Help me choose my first (used) speakers

[sjtm]

Have not purchased any cables yet, but came across some old speaker wire in the workroom last night. My guess is it is from a roll of Monster speaker wire I bought many years ago. No markings, but I am guessing it is 14awg based on pictures online.

Hooked everything up this am before work - very good , but not great sound. Soundstage is very good. Treble separation breaks down a little bit in busy passages. Bass is present but not in your face still sounded fuller when demoed. I am sure room acoustics and speaker position are playing some part in this, but I hope a lot has to do with speaker break in, as these are right out of the box. I have only listened for about 20 minutes so far. I doubt the cables have much to do with this as the longest run is only 11'.

I read an article that said break in has the most impact on the spiders by developing micro cracks, making them flex more responsively. Focal recommends 20 hours minimum, but some say 100 hours+. I plan to try to run these in over the next two weeks without causing micro cracks to form in my noggin ( or major cracks caused by spousal retaliation).

[blackraven]

Be patient with the speakers. As they break in over the first 25-100 hours things will greatly improve. Your electronics will also break in. Getting some decent interconnects will help with the treble as well. 14g speaker wire is fine but you can always upgrade to a higher quality wire which may or may not help. Blue Jean Belden wire has a good clean sound and you can pick up the unterminated 12g wire for 0.52 cents a foot. I run their 10g for my reference system because of the high current that my Magnepan speakers use.

What interconnects are you using now? The cheap RCA IC's that come with gear seam to smear high frequencies IMHO.

I would play around with speaker position after about 25 hours of break in.

Don't forget that your in store demo had different room acoustics and different electronics.

After the first 100 hours if you still feel the need for bass you can add a sub. There are plenty of good budget or used subs that will do a nice job.

If you and your wife work, leave the system running with the CD player on repeat while you are gone for the day. This will hasten break in. Put on some very dynamic music.

[sjtm]

Be patient with the speakers. As they break in over the first 25-100 hours things will greatly improve. Your electronics will also break in. Getting some decent interconnects will help with the treble as well. 14g speaker wire is fine but you can always upgrade to a higher quality wire which may or may not help. Blue Jean Belden wire has a good clean sound and you can pick up the unterminated 12g wire for 0.52 cents a foot. I run their 10g for my reference system because of the high current that my Magnepan speakers use.

What interconnects are you using now? The cheap RCA IC's that come with gear seam to smear high frequencies IMHO.

I would play around with speaker position after about 25 hours of break in.

Don't forget that your in store demo had different room acoustics and different electronics.

After the first 100 hours if you still feel the need for bass you can add a sub. There are plenty of good budget or used subs that will do a nice job.

If you and your wife work, leave the system running with the CD player on repeat while you are gone for the day. This will hasten break in. Put on some very dynamic music.

My indentured servitude has afforded my wife the luxury of not working for a very long time ( although, based on how my kids are turning out she has definitely put in untold hours on that project). I am patient and will look forward to tinkering with the sound over time. The bass if fine as is, but I anticipate it will fill out more with time.

I am using the patch cord supplied with the cd player. I saw that BJC sells those as well. Based on the very simple wiring I need, I think I will opt to by some of their Belden 12 or 10 awg wire without plugs and just use the bare connections for now.

[blackraven]

Get the BJC LC-1 RCA interconnects for your CD player. They are well made and you will have to pay about $100pr to get a comparable cable. You can't go wrong for $30pr.

Stereo Cables at Blue Jeans Cable

Their digital coax and HDMI cables are great as well. I own a few.

[Mr Peabody]

Your speakers will definitely have a break in period. The voice coils have to loosen up. Unless some break in was done before boxing I doubt 20-25 hours will do much, you'll hear them coming in some after about 100 hours.

I don't remember my Revels having a real long break in but I did play the tuner on a mono station for about a week while at work. I had a set of Dynaudio speakers that took months. I knew what to expect as I auditioned a pair but I think I drove the dealer crazy with questions until they finally began to come around.