Revel salon 2 break-in period?
This is an older thread, so I may be posting to no one but I have a pair of Revel Studio 2’s with a McIntosh MC462 on the low and a Mac MC352 running the highs.I have noticed that after having them for a couple of months, the low and mid-bass frequencies seem to have improved. I’m hearing a little more “slam” that I felt like I was missing at first. I noticed the same thing on my B&W 803D’s. It seems that the highs smoothed out a bit and the bass really improved with time. It may be my imagination, but I do feel like the character of the sound changed on both the Revels and the B&W’s. When I worked in a stereo shop though, we used to experiment with things like loudness compensation. If you begin with it on, and turn it off, people would generally think that there wasn’t enough bass or high end. The opposite was true when we reversed the process, so I know that our ears will play tricks on us. I mention this because I may be overlooking some element of me adapting to the particular character of the speakers. I certainly can’t rule that out completely, but I do still have the 803D’s and have swapped them to compare with the Revels. I still enjoy the things about them that I did when they were my main speakers so I’m not sure what that says, if anything. |
Hiendmoe: Boy, have you received some ugly responses I have the Ultima Studio2 & were broken in when received I would suspect 100 hrs would be required I have found amps make a large difference in bass on these Revels Mac’s hi end is sweet but bass is soft Bryston pounds the bass, like adding extra woofer, but high end is strident ( to me) ML sounds good overall, but never got me excited & I never thought Revel was that good, or make me want to buy Pass Labs really made me jump up and really listen, great bass, nice details on high end Summary, I’m liking the Studios as the tweeter is really delicate & revealing Break-in is part of deal , but a couple hundred hours may not be needed( more of you breaking in to the new sound) 100 hrs would be my guess What amp you running ? & what sound do you think you are missing? Bass? Etc They are really nice speakers jeff |
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It depends on the design and manufacture of the speaker. A good design and well built won’t need break in. It should break in within a minute or two perhaps an hour at most. The air suspension and voice coil motor should dominate the woofer response and not the spider or rubber surround compliance. Tweeter motor should dominate the tweeter. If the response drifts over hundreds of hours then the speaker response is dominated by minor factors like spider and surround compliance. It suggests a weak drive motor and a lack of air suspension relative to everything else. It suggests that the speaker will not be very linear in response. Open baffle speaker woofers are the most likely to need break in. |
Hookay....if you believe you know better than a renowned expert in speakers/acoustics/listener perception, and whose careful scientific work formed the basis for the very speaker you own...so be it. (The very reason you like your speakers so much essentially IS because someone like Olive really knew what he was talking about). Once one encounters the "I heard it, so it’s true" response, the road seems to end there. Just tryin’ to possibly save you some audiophile angst. ;-) |
Every speaker I’ve own from new sounded substantially better after a considerable breakin period. Depending on the speaker breakin period could go from 100-500 hrs. As to The mention of DR. Sean Olive perspective regarding speaker breakin I don’t put a lot merit into ones belief that if you can’t measure it doesn’t exist or it’s only something that ones imagination is telling himself it does. All wire, capacitors, resistors, drivers all exhibit substantial changes after they have been used over a period of time, how long depends on type used. Why do I make this claim? Because I’ve heard it take place with every new product I’ve owned!!! |
Well, you may want to consider the views of someone like Dr Sean Olive, who played major role in the scientific acoustic research at Harmon Kardon, and whose work informed the design of your Revel speakers. He was asked about speaker break-in and replied: Dr. Sean Olive: As far as "breaking in" the loudspeakers, this should have no effect on the performance or sound quality of the speaker; unfortunately this one of the many audiophile myths that, in most cases, has little scientific merit. Of course, over time, you may perceive the speakers have changed or improved because you may have adapted to their sound. That is a psychological effect that is not related to any physical change to the loudspeaker itself. It’s not at all implausible that a mechanical system like speakers alter in some parameter over time; the question is always: to what degree and how audible is the phenomenon? Audiophiles love to say there are many things we can sense but can not measure, but they seem to neglect that there are many things we can measure but can not sense. Hence...just because something is measurable by bench-test equipment, it doesn’t necessarily equate to audible. Here is an article by someone who attempted to measure the purported break-in phenomenon and found the effect negligible: https://www.audioholics.com/loudspeaker-design/speaker-break-in-fact-or-fiction |
As I mentioned, I owned them. I own JBL M2’s now. I am sorry that my opinion offended you. I posted my pertinent experience and thoughts, which I assumed you generally requested. I also have more experience than most, as I work as a professional in the field which I think is valid. However, it still is only my opinion. You are right however in criticizing my comment regarding your experience with your speakers. I had no basis for making that comment. |
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I’m going to go out on a limb here as say the following;anecdotal, objective evidence suggests that there is no, or exceedingly slight change in sound during the break-in period for speakers. I believe that it is more logical to accept that we, as susceptible, malleable and supremely adaptable humans adapt to the sound character of new speakers in our possession. I’m also going to hazard the guess that your initial impressions of the Salon 2’s mirror my own, in that you are less than impressed. I expected more and was let down by what I heard. I quickly moved on. |
