How do you properly break-in a pair of speakers?

With respect to all above, when first firing up brand new speakers, they should be played at very low audible volume for the first day or so, then played with loud complex passages until the end of break-in. This is recommended by Neil Patel of Avalon, among others. The purpose is to very gradually soften and strengthen the brittle dielectrics in the crossover.

Run the speakers like you were breaking in a car motor. That is, drive them the way you would normally with jsut a bit more respect i.e. no instantaneous throttle stomping ( cranking the volume ). This allows the capacitors to form. Once you've got a little bit of time on them ( a few days ), feel free to use the gain control quite a bit more liberally. There is no need to crank the tar out of the system or push things beyond the point that you would normally use them. Some of those methods will speed up the process, but it will still take time and use for the suspension to loosen up. There will be gradual changes as you use them but it will be quite gradual day by day. When the drivers have loosened up, it will be like the bass just "let loose". In my experience, it can be a drastic change that just seems to happen all at once. Either way, enjoy what you have and listen to some tunes : ) Sean
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I am with Decay. Break-in of the speakers should be at moderate volumes first without strong physical over-stress of the voice coil. Play the music that you will enjoy despite any lack in quality of reproduction. After manufacturer's suggested break-in time you can excersise higher volumes if desired

While you are away from home run your tuner and tune for interstation hiss. This hiss contains all frequencies and will break in your loudspeakers lickity split. Of course, enjoy listening to music when you are at home.

Ryan's got it right. Even better is to boost the bass if you have tone controls (huh?). You'll soften those surrounds and spiders quicker....

Burra hit it right on the head. Just play a disc or run the tuner. When I was breaking in mine, I just let it play whether I was home or not. Not at high volumes. I only listen at moderate volumes anyway. The more you listen during the break in period, the more you will realize how much the sound is actually changing during the whole. Most manufacturers recommend to just play them normally.

Various full scale music will work fine (classical with organ is good). I do not play new speakers loud @ first (if the sound becomes compressed or dry, then this is too loud, IMO, plus who wants to listen to this).

Most of the new speakers that I have owned loosened up in the first 100 hours (as far as increasing the volume goes), so try to be patient if you enjoy listening @ higher levels.

I don't know if a fairly high volume will actually damage the drivers in the beginning, but I try to treat them as I would a new automobile engine and this has worked well for me.

What speakers did you purchase? Could be that someone will be able to give you a time line based on experience.

Just throw in a CD and let it go!

One trick, which works better with monitors, is to place them face to face and wire one out of phase with the other. Throw a blanket over the whole thing and turn up the volume until your spouse complains, then back it off a little.