Stewart Pinkerton wrote in message ...
My only concern is - how will I know when they have stopped
breaking
in, and started wearing out? You can't reasonably have one without the
other.....................

Does it necessarily follow that a period of "break-in" leads directly
into an immediate period of decline? Can it be that the break-in
period is followed by a lengthy "plateau" period in which performance
stays within minimum specification or peak efficiency before
noticeably or measurably beginning to wear out?

I'm not talking about just speakers, but any product that has moving
parts (but also electronics as well). If speaker materials do change
their behavior maybe it's like breaking in a pair of shoes; the first
minutes, or maybe even the first hours (hopefully not) the shoe will
quickly feel better as it "loosens up" and conforms to your
feet(hopefully not the other way around, but maybe your feet do a
little conforming also.) After the "break in" process the shoe has a
"constant" feel about it for months or years until they begin to
noticeably wear and start to feel uncomfortable again. Baseball gloves
are clearly that way. They can take a season to loosen up, and then
they stay seemingly constant for years. Or the time when we had some
doors hung. They did not swing right, they were a little stiff, even
though they were hung properly.
The craftsman assured us that in a few days, after breaking in (use)
they would feel fine. He was right; after a little use the doors began
to open and close (swing) as expected and have done so for years.

There are other examples such as my motorcycle. The
clutch/transmission system was stiff when first purchased. Shifting
had to be done very deliberately and was audibly clunky. But in a few
days or weeks, as cautioned by experienced riders, shifting reached an
optimum tension level, became smoother, more quite and stayed that way
for many years before finally beginning to wear out (became loose and
unreliable). Many veteran BMW riders (not me) don't consider their
engines (not transmissions) fully broken in until after 40,000 miles.

I have never formed an opinion on speaker break in because whether it
exists or not, the listener, it would appear, by taking the time to
listen over a few days or weeks, can make a more accurate, sensible
decision with respect to their tastes. Hopefully they can return the
speakers for a complete refund if they don't work out. (This is the
only way I buy speakers or linestages). If it takes a few days or
weeks for the consumer to reach a more informed decision assisted by a
lengthy in-home audition, which may be fueled by beliefs about speaker
break-in, the more power to them.

Resources for researching speaker break-in, if they do exist, should
probably be redirected for more worth while pursuits.

Robert C. Lang