Speaker Break In

[L.J.]

Quote from Energy Speaker Manual.(I'll shorten it up a little)

"We strongly advise that U resist to play your speakers to their full capabilities until they have been proper broken in. This process should last about 50 hrs and can be aheived by playing a cd with a wide dynamic range repeatedly."

1. How seriously should I be taking this advice? I'm about half way there and my wife is ready to kill me.(Due to listening to the same cd over and over)

2. Does this appy to all size woofers or more towards my sub? My towers(Energy C-9) has 61/2 in. woofers.

3. If I stop the break in at the half way mark I'm at now will my speakers eventually get there with normal use?(I'm sure this advise is in the manual for a good reason, I'm just wondering if it's a little too extreme.)

4. If this process is a must is there any particular disc or cd I should use to speed this up?

5. Will doing no break in at all leave speakers in a state of never acheiving their true potential.


If anyone has any experience on this subject I would appreciate the advice. I'm ready to get down to some serious listening but this advise has me a little cautious. I want to hear the full potential of what my speakers have to offer.

[L.J.]

That's what I started doing after the death treats started. Thanks

[markw]

Nature will take it's natural course. Play whatever music you want. If you played the same CD over and over in my house, I'd have to clock ya, too.

[kexodusc]

Quote from Energy Speaker Manual.(I'll shorten it up a little)

"We strongly advise that U resist to play your speakers to their full capabilities until they have been proper broken in. This process should last about 50 hrs and can be aheived by playing a cd with a wide dynamic range repeatedly."

1. How seriously should I be taking this advice? I'm about half way there and my wife is ready to kill me.(Due to listening to the same cd over and over)

Don't sweat it...go ahead an play what you want, the way you intended to when you bought them.



2. Does this appy to all size woofers or more towards my sub? My towers(Energy C-9) has 61/2 in. woofers.
Woofers may loosen up a bit if they are stiff from the factory. Electrically, no break-in should be required. My very recent experience with measuring some of my own speakers in the lab was that break-in is a real phenomenon, but it happens much faster than 50 or 100 hours.


3. If I stop the break in at the half way mark I'm at now will my speakers eventually get there with normal use?(I'm sure this advise is in the manual for a good reason, I'm just wondering if it's a little too extreme.) Yes, in fact, your speakers might already be there. The 50 Hr recommendation is made just as much with the intent of breaking YOU in to the speakers as it is to get the speakers up to snuff. That way you don't make fast judgements and return them at the dealer's expense...


4. If this process is a must is there any particular disc or cd I should use to speed this up? Nope anything you want. To err on the side caution just don't crank them to the max volume for the first several hours, sounds like your already past that point.


5. Will doing no break in at all leave speakers in a state of never acheiving their true potential. No...there's no detriment. It's kind of like a baseball glove. It's a bit stiff at first, but normal use will loosen it up. 50 hours is waaaay too much in my opinion, but you never know...go ahead and enjoy your new speakers!!!

[poneal]

when your measuring a new drivers' Theile Small Paramters. As these parameters change after breakin, most recommend 3-4 hours of playing before measuring these parameters. For music, you probably will not hear a great difference. Thus, 3-4 hours is usually all thats needed.

[kexodusc]

Hi Paul...that's exactly what I found...Fs on 2 drivers fell several Hz after just a few hours of listening. Unfortunately I didn't think in advance to keep track of how much playing time they had. Doh....Might be a good thing to record from now on...

[L.J.]

Thanks for the replies. I'm in about 25 hrs and I listen to music daily anyways. No joke, I played the same cd(with lots of bass and mid)over and over for about two days, all day. Saving Private Ryan here I come.

[Glen B]

1. How seriously should I be taking this advice? I'm about half way there and my wife is ready to kill me.(Due to listening to the same cd over and over)

For the duration of the break-in, put the speakers to face each other about 6 - 12 inches apart and connect one of the speakers out of phase (i.e., reverse the + and - wires going to one speaker). The opposing sounds will cancel out, greatly reducing the overall volume level.

[musicman1999]

i have owned 3 pair of jm labs speakers plus a couple of centers and found that none really found their voice until they reached at least 125 hours of use

thanks
bill

[L.J.]

I'll get there soon enough I guess. I listen to alot of music so I'm sure it'll go by fast. For the time being everything sounds great. Thanks for the reply

[markw]

... For the time being everything sounds great...Glad to hear it. I'm sure you will continue to be pleased.

Too many people are disappointed with the sound of heir new speakers and expect the break in period to magicaly change them into something they like. ...and the tooth fairy will leave enough money to pay for their kids orthodontist..

[L.J.]

Glad to hear it. I'm sure you will continue to be pleased.

Too many people are disappointed with the sound of heir new speakers and expect the break in period to magicaly change them into something they like. ...and the tooth fairy will leave enough money to pay for their kids orthodontist..



Actually my sub(Energy S12.3) sounded awful for the first few hours but then I guess it loosened up because the BOOOOOM came in.

[markw]

Woofers (and subs) may take a little loosening of the surrounds but the time it takes is sometimes greatly overstated. As you yourself saw, a few hours is more than enough.

And, I doubt you had to dance naked under a full moon to accomplish that.