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Speaker Burn In?

Many components including speakers are said to require burn in of some period of time before they will reach their peak performance. Speakers like Magnepan are notorious for long burn in periods. Even cables are said to require burn in. Now I an faced with a set of speakers that need upwards of 240 hours burn in before they will 'open up' and play their best.

When faced with a required burn in how to yo do that burn it? Do you simply let it run it's course of time during your normal playback schedule or do you run the system 24/7 until the required time has been met? Are there other methods that can be used? Is their an accepted preferred method? And does the volume being played for burn in have an impact? Do higher volumes 'drive' the component harder and therefore provide a better burn in or to moderate or low volumes achieve the same goal?

In the past I have simply ignored the burn in as an effort and allowed the time to occur 'naturally' during my normal playback times. But with my last several components I have been more mindful of burn in and the recommended hours to optimum performance. Right now I am burning in a pair of speakers. I am about 40 hours in on non-stop playback. My normal listening level is from 72 to 81 on my system. When I leave the house or go to bed I drop the volume to 60 to 63. It is audible and in fact at this early time (3:40 AM) locally it even seems a little loud. How do you deal with this process?

Important process or waste of time thinking about it?
mwheelerk

Showing 1 response by timlub

timlub
2,039 posts
 
I have built alot of speakers, my experience is that if drivers have larger coils and heavy suspensions, they do take longer to break in. You have to loosen that suspension and before they can reach their potential. Most Dyns have 3" coils in the 6" drivers are larger, these drivers take much more time than a speaker with a 10" woofer with a 1 1/2 coil, a mid with a one inch coil and a dome. I am currently using an MTM with 2 HiVi D6.8(same driver as a Totem Forest). When I first fired these up, I was very concerned, Weak bass, huge mid range glare... After about 40 hours the transformation started, by 100 hours I could listen to them, but not until around 400 hours did they finally totally blossem. These are now one of the best speakers I have ever owned.
I have seen speakers with lighter suspensions sound pretty dog on good in 100 hours or so... It clearly varies by speaker.
Set em up and let em play as much as you can. The enjoyment will improve and improve.
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