Speaker Break In...? Or listener “Break In”?

Oh, I dunno about all that. Depends on HOW the speakers - or anything - are broken in. Some methods are without any doubt more effective than others. We’ve known that for a very long time. I’m referring to burn-in tracks on Test CDs continuously as opposed to just playing music a few hours a day. The argument can be made the speakers will never completely break in without heroic efforts. 🏋🏻‍♂️

As I’ve been reporting on another thread, burn-in of new HIFIMAN RE-600S V2 earphones is progressing nicely. Right out of the box they sounded terrible - tinny, distorted, no bass, and wimpy. 1 out of 10. And there was very little change the first 200 hours, using Kraftwerk, B-52s and Beastie Boys CDs for the first 150 hours, continuous play, then the burn-in track on the XLO Test CD for the next 100 hours or so. At the 250 hour mark the sound is finally much more musical, the distortion is gone and there is some bass, which I have my fingers crossed 🤞 will get better. Why these earphones should take so long to burn in is a mystery. Is it the single crystal copper conductors in the new cable? Who knows?

This just in!

Taken from the XLO Test CD information regarding track 9, the system burn-in tack,

”Most loudspeakers require SUBSTANTIAL burn-in time (as much as 200 hours) before achieving full performance.”

Yes, I know what you’re thinking, “But they’re selling a burn-in CD! Hel-loo!” 😬

That’s actually a very unconvincing argument. To whit,

”

Notice from the graph below, that the 2 curves are ever so slightly offset. You could argue there is a difference, but it’s negligible, most certainly unnoticeable in the real world. However, if you measure the TS parameters before and after break-in, and you get different Fs / Qts numbers, you probably got a faulty driver. This is another reason why you should break-in a speaker. Starting out your project with a damaged speaker is a recipe for failure. Even if you don’t measure the parameters before break-in, making the speaker play at  high excursions for 12 hours will almost certainly reveal flaws in the suspension, or voice coil defects.”

Gosh, do you think maybe the changes are inaudible because the people listening are hearing challenged? Or because they’re so busy making changes any changes that do occur are hidden in the noise? Hel-loo! Physically measured? By who? Nobody ever measures break in. You don’t even know what to measure. Give me a break!

If speaker break-in isn’t real then Pierre of Mapleshade berated the Gallo dude for nothing when he sent new Gallo Reference speakers to CES without breaking them in first like he promised. It was not a pretty sight, newbies. 🤭

Sounds like fun! 🕺🏻🙄

millercarbon, I’m happy b_limo has a fanboy. You will probably find this other subject started by the OP worthy of discussion,

“Can you smell your speakers when youre (sic) rockin out?”

And this one (no offense to you personally),

Fake Audiophiles

-In your opinion, what makes an Audiophile a true Audiophile?

-In your opinion, what do fake Audiophiles do that makes them fake?

And this one,

Do cables settle in?

I’m not quite sure what the term is, but if rearrange your rig and you bend your cables in different directions than they were in before, does it take awhile for them to relax and settle back in?

No man left behind. Apparently there are some left behind. Oh, well, that’s kind of how it goes some time. Live and let die.

Take a poll of manufacturers. Yeah, like that’s a way to get to the bottom of this. 😬 

There’s one in every crowd. We call that an outlier. 😬

As fate would have it all capacitors are directional since all wire is directional. So, simply reversing the direction of a capacitor should be obvious to the astute listener. But reversing the direction of all capacitors at the same time might not be audible since about 50% are in the wrong direction to begin with by chance, so you would wind up in the same 50-50 situation. Same thing goes for fuses.

rodman99999
“Psycho-acoustic studies indicate...” Sorry, not interested.

It’s not multiple choice, dudes. This is just one more example of non audiophiles thinking there are two sides to some issue or another.