Just listen to lots of music. |
I doubt it can be done wrong. I've always hooked up a receiver, turned on the radio and let it play at moderate levels most often, continuously At night I turn it down but not off. I've found it doesn't seem to matter either if it gets cycled on & off. the louder & longer they play, the sooner they'll run in though.. Within reason of course. I've never played new speakers at full tilt, nor any I've owned, ever. too scared too actually. if the constant playing/noise is an issue there's always blankets.
I think the signal sufficient to get the networks run in, but volume does play a part as the drivers need to flex a lot to run in completely.
Congrats & Good listening.. |
Some people tune the receiver off station for the FM hiss while not in the room.Others put the speaker facing each other,sometimes in a closet with the FM noise.I just enjoy them while they break in.If not over-driven,it's hard to do it
wrong.Just like Blindjim says,the drivers need to flex. |
My C1's sounded real good right out of the box. I did run mine 7 X 24 for 400 hours. I will say between 100 and 150 hours they did sound pretty bad. That lasted for about 50 hrs. From there they only got better. |
This issue is exactly why many seasoned listeners buy used speakers. Some new speakers take hundreds of hours for proper break in, and even longer periods, the larger the driver. |
mmmmm... I would say seasoned listeners buy used to save money, not to avoid break in. |
i would say the more you play the speakers the more they wear out as they are mechanical devices, the more the cones or diaphrams move in and out and flex-the spiders and the surrounds wear out. i dont believe in burning in a speaker...they just wear out...my speakers sound the same as when i purchased brand new, that they do now 20 yrs later. |
It seems most used speakers for sale on Audiogon are advertised as having low usage/hours. This contradicts the subject of the need to burn-in speakers, which also seems common on Audiogon. |
There is physical evidence of driver's T&S parameters changing after some use. As for electrical components, most noticeably capacitors and resistors require some burn in time before they sound right.
Drivers usually don't wear out(sans foam rot), but the electronics inside them can after 15-20 year, especially electrolytic capacitors. |
Absolutely can`t agree with Ditusa. If diaphragms movement flex-the spiders then these are not made from optimum material. I can`t actually imagine a speakers like this.
I know that some speaker manufacturers burn in the drivers already in factory. Maybe your experience is based on some of these brands.
Of course speakers wear a bit out as they are mechanical devices but they also need to run in like most other mechanical devices. Like cars for example.
In my experience speaker burn in makes tremendous difference. |
I have found that speakers do not so much require 'burn in' as 'break in'.
I believe it's a matter of the actual mechanism requiring a bit of 'loosening up' for the speakers to sound optimal.
There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that this holds true; I once purchase a pair of NHT 1.3's, but they didn't have them in stock. I borrowed the demos until mine came in on order. When I got my NIB speakers home, they did not sound anywhere NEAR as good as the demo pair i had been using. They sounded flat, uninvolving, totally lacking in bass, undynamic...
Day and night, i tell ya. I simply played my new speakers at moderate volumes as often as i could to get them to loosen up. I am in total disagreement with anyone stating that speaker break-in is pyschosomatic.
Just play music - and lots of it! your speakers will break in eventually and you can enjoy/observe the changes in the process along the way. |
Many years ago I sent my MG1 panels to White Bear lake for a rebuild. When they came back they were a little stiff in the sense that they had less power handling and needed a little more juice to get going. That fixed itself in a couple months of casual use.
When I replace the MG1s with 1.6s, I started with zero time speakers. These quite different to break in. The image wandered back and forth for several hours. Frequency response changed, too.
All that was over within a few hours and they have remained stable ever since. |
Cool answers everyone...thanks! |
Loose,I think most people take burn in and break to mean the same thing.I could be wrong,have been before!!!! |
Let's hope the are NOT the same thing! |
No, i din't mean burn in, although that is a factor too, no doubt.
I meant break-in. As in loosening up of the drivers, I guess you could say.
Is everything ok now? |
Just kidding!
Either works for me.
I have broken in plenty of stuff, but never did I burn-in something! |
Magfan, i know you're kidding ~! My comment was not directed at you, as either expression works for me too. But the point I was trying to make is that there is a difference between burn-in of electronic components as current passes through them as opposed to break-in with respect to the movement of mechanical devices. My bicycle parts (moving; mechanical) 'break in', they do not 'burn in'. By that logic, it's easy to see that they are distinctly different things.
Condescension should be checked at the door, as should rudeness and sarcasm. That's not what this place is all about,now, is it? |
Speaker break in does matter. |
Sorry, I have poor impulse control and periodically I can't help but get off a zinger. Not here? Why not? If there is no name calling and the zing is done in moderately good taste and as long as there are no slurs or name calling?
If I goof up or say something really nutty, why not a jibe aimed at me? I'm a big fella and can take a joke, even at my expense.
While Loose may say that 'breakin is primarily mechanical' and that 'burnin is primarily electrical', I try not to use the word 'burn' and 'stereo' in the same sentence. Brings back horrible images of charcoaled boards, transformers that really stink and bulged capacitors. Makes me shudder. A personal problem or one of semantics?
Can we come up with a single term that covers both? Maybe 'run in'?
I don't know if my panel break in was due to electrical of caps forming or mechanical of the mylar stretching or settling? I just know what I heard for the first couple hours. |
Hmmm...burn in, break in well we all have burnt something toast for instance. But not speakers many mechanical things get smoother with use they also wear out over time. I have to agree with the just play the speakers and enjoy crowd. All the speakers I've owned have been swapped back and forth with different equipment and in different rooms sometimes sounding better sometimes not. It seems that speakers do change over time but so might the source driving the speakers. So if your speakers sound better to you over time then they are, or you are burnt in. |
