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Okay, How Important Is Speaker Break In? (Dynaudio Contour 60i)

I have been running 25+ year old B&W Matrix 803 S2 speakers in my 2-channel system for about 15 years, and I finally treated myself to new speakers.  Mock me for buying based on research alone, but I got a really good deal and just unpacked my beautiful Dynaudio Contour 60i's.  The Dyn's are not broken in, just starting to play around with different songs, but I am expecting an improvement out of the box, and not getting it.  They are no more revealing, and slightly harder and more jangley in the mids and highs.  The bass is of course much better with the big Dyns, but the B&Ws with the Dyn Sub6 subwoofer I was running were better.  I have very good equipment so it is not a matter of driving bigger speakers (ARC Ref preamp and Bryston 7bSST2 monoblocks).  Unless speakers get A LOT better with break in, I thinking these Dyns may be converted back into cash.   Thoughts? Thanks.
mathiasmingus

Showing 1 response by paradisecom

paradisecom
370 posts
 
In my opinion, you're just used to the way your B&W's sounded to you, for 15 years of use.  You're ears and brain may adjust over some time to accept the new speakers. 

I've tested identical speakers, one set new out of the boxes and the other with 2+ years of use on them and found no difference in sound signature. 

Overall, if you're not happy with the sound of the new speakers, you may never be.  At least you're in a good position with them so you wouldn't take a beating if you were to re-home them. 

Maybe a newer set of B&W's would benefit you.  (??)
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