 5 times.

Combined with the speakers facing each other out of phase, I can get a full burn a couple weeks without disturbing anybody.

Early B.

Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #4 on: 4 Mar 2024, 06:30 pm »
Bottom line, I don't waste much time with a rigorous break-in procedure. I start listening to music as usual early in the mission.

I agree with this. My break-in is 3 hours. That's it. If there isn't an improvement within 3 hours, then I'm not gonna wait a few hundred more hours to see if the sound gets better. I don't debate that some parts may take hundreds of hours to break in, but I ain't gonna spend two weeks of constant playback to break stuff in.

Tom899

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #5 on: 4 Mar 2024, 07:38 pm »
Thanks everyone for the feedback, appreciated!

ketchup

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #6 on: 4 Mar 2024, 08:20 pm »
If you do a lot of cable building, swapping, or stuff like crossover assembly, it might be worth it to purchase a burn in device like an Audiodharma cable cooker.  I love putting cables, receptacles, caps, or whatever on it so I don't have to "worry" about break in periods or wonder what something will sound like after it's burned in.  It totally removes the burn in variable and makes the hobby much less stressful imo.

Bob2

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #7 on: 4 Mar 2024, 08:40 pm »
I agree with this. My break-in is 3 hours. That's it. If there isn't an improvement within 3 hours, then I'm not gonna wait a few hundred more hours to see if the sound gets better. I don't debate that some parts may take hundreds of hours to break in, but I ain't gonna spend two weeks of constant playback to break stuff in.

+1

Tyson

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #8 on: 4 Mar 2024, 08:55 pm »
Agree, I also do just regular music listening during the day, and then do pink noise overnight.

Hobbsmeerkat

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #9 on: 5 Mar 2024, 01:20 am »
Here's my 2 cents on how I generally break it down:

"Break-in" is a physical process, mainly related to a woofer's suspension/compliance changing over time, but can depend on the driver in question.
Usually, the majority of permanent changes will occur within the first 48hrs. I usually get through this process by playing deep brown-noise to give the woofers' suspension a good workout. The X-Statik woofers really needs those 50 hours of break-in before they sound right, most other speakers likely wont need or change that much.

"Burn-in" is an electrical process involving changes between the conductor and the surrounding dielectrics. Cheap/budget components generally don't change much over time, and any small changes that do occur are done within the first 50hrs. Higher quality caps, like Sonicaps or Superior Z-caps, generally need about 200hrs of use before their sound settles.
Caps like many of the Miflex, Duelund, Jupiter or V-Cap ODAM caps, which are oil-impregnated require more time due to how the oil affects the burn-in process.
It's not uncommon for fresh oil-damped caps to sound good one day, then rough/edgy the next, then flat as cardboard the day after, that but how dramatic the caps change over time will depend on the cap and where/how it's used. Once they get to 400-500 hours they've mostly settled into their final sound.

For Burn-in, my process has been 22hrs on & 2hrs off, mainly to give the system time to "settle" and cool down between burn-in periods.
How much of a different it makes, I don't know, but that's how I've been doing it.

Burn-in and break-in won't fix issues if something is fundamentally wrong with a speaker, or component, but the changes that occur generally improve the sound over that course of time.
A cap or speaker that sounds "bright" or "cold" won't ~magically~ become "warm" or "smooth," but a component that is a touch hard/edgy at first, should soften up little by little over time.

KTS

Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #10 on: 5 Mar 2024, 02:50 am »
I am not sure if it is the same in every system, but my speakers sounded decent when I first played them a few hours. Then they sounded like they had a thin sheet on them for a while, I do not remember how long 50-100 hrs then gradually they opened up and became very detailed after another 100-200 hrs, but it was more noticeable on my second build due to my frame of reference had changed from lower quality speaker to very good speakers and from very good to exceptional speakers. Hope that makes sense, but again I think it could be different for everyone. I was advised by Hobbs and Tyson with 22hrs on and 2hrs off and it worked for me.

Tom899

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #11 on: 6 Mar 2024, 12:24 pm »
Thanks again! Appreciate all the great information!

Vince in TX

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #12 on: 7 Mar 2024, 04:15 am »
When I first built my X-On Walls (then called AV1-RS), the sound was so piercing it actually hurt my ears.  I forget where I found it, but I downloaded a file called "frybaby - burn-in.mp3" and ran it in all channel stereo on my theater system (using my Windows based Home Theater PC) for a couple of days straight.   Fortunately, the theater room is more or less isolated from the rest of the house, so it was unobtrusive.  During the process I found a blown tweeter on one of speakers.  Fortunately, Danny had a replacement available.   :D

Two years and hundreds of hours later, everything sounds amazing.    :thumb:

robwm

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #13 on: 28 Feb 2025, 03:10 pm »
What if you don't perform an actual burn in and just go straight into using them? If you're listening to the speakers every day, they will break in anyway, right?

Early B.

Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #14 on: 28 Feb 2025, 03:39 pm »
What if you don't perform an actual burn in and just go straight into using them? If you're listening to the speakers every day, they will break in anyway, right?

That would be the common sense approach, but audiophiles are weird.

FullRangeMan

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #15 on: 28 Feb 2025, 03:47 pm »
What if you don't perform an actual burn in and just go straight into using them? If you're listening to the speakers every day, they will break in anyway, right?
To me burn-in are any type of use.

robwm

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #16 on: 28 Feb 2025, 03:54 pm »
I think audiophiles are just trying to get the speakers to optimal operation in a faster way. I'm willing to bet the Bullies will sound better than anything I have ever heard before they are even broken in.

FullRangeMan

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #17 on: 28 Feb 2025, 06:36 pm »
I'm getting ready to order some upgrade parts for my crossovers. I understand some of these caps require 400-500 hours of break-in.
So, what is the best content to continuously play for this duration? I'm thinking some pink noise? Also, does volume matter?
Thanks,
Tom
So, what is the best content to continuously play for this duration? I'm thinking some pink noise?
This not a good idea.
 Dont do it. Do a normal regular use.
1) Tube amps cant run around the clock.
2) Class A Solid State amps also cant run around the clock due temperature.
3) 500 hrs continually will wear your entire system.
4) Your electric bill will explode.
« Last Edit: 28 Feb 2025, 08:10 pm by FullRangeMan »

Hobbsmeerkat

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Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #18 on: 28 Feb 2025, 07:42 pm »
Correct, but depending on the speaker in question, may be a little forward at first, and if you only listen an hour or so at a time, it may take quite a while for the break in to happen. other speakers it's less of an issue.

Also for burn-in I would use cheap Class D amps, or an old AV receiver. something you're not going to feel bad about running for hours on end, I prefer "deep" brown noise over pink noise, to break-in the woofers, then just loop music through it at any level at or above a whisper for burn in.

Early B.

Re: Crossover component break-in question please
« Reply #19 on: 28 Feb 2025, 09:45 pm »
A similar issue is warm-up time. My system takes about 30 minutes to "warm-up." It sounds brighter and congested upon power-up, but eventually settles down. Here's the weird thing -- if I power up and play music at a low level for 30 minutes or several hours, it doesn't warm up. I gotta crank it up to my normal listening level before it begins to warm up.