Do speakers take time to warm up?


For example, if my stereo is on and has been on for weeks, and then I connect speakers that have been sitting idle for a few weeks, do the speakers sound better after an hour of being played?  Whats going on?  Is it the caps in the crossover, the drivers, the ferrofluid in the tweeters?  All of the above?
b_limo

Showing 1 response by millercarbon

Don't know for sure. If you're serious though then you should know there's a range of things that do affect performance and do result in needing some time to settle before returning to equilibrium, ie peak performance. 

Moving wires around. The more of the wire is moved and the more its moved the greater the disturbance and the longer the settling time. If all you do is move the cables around just enough to disconnect and connect its pretty slight and fast- might not even notice or if you do back to normal in a few minutes. But if you disconnect both ends and coil the cable up, bigger difference and might take a few minutes to settle back in. 

I don't know that just a few weeks is long enough for a speaker. Times I have left mine off that long it seemed to be right back where it was within a normal amount of warm-up time. 

Your question is hard to answer because even if you're a skilled and experienced listener who has heard this stuff many times before, ie millercarbon, how would you know if its the caps without some way of removing them to test the idea? Why would you, anyway? I mean I know there's no end of OCD audiophiles. Can we ever really be sure audiophile isn't just another way of spelling navel gazer? If it sounds better warm and we know to warm it up what does it matter if its the wire or the cap if its all the same in the end?