tuga
Major Contributor
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 in at the factory, so as a result of it, no burn in period is needed by the end user. Link to the article: http://bruce.coppola.name/audio/BurnInLegend.pdf
This caught our attention, since inspite of being this contrary to what most manufacturers, all magazines and retailers says, and Matrix HiFi might have taken this as truthful (if it were true the alledged anti.manufacturers, anti-retailers and anti-reviewers attitude that is commonly branded to Matrix HiFi) without investigating any further this information, we decided to conduct a small poll going directly to the manufacturers to ask what they thought about this issue.
SCANSPEAK
“I checked with the head R&D engineer for Scan-Speak, and here is how he responded to your question:
The drive units are not "burned in" when they leave our factory. However, the Thiele/Small parameters for Scan-Speak drivers are always given for units that are burned in - for the simple reason that it makes the designer's job easier, as all speakers will end up being burned in. Speaker units will automatically burn in when they are being used. If you buy a brand new speaker system (which normally is not burned in), complete burn-in will take about a month - depending on how often (and how loud) you listen to music. During burn-in the sound quality should improve.
There is a fast way to do it and the speaker designer should burn in the units (especially the woofers) before tuning the cabinet volume, damping material and port length (vented speaker) and trimming the cross-over network.
All you need is a sine wave generator and a power amplifier. Keep the drive unit in free air. Set the frequency to about 75% of the expected free air resonance frequency of the drive unit and turn up the voltage until the cone reaches full excursion without making mechanical noise. Let it run for 5 minutes and the job is done.
Notice that only Scan-Speak parameters are given for burned in drivers. You can expect the free air resonance frequency to drop about 10% (in some cases even up to 15% - the stiffer the spider, the bigger the change) during break-in. Naturally this affects the Q-values (they go down) and the equivalent volume (Vas goes up), as it is the suspension compliance that increases.”
Our Comments:
A very thorough explanation, very technical, and informing what method we should expect from a good designer to use and apply when calculating loudspeakers and chosing units. Would designers do this? In about 5 minutes, the cones are burnt in with a signal tone. Using music, in about a month (depending of the frequency and volume we listen music at). At a rate of 3 hours daily, 90 hours would be all what we need to have our speakers burnt in
ATC
“We do not consider 'burn in' an issue. When our loudspeakers leave the factory they are in perfect working order and their performance will not change over time unless they are not cared for or get very old.
I think 'burn in' was probably invented by hi-fi dealers so that when they sell a cable for 500 euros and the customer complains he can't hear any difference the dealer can tell them it needs 'burning in'. After the customer has waited for two weeks for the cable to 'burn in' he has forgotten how his system sounded in the first place and can't be bothered to complain again.”
Our Comments:
What a reply!! We insisted on the subject, since this was the first direct answer, and curiously was at the same time dealing with cables and its unexistent virtues (We at Matrix HiFi are 100% coincident with this statement), so our second question received this reply:
“Hearing stories of 2300 Euro cables makes me quite angry. You can't put all the blame with the dealer, he is heavily influenced by the press who push benefits of cable and yes, perhaps manufacturers who do not believe in 'hi-end' cable should do more to let their customers know. I think the trick is to go to Hi-Fi shops wearing a blindfold. If it was only your ears you used to choose equipment then you would probably have a better system.
The facts are, no cable can improve the sound. A poor cable can only degrade the sound. I think that a lot of the 'sound' certain cables produce are down to problems with the design. For example, a cable with high capacitance attenuating the high frequencies.
Alot of it is also down to 'system tuning'. I think this is another silly idea - using a 'dull' component to cancel the effect of a 'bright' component. If manufacturers designed high performance, neutral components in the first place then this would not be needed. But saying that, with Hi-Fi, it is down to personal preferance.
As I think you have guessed, there are no magical solutions. Good audio equipment comes from good engineering. There are some psycho-acoustic phenomenon that we do not understand, but every other characteristic of an audio system can be measured accurately using modern test equipment. If a manufacturer does not have data to back up their claims then they are probably making it up.”
Our Comments:
When reading such a direct and clear answer, we can only say that we’d wish all manufacturers were as open and honest as this one. BTW, ATC supports blind tests to evaluate systems…and before you ask: no, we are not affiliated nor have any commercial interests with this particular brand.
VIFA
“Tak for din mail. Tilspilning af højttalerenheder er som regel hørbart. Graden afhænger af enhedstypen, men Vifa's lavtabsophæng gør, at enhederne er lidt mindre følsomme overfor dette.
Der er ingen grund til at tilspille produkterne før de forlader fabrikken. Blot skal man sørge for, at de enheder man benytter til at afstemme højttaleren med, og designe delefiltret, allerede er tilspillede”
Our Comments:
Much the same response received from Scan Speak (no wonder they are part of the same group). They are not being over explicit, they do not mention anything about the virtues of burning in a speaker unit, they use vague terminology such as “usually audible” and “the degree of audibility depends on the unit type” are not indicating us much, but at least confirms what we suspected: the speaker units are not burnt in prior to leaving the factory.
JBL PRO
“I would say for very accurate precision tooled devices, the burn in period would be relatively short, if not non existent. Devices like these would be designed in a way to give maximum accuracy right out of the box. Perhaps it might take a few hours for the paper to settle, but minimum time period for this type of device.
Musical instrument speakers are a different story. The reports vary depending upon the desired result. If you are refurbishing a 40 or 50 year old amp, many times a good technician will really work out the fresh cone that is to be loaded with some test signal so that the paper will soften and sound more like what the player has grown accustomed to. Many of the vintage replacement speaker companies "pre break in" their off the shelf product. I have heard of different techniques to do this if this is not the case. In this application it is often desirable to soften the paper before use.
We "burn test" our speakers for power rating purposes but a fresh from the factory cone has only had test signal passed through it at the test booth on the line. We don't "break in" our paper.
For highly accurate JBL products this has been my personal experience:
Short (if not non-existent) break in period, then many years of accurate replication and then many years later eventual cone fatigue and the need for recone. I have been using JBL products since the 70's myself and gone through many recones/refurbs so I have a good deal of experience with fresh paper. I have recently reconed my 20 year old 4412 studio monitors. They had gotten a little "floppy" sounding and even thought the compliance was still in tact, it was time for fresh cones.
Guitar applications are a bit different and it really depends upon what you are trying to achieve. In some cases, I tend to like fairly well fatigued cones for certain guitar sounds. I have a 40 year old D120f with original paper (pretty crusty with patches). I will use this one just as it is until the coil burns or the cone falls completely apart. I love the way this speaker sounds! For clean applications, the fresher the paper, the cleaner the sound.
The bottom line is that from the moment a speaker starts to move air, the vibrations are impacting the cone. In some cases there might be a brief settling in period, but long term impact of sustained vibration is the eventual fatiguing of the cones. The more fatigued a cone becomes, the less accurate a device it is likely to be. So, if you want long term accuracy and maximum useful life of your speakers, do not put them through any rigorous "paper softening" process. The logical conclusion is that you will only shorten the useful life span of the speaker. If accuracy is not your goal and some form of "coloration" of the signal is what you have in mind (like for a guitar application) then go for it, it probably makes sense for what you are doing and you are not negatively impacting the long term end result.”
Our Comments:
Surprisingly, this manufacturer tells us about not forcing the run in period by using a signal tone, we’d only shorten the life span of it and add colorations to the sound.
AUDIOTECHNOLOGY
“Thanks for your mail. Your question is a good question and I will try to answer it as well as possible. There is great difference between the different drivers, when it comes to “running in” A woofer can be run in relatively quickly, but in hours? – I am not sure. Our woofers, with a relatively high compliance, can be run in, in a day or so, where the more stiff drivers, like PA drivers takes a week or more. When it comes to midranges, it is another story. The sound of a midrange can change up to month after it has been played for the first time. I personally, have recently become the lucky owner of a pair of Peak Consult “El Diablo” – a true work of art – but that is another story. When they were first connected, the sound was impressive but not great, but after a couple of days, the bass was wonderful. I played them 24/7 to break them in as fast as possible. Now, after 2 month, the midrange is also great. It has been changing every day, since the first. The tweeter is still changing – bringing less “S” sounds to the female voices and adding to the image day by day. Today my listening room tends to be much bigger than it really is, and is still getting bigger (hope the walls wound fall down on me). As you can understand, it is individual how long time it takes to burn in a speaker, but in general you can say that the bigger the driver, the faster it will be run in or you could express it in another way also: The more the cone moves, the faster the driver is run in.
Hope this answer is adequate for you. Otherwise, please write again.”
So we did:
“Thanks for a very clarifying reply, however, it raises up another question:
If a driver sounds better after burn in, why is it that (apparently) no manufacturer sells its units already burnt in? Also, is there a certain music program preferred or to avoid when burning in a driver?”
And the anwer to our second mail was:
“Thanks for your mail. Yes, you are right – we ought to burn in all the drivers, but – we do not have the time or the facilities to do it. It is the same with a car………. It also runs better and has better fuel economy after some thousand miles, but can you imagine the Toyota factories driving some thousand miles before delivering each car? There is no preferred music, when burning in speakers. I personally use pink noise, when I am not at home. Else any music that makes the drivers move as much as possible.”
Our Comments:
Blah, blah, blah,…we can’t say we were impressed considering the manufacturer’s reputattion. He was an inch away from offering for sale the Peak Consult speakers…
However, he’s telling us that it depends of the cone type. Woofers with high compliance can be burnt in on one day, while mids might need up to a month…
link: http://matrixhifi.com/ENG_contenedor_rodajealtavoces.htm
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 in at the factory, so as a result of it, no burn in period is needed by the end user. Link to the article: http://bruce.coppola.name/audio/BurnInLegend.pdf
This caught our attention, since inspite of being this contrary to what most manufacturers, all magazines and retailers says, and Matrix HiFi might have taken this as truthful (if it were true the alledged anti.manufacturers, anti-retailers and anti-reviewers attitude that is commonly branded to Matrix HiFi) without investigating any further this information, we decided to conduct a small poll going directly to the manufacturers to ask what they thought about this issue.
SCANSPEAK
“I checked with the head R&D engineer for Scan-Speak, and here is how he responded to your question:
The drive units are not "burned in" when they leave our factory. However, the Thiele/Small parameters for Scan-Speak drivers are always given for units that are burned in - for the simple reason that it makes the designer's job easier, as all speakers will end up being burned in. Speaker units will automatically burn in when they are being used. If you buy a brand new speaker system (which normally is not burned in), complete burn-in will take about a month - depending on how often (and how loud) you listen to music. During burn-in the sound quality should improve.
There is a fast way to do it and the speaker designer should burn in the units (especially the woofers) before tuning the cabinet volume, damping material and port length (vented speaker) and trimming the cross-over network.
All you need is a sine wave generator and a power amplifier. Keep the drive unit in free air. Set the frequency to about 75% of the expected free air resonance frequency of the drive unit and turn up the voltage until the cone reaches full excursion without making mechanical noise. Let it run for 5 minutes and the job is done.
Notice that only Scan-Speak parameters are given for burned in drivers. You can expect the free air resonance frequency to drop about 10% (in some cases even up to 15% - the stiffer the spider, the bigger the change) during break-in. Naturally this affects the Q-values (they go down) and the equivalent volume (Vas goes up), as it is the suspension compliance that increases.”
Our Comments:
A very thorough explanation, very technical, and informing what method we should expect from a good designer to use and apply when calculating loudspeakers and chosing units. Would designers do this? In about 5 minutes, the cones are burnt in with a signal tone. Using music, in about a month (depending of the frequency and volume we listen music at). At a rate of 3 hours daily, 90 hours would be all what we need to have our speakers burnt in
ATC
“We do not consider 'burn in' an issue. When our loudspeakers leave the factory they are in perfect working order and their performance will not change over time unless they are not cared for or get very old.
I think 'burn in' was probably invented by hi-fi dealers so that when they sell a cable for 500 euros and the customer complains he can't hear any difference the dealer can tell them it needs 'burning in'. After the customer has waited for two weeks for the cable to 'burn in' he has forgotten how his system sounded in the first place and can't be bothered to complain again.”
Our Comments:
What a reply!! We insisted on the subject, since this was the first direct answer, and curiously was at the same time dealing with cables and its unexistent virtues (We at Matrix HiFi are 100% coincident with this statement), so our second question received this reply:
“Hearing stories of 2300 Euro cables makes me quite angry. You can't put all the blame with the dealer, he is heavily influenced by the press who push benefits of cable and yes, perhaps manufacturers who do not believe in 'hi-end' cable should do more to let their customers know. I think the trick is to go to Hi-Fi shops wearing a blindfold. If it was only your ears you used to choose equipment then you would probably have a better system.
The facts are, no cable can improve the sound. A poor cable can only degrade the sound. I think that a lot of the 'sound' certain cables produce are down to problems with the design. For example, a cable with high capacitance attenuating the high frequencies.
Alot of it is also down to 'system tuning'. I think this is another silly idea - using a 'dull' component to cancel the effect of a 'bright' component. If manufacturers designed high performance, neutral components in the first place then this would not be needed. But saying that, with Hi-Fi, it is down to personal preferance.
As I think you have guessed, there are no magical solutions. Good audio equipment comes from good engineering. There are some psycho-acoustic phenomenon that we do not understand, but every other characteristic of an audio system can be measured accurately using modern test equipment. If a manufacturer does not have data to back up their claims then they are probably making it up.”
Our Comments:
When reading such a direct and clear answer, we can only say that we’d wish all manufacturers were as open and honest as this one. BTW, ATC supports blind tests to evaluate systems…and before you ask: no, we are not affiliated nor have any commercial interests with this particular brand.
VIFA
“Tak for din mail. Tilspilning af højttalerenheder er som regel hørbart. Graden afhænger af enhedstypen, men Vifa's lavtabsophæng gør, at enhederne er lidt mindre følsomme overfor dette.
Der er ingen grund til at tilspille produkterne før de forlader fabrikken. Blot skal man sørge for, at de enheder man benytter til at afstemme højttaleren med, og designe delefiltret, allerede er tilspillede”
Our Comments:
Much the same response received from Scan Speak (no wonder they are part of the same group). They are not being over explicit, they do not mention anything about the virtues of burning in a speaker unit, they use vague terminology such as “usually audible” and “the degree of audibility depends on the unit type” are not indicating us much, but at least confirms what we suspected: the speaker units are not burnt in prior to leaving the factory.
JBL PRO
“I would say for very accurate precision tooled devices, the burn in period would be relatively short, if not non existent. Devices like these would be designed in a way to give maximum accuracy right out of the box. Perhaps it might take a few hours for the paper to settle, but minimum time period for this type of device.
Musical instrument speakers are a different story. The reports vary depending upon the desired result. If you are refurbishing a 40 or 50 year old amp, many times a good technician will really work out the fresh cone that is to be loaded with some test signal so that the paper will soften and sound more like what the player has grown accustomed to. Many of the vintage replacement speaker companies "pre break in" their off the shelf product. I have heard of different techniques to do this if this is not the case. In this application it is often desirable to soften the paper before use.
We "burn test" our speakers for power rating purposes but a fresh from the factory cone has only had test signal passed through it at the test booth on the line. We don't "break in" our paper.
For highly accurate JBL products this has been my personal experience:
Short (if not non-existent) break in period, then many years of accurate replication and then many years later eventual cone fatigue and the need for recone. I have been using JBL products since the 70's myself and gone through many recones/refurbs so I have a good deal of experience with fresh paper. I have recently reconed my 20 year old 4412 studio monitors. They had gotten a little "floppy" sounding and even thought the compliance was still in tact, it was time for fresh cones.
Guitar applications are a bit different and it really depends upon what you are trying to achieve. In some cases, I tend to like fairly well fatigued cones for certain guitar sounds. I have a 40 year old D120f with original paper (pretty crusty with patches). I will use this one just as it is until the coil burns or the cone falls completely apart. I love the way this speaker sounds! For clean applications, the fresher the paper, the cleaner the sound.
The bottom line is that from the moment a speaker starts to move air, the vibrations are impacting the cone. In some cases there might be a brief settling in period, but long term impact of sustained vibration is the eventual fatiguing of the cones. The more fatigued a cone becomes, the less accurate a device it is likely to be. So, if you want long term accuracy and maximum useful life of your speakers, do not put them through any rigorous "paper softening" process. The logical conclusion is that you will only shorten the useful life span of the speaker. If accuracy is not your goal and some form of "coloration" of the signal is what you have in mind (like for a guitar application) then go for it, it probably makes sense for what you are doing and you are not negatively impacting the long term end result.”
Our Comments:
Surprisingly, this manufacturer tells us about not forcing the run in period by using a signal tone, we’d only shorten the life span of it and add colorations to the sound.
AUDIOTECHNOLOGY
“Thanks for your mail. Your question is a good question and I will try to answer it as well as possible. There is great difference between the different drivers, when it comes to “running in” A woofer can be run in relatively quickly, but in hours? – I am not sure. Our woofers, with a relatively high compliance, can be run in, in a day or so, where the more stiff drivers, like PA drivers takes a week or more. When it comes to midranges, it is another story. The sound of a midrange can change up to month after it has been played for the first time. I personally, have recently become the lucky owner of a pair of Peak Consult “El Diablo” – a true work of art – but that is another story. When they were first connected, the sound was impressive but not great, but after a couple of days, the bass was wonderful. I played them 24/7 to break them in as fast as possible. Now, after 2 month, the midrange is also great. It has been changing every day, since the first. The tweeter is still changing – bringing less “S” sounds to the female voices and adding to the image day by day. Today my listening room tends to be much bigger than it really is, and is still getting bigger (hope the walls wound fall down on me). As you can understand, it is individual how long time it takes to burn in a speaker, but in general you can say that the bigger the driver, the faster it will be run in or you could express it in another way also: The more the cone moves, the faster the driver is run in.
Hope this answer is adequate for you. Otherwise, please write again.”
So we did:
“Thanks for a very clarifying reply, however, it raises up another question:
If a driver sounds better after burn in, why is it that (apparently) no manufacturer sells its units already burnt in? Also, is there a certain music program preferred or to avoid when burning in a driver?”
And the anwer to our second mail was:
“Thanks for your mail. Yes, you are right – we ought to burn in all the drivers, but – we do not have the time or the facilities to do it. It is the same with a car………. It also runs better and has better fuel economy after some thousand miles, but can you imagine the Toyota factories driving some thousand miles before delivering each car? There is no preferred music, when burning in speakers. I personally use pink noise, when I am not at home. Else any music that makes the drivers move as much as possible.”
Our Comments:
Blah, blah, blah,…we can’t say we were impressed considering the manufacturer’s reputattion. He was an inch away from offering for sale the Peak Consult speakers…
However, he’s telling us that it depends of the cone type. Woofers with high compliance can be burnt in on one day, while mids might need up to a month…
link: http://matrixhifi.com/ENG_contenedor_rodajealtavoces.htm
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