Do Audio Speakers Break-in?

[digicidal]

So we should be able to contact the company to tell us where they got the 100 hour number from? I mean why is it not 87 hours? Or 13 hours? Why 100? If they have not run any tests to determine that, well, what they say is not worth anything.

Perhaps a better question would be, at least for much higher priced offerings... why didn't you do that as part of your QC to make sure it changed exactly to your specifications rather than simply got too loose and now distorts more?

 

[digicidal]

78F and 51% here.

I keep an eye on it, but not obsessed.

I'm guessing that has much more to do with your personal comfort as opposed to that of your transducers however?

 

[RayDunzl]

I'm guessing that has much more to do with your personal comfort as opposed to that of your transducers however?

Yeah, that, and keeping an eye on cooling costs and efficiency.

Here's the obsessive part, if there is one. Estimate of daily baseline kWhr (blue) with stacked AC/HeatPump kWhr (red) since June 2016, monitored more or less weekly:

 

[Hiten]

Thanks doing this for clear understanding.
Dont want to bother Amirm too much as we are already greatful for his work. If data is available and if it is not too much effort would the distortion measurements remain same after burning in speakers ? Anything before after data ? Asking out of curiosity.
Regards

 

[amirm]

Thanks doing this for clear understanding.
Dont want to bother Amirm too much as we are already greatful for his work. If data is available and if it is not too much effort would the distortion measurements remain same after burning in speakers ? Anything before after data ? Asking out of curiosity.
Regatds

Unfortunately I did not run the distortion tests the second time as that was not the intent of the original test.

Someone else is sending me a new speaker and has specifically asked for it to be broken in first. So I will repeat this experiment in the future.

 

[Hiten]

OK. No problem. we are already obliged with your superb work.
looking forward to future reviews.
Thanks

 

[digicidal]

I still say the most common correlation exists between the break in period and the period of "no question returns" expiration. Maybe not in every case... but I'd bet 80% at least.

 

[thewas]

What is often forgotten is that they some elastomere parameters like of the rubber surrounds change a bit after some hysteresis curves (what is known as "break-in") but also partially back after resting some time so we are partially "breaking-in" every day when we come back home and switching on our audio system.
The good thing is though that those changes are usually so small that they aren't acoustically detectable and often even under the measurement precision limits.

 

[dense]

Audio speakers do "break in", but I don't like the word. I rather call it speaker torture.
If you stress the speaker with pink noise at rated or max power for a long time (96 hours or more), you will be able to see the extension of the Fo and improved THD.
This is because the edge or surround rubber becomes soft as it's stressed til death. Increased cms, decreased Fs.
I don't recommend intentionally aging the speakers. It's only for the reliability test.

 

[Koeitje]

Unfortunately I did not run the distortion tests the second time as that was not the intent of the original test.

Someone else is sending me a new speaker and has specifically asked for it to be broken in first. So I will repeat this experiment in the future.

I don't know how the Klippel works exactly, but a couple of basic on-axis frequency sweeps and distortion tests right out of the box might do it. Because if a full Klippel measurement takes hours some of the effect of breaking-in the speakers might be averaged out.

I do think mechanical properties change, but I do not think those difference can be heard.

 

[restorer-john]

Testing just one already used speaker for a "few hours" at low power and then claiming break-in is a fallacy is going a bit far. Pretty small sample group for bold proclamations if you ask me.

Do an impedance sweep and FR of a brand new out of the box speaker and then do it again after a number of hours exercising the bass driver with moderate excursion. Get the other Revel, the unused one from the pair?

There is no doubt in my experience used or demo speakers sound better than out of the box speakers. We used to put them side by side in the demo room. Identical speakers, one pair had been pushed in demos and the others we'd unpack to swap over so the customers would get the speaker they listened to and we'd run in the new pair. Also meant we knew the speakers that went out the door were as good as they could be and had no faults.

 

[digicidal]

Yeah, that, and keeping an eye on cooling costs and efficiency.

Here's the obsessive part, if there is one. Estimate of daily baseline kWhr (blue) with stacked AC/HeatPump kWhr (red) since June 2016, monitored more or less weekly:

View attachment 53030

Ahh... I figured the red lines were when you were using those Krell monoblocks.

 

[amirm]

I don't know how the Klippel works exactly, but a couple of basic on-axis frequency sweeps and distortion tests right out of the box might do it. Because if a full Klippel measurement takes hours some of the effect of breaking-in the speakers might be averaged out.

There is no averaging that way. The sound field is measured and then (3-D) curves are fitted to it. If a speaker changes and produces a different response, then a different curve would be created to match it.

Now a few measurements changing around the speaker will likely not change its overall response. But that would make the duration of "break-in" seconds in length.

 

[quorzar]

I dont believe in break-in, but video is interestig.

 

[amirm]

I dont believe in break-in, but video is interestig.

He gives the same incorrect explanation I provided in the article. That driver change is the same as speaker change.

 

[Koeitje]

There is no averaging that way. The sound field is measured and then (3-D) curves are fitted to it. If a speaker changes and produces a different response, then a different curve would be created to match it.

Now a few measurements changing around the speaker will likely not change its overall response. But that would make the duration of "break-in" seconds in length.

It takes several hours to measure right? So if the effect is only evident in the first several minutes and not for the rest of the measurement it is still averaged out.

And I also don't believe in break in beyond a couple of minutes, but just playing devil's advocate here. Break-in already happens during driver manufacturing anyway, because they test the drivers...

 

[amirm]

It takes several hours to measure right? So if the effect is only evident in the first several minutes and not for the rest of the measurement it is still averaged out.

No. Those earlier measurements would show up as being different in the soundfield.

 

[pma]

Try to measure resonance frequency of new drivers and then after several (hundred) hours of operation. Maybe you will find a difference, maybe not.

 

[amirm]

Try to measure resonance frequency of new drivers and then after several (hundred) hours of operation. Maybe you will find a difference, maybe not.

So you didn't read the article either...

 

[stevenswall]

78F and 51% here.

I keep an eye on it, but not obsessed.

I'd be obsessed with humidity and break in if I had old style paper rot style driver diaphragms and surrounds. They would probably sound more and more organic with extra humidity, as seen by the organic colonies forming on the diaphragm below. So lifelike, unstrained, and "relaxed" sounding!

(And I wonder if wooden drivers are completely sealed? I swear there are a few companies that use them because they sound organic. If so, they should sound like whatever decidedly toxic chemical they were sealed with, since speakers always sound like their cone materiel (another "given" that I think is a myth.) For example: My Genelecs have an aluminum tweeter, so you know they have massive treble spikes and their mids sound foamy and soft with tons of nulls, and the aluminum woofer is way to bright and metallic.)

If only I had some really old speakers that sounded organic and alive like these: