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Dispelling the speaker break in myth with Beat Kitchen and Kali Audio [video]

pauze

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I follow Beat Kitchen (a music/audio education influencer) on Instagram and saw this interview of sorts with Nate Baglyos from Kali Audio pop up. Thought I'd share with the group as it covers not only the myth of speaker burn in (well treaded here), but also some interesting stuff about how JBL tested speakers...with fire extinguishers at the ready. Kudos to Beat Kitchen for not being afraid to admit he was wrong for falling for this common myth and putting some great information from the Kali folks out there.

 
Here we have a guy:

1. Dispelling audio myths
2. Willing to admit he was wrong about audio myths
3. Actively trying to get women into audio

I say put him in charge of audio YouTube and chuck the rest of 'em. :)

I'm not afraid to be wrong. Sometimes the questions are more interesting than the answers and so when faced with the prospect of running either of these two videos or throwing them in the trash, I decided it would be best to put them together so you could see both. Enjoy!

A+
 
This is great.
As he says, "It's not always so simple".
Agree this is a marketing tactic right out of the carnival-barker playbook! Even KEF is pushing this garbage these days:facepalm::

Glad he mentioned environmental effects, like temperature fluctuations in a room being larger effect that any break-in effect. I measured this explicitly.

From Floyd E. Toole, Sound Reproduction - Loudspeakers and Rooms, Chapter 17
index.php


I am going to make a point of watching his channel. I like his off-kilter interview style too.
 
I think it may be possible to measure like ~1dB of break-in on a driver that's literally never been used before, even at the factory... (I may have done this one in a casual test) but yeah, Toole hits the nail on the head as usual.

If break-in was a thing the way some people say it's a thing, it would be quite obvious in the measurements.
 
I have only seen speakers break-out. Woofers decided they have broken-in enough that their surrounds literally broke.
 
I don't know why ANYONE would think break-in exists in the sense that speakers get better the more you use them. However, what does exist is wear and tear from usage, leading to cracking rubber and burnt out electronics.
 
However, what does exist is wear and tear from usage, leading to cracking rubber and burnt out electronics.
I am not sure how much of that is age vs. use. Pure age is certainly a factor. We'd have to compare (say) a PA speaker left in storage vs. one that's used every day in a club or something.
 
I don't know why ANYONE would think break-in exists in the sense that speakers get better the more you use them. However, what does exist is wear and tear from usage, leading to cracking rubber and burnt out electronics.
For my perspective, what you mention is the PRIMARY reason I would believe* speaker burn in is a real thing!

Rationale:
  • [starting assumption] Wear and tear from usage will lead to cracking and burnt out electronics over the long run
  • We (the speaker company) want to sell equipment that will last and perform extremely well over that very long run
  • Since wear & tear [i.e., starting assumption] will have an impact over time, we (the speaker company) will design and manufacture the equipment to be initially tighter than ideal, so it wears & tears into the "perfect range" for an extend period of use, before eventually wearing & tearing into the imperfect range.... that is, we intentionally design with the wear & tear curve in mind, so the initial usage will be "too tight"
  • Most customers will not notice the difference between the early phase, the longer running target phase, and the eventual declining phase until the very end of the decline
  • And AudioPhiles will know that this design process in place, and thus, they will know to allow a period of "break in" usage to move past the initial "early phase" when it is too tight before making judgement about the long-run quality of the speaker
* To be clear, this is why I "would believe it" if the original premise is true for speakers made using modern materials and manufacturing processes (including fully Q&A test cycles prior to packing and shipping). My main point is that if the argument against speaker burn-in is "if anything, they get worse over time", you have lost the high ground since a high quality manufacturer will have accounted for that.
 
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C'mon, people. This is bunk. A speaker may have a very slight break in period in the first hour or two of play at a normal listening volume (mostly the woofer). Anything beyond that is just silly, or bad manufacturing to begin with.
 
I've concluded with the same during our development. Differences between each individual unit (due to minute differences in the individual drivers) are way larger than the difference before and after "burn-in". They sound different over time because you adjust to the sound signature.
 
It just so happens I actually have a pair of JBL 2216nd's that were power tested at JBL.

They sound great!
 
I've concluded with the same during our development. Differences between each individual unit (due to minute differences in the individual drivers) are way larger than the difference before and after "burn-in". They sound different over time because you adjust to the sound signature.
But who are we going to believe? You, someone who makes speakers for a living, or a random guy who has heard a lot of speakers in his day and knows what he heard? ;)
 
when an audio reviewer says something like “the speakers sounded a little bright and brittle until a week later they broke in” that the reviewer is reporting something more of the real character of the speaker and that it was his “ ears” breaking into the sound and adapting not the speaker changing.
 
My thought, if something can break in how long does it last before it starts to wear out?

Ohms
 
when an audio reviewer says something like “the speakers sounded a little bright and brittle until a week later they broke in” that the reviewer is reporting something more of the real character of the speaker and that it was his “ ears” breaking into the sound and adapting not the speaker changing.

I don't know what would change to make a speaker less bright? I would think it is our hearing adapting to the new source.

I always thought FS would go lower in woofers after break in. That hasn't been my experience as it is usually +/-10 % and they always seem to fall in that window. Both new and after use.

Two things

Why does it always get better?

200-300 hours recommended? How many months is that of actual listening time?

Rob :)
 
I've never really believed or heard a difference after a break-in period but what surprised me was to see that it's recommended to do so in the instruction manual for the Athena and Energy speakers I have that were made in Canada. Maybe they had written this knowing that it doesn't exist, but that it gives the new listener time to get used to the sound.
 
“The electrons in the wires and the molecules in the structures, over time, learn the way. In parallel universes, they get confused and sound worse.”

- Erwin Schrödinger or Schroeder from Peanuts, I can’t remember who said it first.
 
This is interesting topic. I do not really believe in speaker break-in, but I've had two cases where the speaker has changed significantly after some time.

First case was a car subwoofer years ago. Initially it did not get very loud, but when played for first 30 minutes I had to stop the car several times to reduce gain from the amplifier as it was getting too loud.

Second time was my Wharfedale diamond 12.1's. I absolutely loved the sound they had when first played. I was really surprised that I could place them really close to the wall with zero boominess. Then one day, maybe after two months of having them I started listening and there was suddenly way too much bass. I thought the kids must have turned the subwoofer volume, but when I checked the sub wasnt even on.
I then remembered that last time I listened those speakers I ended the session by testing if the preamp speaker type options had HPF, by playing 40hz sine wave and seeing if there was any change (no effect). That might have been the first time the woofers got any real excursion and maybe that was what made the difference, but nonetheless there was definitely change in the speakers. I had to move the speakers away from the wall and use dsp to cut the lows after that.

Just wanted to share the experience..
 
This is interesting topic. I do not really believe in speaker break-in, but I've had two cases where the speaker has changed significantly after some time.

First case was a car subwoofer years ago. Initially it did not get very loud, but when played for first 30 minutes I had to stop the car several times to reduce gain from the amplifier as it was getting too loud.

Second time was my Wharfedale diamond 12.1's. I absolutely loved the sound they had when first played. I was really surprised that I could place them really close to the wall with zero boominess. Then one day, maybe after two months of having them I started listening and there was suddenly way too much bass. I thought the kids must have turned the subwoofer volume, but when I checked the sub wasnt even on.
I then remembered that last time I listened those speakers I ended the session by testing if the preamp speaker type options had HPF, by playing 40hz sine wave and seeing if there was any change (no effect). That might have been the first time the woofers got any real excursion and maybe that was what made the difference, but nonetheless there was definitely change in the speakers. I had to move the speakers away from the wall and use dsp to cut the lows after that.

Just wanted to share the experience..
Interesting. It would be really surprising if they didn't run the drivers in full-range for a few seconds at some point during the manufacturing process (which is really all it takes to get the spider / surround moving normally) but who knows?
 
Interesting. It would be really surprising if they didn't run the drivers in full-range for a few seconds at some point during the manufacturing process (which is really all it takes to get the spider / surround moving normally) but who knows?
Just to add that I later bought diamond 12.3's, and those sound exactly the same as the 12.1's sound now. No change in sound even after I tried the same 40hz trick. So who knows, maybe some pairs arent tested at factory.
 
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