Speaker Break In: Fact or Fiction?

[Mariachi]

Found this article, and I thought it might be interesting to bring up.

http://www.audioholics.com/education/loudspeaker-basics/speaker-break-in-fact-or-fiction

I've noticed that high wattage 2-way speakers do play better after you
applied a low frequency sine wave to them for a period of 2 hours...
I'm guessing this is because the voice coil is more "flexible" and has
the ability to return to its original state faster... and also because
the speaker cone is more calibrated to your speaker box somehow. I'm
just throwing wild statements out here based on what I've heard, so if
anybody with knowledge on this issue wants to elaborate; please do so.

[PuffDaddy_d]

Mariachi Wrote:
> Found this article, and I thought it might be interesting to bring up.
>
> http://tinyurl.com/yund9q
>
> *I've noticed that high wattage 2-way speakers do play better after
> you
> applied a low frequency sine wave to them for a period of 2 hours*...
> I'm guessing this is because the voice coil is more "flexible" and has
> the ability to return to its original state faster... and also because
> the speaker cone is more calibrated to your speaker box somehow. I'm
> just throwing wild statements out here based on what I've heard, so if
> anybody with knowledge on this issue wants to elaborate; please do so.

Not to be rude, but did you actually read/comprehend the article?
:confused: He shows multiple times that speaker break-in does _not_
result in any appreciable improvement in speaker performance... if
anything, it actually causes a reduction in over-all output.

Also, the voice coil doesn't flex (that'd be very bad) and speakers do
not become "calibrated" to your enclosure in any manner. The soft
parts should be the only things that flex, not the motor assembly.

But that's a good article for dispelling all the myths/rumors about
speaker break-in. Good find. :)


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[PhattyMo]

Mariachi wrote:
> Found this article, and I thought it might be interesting to bring up.
>
> http://www.audioholics.com/education/loudspeaker-basics/speaker-break-in-fact-or-fiction
>
> I've noticed that high wattage 2-way speakers do play better after you
> applied a low frequency sine wave to them for a period of 2 hours...
> I'm guessing this is because the voice coil is more "flexible" and has
> the ability to return to its original state faster... and also because
> the speaker cone is more calibrated to your speaker box somehow. I'm
> just throwing wild statements out here based on what I've heard, so if
> anybody with knowledge on this issue wants to elaborate; please do so.
>

Fact,IMO.
The surround,and spider get to "stretch their legs" a bit.

I've noted this on a pair of Magnepan SMG's also. After a good break
in,they sounded much better. Too bad they won't fit in a car.

[MOSFET]

> Fact,IMO.
> The surround,and spider get to "stretch their legs" a bit.
>
> I've noted this on a pair of Magnepan SMG's also. After a good break
> in,they sounded much better.

I tend to agree though it depends on the speaker. Many brands and models
will pre-break-in the speaker at the factory so it is not necessary for the
consumer to do it.

But as Phatty pointed out, breaking in a speaker will allow the surround and
spider to stretch a bit and this will increase excurrsion (therfore output)
a little. But let me add, A LITTLE. I would NEVER expect night and day
performance differences.

My $.02,

MOSFET

[Mook Johnson]

"MOSFET" > wrote in message
m...
>> Fact,IMO.
>> The surround,and spider get to "stretch their legs" a bit.
>>
>> I've noted this on a pair of Magnepan SMG's also. After a good break
>> in,they sounded much better.
>
> I tend to agree though it depends on the speaker. Many brands and models
> will pre-break-in the speaker at the factory so it is not necessary for
> the
> consumer to do it.
>
> But as Phatty pointed out, breaking in a speaker will allow the surround
> and
> spider to stretch a bit and this will increase excurrsion (therfore
> output)
> a little. But let me add, A LITTLE. I would NEVER expect night and day
> performance differences.
>
> My $.02,
>
> MOSFET

I agree. I do home speaker builds and measure the box design paramaters
before buildingthe boxfor the drivers I'm using. I had a 8" vifa woofer
that measured a higher FS than the datasheets. I ran them for a few hours
with some 30Hz sine wave with ehough excersion that I could see the cone was
moving (but not enough to cause distortion).

Let the coils and suspension cool off ane measured again and the FS fell to
within the datasheet range. There was an arguement that after a day or so
the suspension would stiffen up agian. I tested two days later and that was
not the case.

That proved to me that unless the speaker is broken inat the manufacturer,
it will need some "exercise" before it sounds as it was intended to.