Is break in quicker with Planars and Stats?

Plausible works. Don't want to be too scientific, it spoils the discussion.

Jim

From my experience with MG 1.6's I would definitely agree that there is speaker break-in with Maggies. It was less noticeable on the little Castle towers I use in the upstairs living room so I can't say if it was quicker.

Cone speakers have the surround in front and the spider in the back that locates the piston. I understand (feel free to correct me) that the spiders in quality cone speakers are very substantial and really need some serious break-in.

For the sake of argument consider how Magnepan planar panels are made. Mylar stretched to a certain tension and glued to a support frame that floats inside the larger baffle (only horizontal staples to keep the frame located). The mylar is sprayed (everywhere) with 3M spray adhesive and copper and aluminum wires/foil held in place then sealed with another bead of glue. Buttons are pushed through the mylar and anchored in the magnet plate to tune the resonant frequency of each panel.

You have the mylar stretching (to a certain extent) changing the initial tension. The 3M base coat is flexing and settling. The wires are flexing and settling, as is the second bead of glue directly over the wire. The mylar around the tensioning buttons is shifting in place until it settles. The mylar support frames/magnet assembly is shifting in the outer baffle as it settles from being shipped prone to standing upright. Add to that a coat of matt black around the perimeter of the mylar frame and supposedly Magnepan is now using a coating of some sort over the whole panel to protect from UV and moisture.

Yeh, kinda' makes sense there may be a mechanical system based break-in, doesn't it?

Jim S.

Norton,

It is possible that you and Musicnoise buy your speakers from a builder/manufacturer like Johnk who puts hours of run in on their speakers before selling. Truly great high end service!

I have to shop at the value end of the scale where Maggies perform very well vs. cost although it takes a little time from new (maybe 100 hours) for them to come into their own.

Respectfully,
Jim S.