All things change from the beginning to the end. The question is how long that period is. Break-in is exactly what it implies and in every meaning of the word.
If you're in the maintenance field you run test to see if the normal break-in is occuring or not. We used a test that measured the number of particular partials
in an oil sample. Different oil samples with different functions have different SOAP's. Liquid assist cooling systems samples are used to tell when a cooling
pump, heat exchanger and other mechanical parts are failing. There is a certain amount of wear and tear that is considered normal wear over the entire life
of a given piece. That is the "Service life". If you see as little as a teaspoon of antifreeze in oil samples of 4-6 gallons twice in a row, the pan comes off.
You pressure the cooling system and WAIT.
I've experienced break-in vs broken, vs burned up many many many times. I've NEVER tested any brake system over 25mph AFTER a rebuild or brake
work. I've never
burnt brake pads, linings or blocks
in. I've never driven 100mph on new tires and I've never hopped in a car, PU, tractor, or any piece
of moving equipment, put my foot to the floor held it there and dry-start an engine. I've seen people blow thing up a few times doing it, but hay they
just heard the equipment, they don't fix it.
I've NEVER experienced an operator or otherwise (for that matter) not say or mention that things changed from day one to day two. Never. I'm
talking about a new piece of anything, from tires or track chain to windshield wiper blades to the speakers in the cab that were brand new and sounded
OK at best, to they sound a lot better.
I've installed or repaired at least 100 sound systems in mobile units. boats, planes, cars, PUs, tractors, etc. They all changed from day one to day 30 if there
were new speakers involved. I used a lot of Dayton, Alpine, factory oems, and had the opportunity to compare sided by side identical installs in 5-30
pieces of the same equipment.
The first to go are alway a data point for IM (infant mortality) as a unit is being delivered and if that "break-in" should happen in a warming shed or
400 miles into a frozen tundra. It's better to exceed the IM points and break-in period for a reason. It may be inconvenient to swap a speaker or a
component in a speaker, but think of the same mind set when you have something extraordinary happening in a very remote place with something
as small as a cell phone or as big as a tree harvester in the Louisiana Bayou. Some things break and they stay where they failed forever. Titanic and
the Bismark come to mind. I've had to do some very expensive rescues of equipment behind failures. Boats and high seas are the worst by far.
By pass the warnings this is what happens; NASA test equipment over and over and over to see where the abnormal wear stops and normal
wear begins (break-in) and what parameters need to be maintained to achieve an expected service life. They also learn that somethings don't need a
IM rate added because either Velcro works or it doesn't. Look at the data from the Apollo 1 mission, VELCRO was the main toxic fuel along with 95+%
O2 supply with body collection bags and lines. The final report stated that if they wouldn't have been asphyxiated by the toxic atmosphere they may
have well survived the burns because of their space suits. The problem was the six minutes it took to be able to open the hatch. That is a long time
to hold your breath. Many people that are trained free divers and astronauts can breathe pure O2 and hold their breath over 10 minutes with some
up to 25 minutes. Sigourney Weaver 6.5 minutes.
All speakers have a mechanical component that goes from NEW to ready. THEN to blast. If you test by turning the volume up all the way as
soon as you turn any unit on, enjoy it while it last, it won't last long. That goes for any working, moving breathing equipment or thing.
You start any procedure with caution and AFTER normal "WARM-UP" procedures start a normal day of work. Try leaving out "warm-up" on any hydraulic
based rig, LOL. Try turning the music up all the way and flip the ON switch. How many time do you think you'll get away with it? I can PROVE abuse or
NOT following simple rules will not only shorten the service life of anything it will shorten the life of everything you do it to.
BREAK-IN is as real as YOUR understand of it or the lack thereof. Warm up is just as beneficial to a point. I start a gas rig Idle for 30 seconds, put the car
in gear and release the brake. I slowly turn the SW 40-100 degrees, I'm gone. The first stop sign there is warm air, 1 minute later. All light or
heavy hydraulic equipment I cycle the hydraulics at least one time after a 1 minute warm up. HOSE BURST. # 1 reason for hose failure in cold
equipment.
Everything breaks in, everything warms up everything cools down. ANY engineer worth his salt know, shit happens weather they have experienced
it or not. They certainly didn't say it didn't happen because they didn't experience it. They KNOW it happened or it would still be on the blackboard
or R&D or the Fab shop or the redo shop, to the warrantee shop, or best shop of all "the bullshit, sit and wait shop" because the customer is a dickhead.
I'll give everyone a little piece of advice, I didn't know what a heart attack felt like until I experienced one. I NEVER had a chest pain, NOT one. I felt
like I was drinking boiling hot oil or water. No pain at all, just sick to my stomach and my stomach was on fire. I went to an ER and HE was surprised
but not stupid enough to say it wasn't a heart attack until he ran the old enzyme test. Every nurse there said the same thing, "I've seen indigestion make
people cry it was so bad." Not one had seen a MAN with his stomach on fire and no chest pain, tingling or numbness. 50 hours later I left with one stent
behind a clot, from a bruise on my thigh and went through 16 more before they inserted the second stent 10 weeks later. YES there was a Y and part of the
clot broke apart and went to partially block 1/2 where it split. Once again enzymes for 10 whole weeks and the doctor is thinking, (NOT knowing) there is
still a problem.
Me, I'm a rookie at this heart attack thing. I'm thinking I'll spend the rest of my life like this. If I'd have known you should get stronger quicker I might
have saved myself 10 weeks of the worst diet I've ever eaten and 10 weeks of NO PAIN but a boiling stomach. Do you think it will happen to me
again? Not to this old mechanic.
The moral of that story is simple, shit happens weather you've experienced it or not. The second part is just because someone doesn't know how
to do something or didn't measure a result doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I can't hold my breath for 6.5 minutes, but some people can.
Some people know that a blue reflector in the road means there is a water supply across from it. 90% of the people in the USA don't know that.
BTW The house still burns down if YOU didn't know.
The magical change in the sound of cables. LOL Rested ears maybe, mind boggling changes never has happened to me other than forgetting to plug
the silly thing in all the way or not at all. New tonearm rewire might cause some picky listener a problem, usually not to the point of not listening
though. Teflon caps come to mind to. I'm made some great buys because of Teflons in CJ preamps and VMPS speakers. 2-300 hours they SUCK!
The bigger they are the longer it takes, it's not a magic number its a size thing.
I have a 15 year old center that still isn't broke in with .5% TRT caps. Shame it's a beautiful well made speaker with maybe 50-75 hour on it.
Madagascar ebony. A wire fell off inside I paid 100.00 usd for it.
1150.00 new. It's still new actually. You can adjust the mids and tweet,
it has 50 and 100 watt L-Pads. You can HEAR the voices, I remember that very clearly. The V in VMPS. Variable.
Excellent educated user friendly design. It won't fix hard headed or the lack of patience though.
Tools used; SPL meter with fresh batteries, DMM with fresh batteries, and a thermal gun. I use a pair of Dayton Mics and SW when something
sounds wonky.. If your working with the same equipment every day and you can't remember how it sounds.
Shit man/woman go get a mechanic they should be able to, if they make a living at it. That's why it's called a "TEST DRIVE," not a joy ride.
