Link | Description | Post number | Measurement? |
There are a lot of "everybody knows" type of rules in audio with one of them being that audio gear in general, and speakers in the specific, benefit from "break-in." That is, their performance improves after some time. This is mostly touted by audiophiles but manufacturers also fuel this...
www.audiosciencereview.com
| OP Amir - no change after break-in | 1 | measurements |
There are a lot of "everybody knows" type of rules in audio with one of them being that audio gear in general, and speakers in the specific, benefit from "break-in." That is, their performance improves after some time. This is mostly touted by audiophiles but manufacturers also fuel this...
www.audiosciencereview.com
| GR Research - ridiculous | 5 | Manufacturer anecdote |
There are a lot of "everybody knows" type of rules in audio with one of them being that audio gear in general, and speakers in the specific, benefit from "break-in." That is, their performance improves after some time. This is mostly touted by audiophiles but manufacturers also fuel this...
www.audiosciencereview.com
| solderdude - no change after break-in, doesn't provide data but has the largest collection of headphone tests I have seen, is incredibly helpful and I trust. If you don't you don't that's your thing... | 6 | no measured changes, admits hasn't measured every headphone on the planet (seems to me like he did indeed miss a few!) |
There are a lot of "everybody knows" type of rules in audio with one of them being that audio gear in general, and speakers in the specific, benefit from "break-in." That is, their performance improves after some time. This is mostly touted by audiophiles but manufacturers also fuel this...
www.audiosciencereview.com
| AN-E Brochure - ridiculous | 9 | Manufacturer anecdote |
There are a lot of "everybody knows" type of rules in audio with one of them being that audio gear in general, and speakers in the specific, benefit from "break-in." That is, their performance improves after some time. This is mostly touted by audiophiles but manufacturers also fuel this...
www.audiosciencereview.com
| Dalifazon | 12 | Manufacturer anecdote |
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...
www.audiosciencereview.com
| Dense (manufacturer) claims that if you stress to death (96 hours or more at max power) you will see a change in the driver, but that it will be worn out at that point… | 29 | Not about break-in, this is wear-out! Please see the Klippel post later... |
This completely mirrors research performed at Harman where they tested a new woofer and a "broken-in" one in a real speaker. While physical changes are occurring in the driver, they are at such low level that there is no hope of attaching them to audibility. Speaker break-in is very real and...
www.audiosciencereview.com
| CTRL - no change after break-in | 61 | measurements |
This completely mirrors research performed at Harman where they tested a new woofer and a "broken-in" one in a real speaker. While physical changes are occurring in the driver, they are at such low level that there is no hope of attaching them to audibility. Speaker break-in is very real and...
www.audiosciencereview.com
| Amir got it wrong, the speakers didn't break in, the cables are what was breaking in. MoonAudio is referenced, I love it. | 69 | I love this ironic joke |
One would give more credence to break-in being meaningful if there were common cases of components sounding worse after extended use. But every single one of the processes involved seems to only make things sound better.. I have read reports of old electrostatic panels losing film rigidity over...
www.audiosciencereview.com
| Brand new and one year old 18" subs, 0.1dB in output between the two units - no change within speaker to speaker matching. | 98 | measurements |
I’ve had some Martin Logan’s that had no treble fresh out of the box; perhaps the panel needed to be fully charged? I confirmed it with in room measurement. Out of curiosity, how long did it take for the treble to normalize (I assume it did and it was measurable)? I think some break-in is...
www.audiosciencereview.com
| Reference to Toole, tiny changes were measured post break-in, these changes were inaudible. Multiple drivers and test subjects. Brings up the age-old question, why do manufacturers always say the sound gets 'better'? Associates this behavior with Marketing. | 107 | measurements |
This guy is a loudspeaker design legend and begs to differ. http://www.gr-research.com/burnin.htm Danny is a solid designer, but he buys into a lot of audiophool b00|$hit, or perhaps pretends to for marketing reasons -- e.g. he swears his "tube connectors" will make even a cheap bookshelf...
www.audiosciencereview.com
| Not data, but the behavioral phenomena behind kuxury purchases is somewhat interesting in light the eternal question, "why do we lead ourselves to believe our fancy posessions have special properties?" | 137 | Good read. |
The guys at Matrix Hi-Fi did a piece on this subject years ago: Speakers Burn In: What manufacturers say... Having read an article published by Mr. Bruce Coppola, where speaker burn in was the subject, we were surprised to read on one sentence that speaker units are delivered already burned...
www.audiosciencereview.com
| Various manufaturer's response. | 141 | anecdotes from manufacturers, interesting that JBL and ATC essentially say "our speakers don't change... |
The guys at Matrix Hi-Fi did a piece on this subject years ago: Speakers Burn In: What manufacturers say... Having read an article published by Mr. Bruce Coppola, where speaker burn in was the subject, we were surprised to read on one sentence that speaker units are delivered already burned...
www.audiosciencereview.com
| CTRL more measurements - negligible change | 144 | measurements |
The guys at Matrix Hi-Fi did a piece on this subject years ago: Speakers Burn In: What manufacturers say... Having read an article published by Mr. Bruce Coppola, where speaker burn in was the subject, we were surprised to read on one sentence that speaker units are delivered already burned...
www.audiosciencereview.com
| Someone with no measurements and no expertise challenges someone with expertise and data. | 153 | no measurements, just a great response to a logical fallacy. |
The only real proof is personal experience. Are you a solipsist?
www.audiosciencereview.com
| Post from Amir on Klippel's speaker-aging measurement system. This is for determining a speaker's time to fail. It involves high-power tests under nominal and accelerated aging conditions. The goal is to calculate time to wear-out, typically using Weibull analysis. This is important and should be a bit of a full stop. At 100 hours of full power operation, the speaker is measurably worn out. This isn't break-in, this is large portion of the useful life of the driver is gone. People all over the web in pursuit of breaking their drivers in, are instead wearing them out. | 180 | measurement company |