Quote Originally Posted by hermanv
Hi RL; Cone speakers distort, actually they distort quite a lot. Most cone speakers couple only about 0.5% of their energy into the air so they are amazingly underdamped, they ring and flex and generally misbehave which is one reason so many different models and cone materials exist.

ALL cone speakers have flex in the cone! That's the diaphram you mention. It would be damn nice if they didn't, but no material is stiff enough not to bend at the higher frequencies that a given driver is asked to reproduce. Why would anyone bother to develop a ceramic much less a diamond cone if the cone wasn't flexing?

Paper cones flex a lot, about 2 years ago B&W sent out a DVD showing the resonance peaks in thier midrange driver, there are too many modes to count. Many peaks and valleys develop at different frequencies and excurions. It's this flexing that causes break up and the speaker designer has to decide how far into breakup he will let his design go. Remember it is volume dependant so while a cone might not break up at one level and frequency it will at the same frequency, but at a higher volume.

Cones break in, after many bending motions they flex better and get smoother sounding. It's not that clear if this softening needs to be re-done after a long storage.

Losing flex in the flexible bits is a continously variable process. These bits get gradually stiffer (or maybe looser) over time, it's by no means an all or nothing thing.
Hi Herman, that was one of the most intriguing posts I've read in awhile. Thank you.
One thing that worries me sometimes is that when I visit some audio stores, they are blasting brand new speakers at extremly high SPL. I asked one of the salespersone if he was aware of it. He informed me that the store just received those speakers yesterday and they were just breaking them in. It was the system comprised of Sonus Faber Amati Anniversario and Classe CA-M400 amp.
I've always thought during the break-in period, it must be played at lower volume for more than 100+ hours, then gradually turn it up over time.

BTW, I thought that was one of the MOST over-priced system I've heard in my life. Turns out they were playing compressed files. Go figure.