Do brand new speakers require a break-in period?

Do brand new speakers require a break-in period? That is, will they sound better after so many hours of playing time?

 

I can only speak for my own I own athena speaker, they did require a break in period.

 

Yes, all good ones do.

 

Wires inside and crossovers heat up and cool down, but I'm not certain about cones.

 

Personally, I believe your ears get accustomed to the speakers and the way they sound in your home.

 

No question that Magnepans need break in time.

 

Yes they do, both cones and electronics.

 

There was a recent article somewhere (can't remember at the moment) showing with careful MEASUREMENTS how a speaker's response changed from the moment it was new and after continued playing. There was a measurable change in frequency response and other parameters. Whether that makes a difference in playing music--well, you have to use your ears!

John K.

 

On the Maggie speakers, the caps in the crossover break in and the mylar film gets flexible over time.

 

I believe they do, but I thought it was hogwash when I first heard of break-in for speakers.
My Totems did benefit or sounded deeper and smoother after some time.
I think I even read somewhere that some parts will revert back when not used for a period of time, requiring another period of breaking in.

 

I built my own speakers. And, they definitely required some break-in. WHen I first put them in the system, I was really depressed. They sounded bad. Really bad. Poor bass and treble, no imaging. Just general suckiness.

I thought I'd wasted a lot of time building something that stunk.

Then, after about twenty minutes they started to improve. After about half an hour they sounded better than the speakers they replaced. They continued to improve for several days. They sound great now.

 

There is no doubt that speakers need break in time. I didn't believe in it until I noticed it when buying a pair of Dynaudio Contour s3.4. Out of the box, they sounded truely awful, completely different from the ones that I had received from the store to try at home. Bass was boomy, and the imaging was very diffuse. These $5000 speakers sounded like $500. At first I wanted to return them, thinking something was wrong, but after 3-4 days the sound had changed significantly. It is impossible that it was me who got used to the sound.

 

I think so, but in my experience it is relatively short (12 to 24 hours of playing for conventional speakers).

 

And with this comes a more personal question...how long does it take the average listener to "break-in" the ears and the brain to accept a new sound in his listening room?

 

I think that accounts for 98% of any percievable change.. your brain is just getting used to new gear.

Driver spiders and speaker cone surrounds do loosen up a bit, but I would imagine that any well designed speaker is test before it leaves the factory. This would give virtually all the break-in needed.

 

I've always wondered how much is perception and reality. I've never owned a pair of speakers that sounded bad out of the box and then sounded wonderful after break-in. They've always sounded good out of the box and better after some break-in, but I honestly don't know how much of that is just getting used to the sound. It does seem to me though that the sound usually warms up a bit, and the bass in particular gets deeper and fuller over time. Again, I could just be fooling myself.

 

The suspension on woofers will loosen up some over time - if you measure the resonance frequency of a brand new woofer driver right out of the box, and then hook the driver up to a signal source for X number of hours the resonance frequency will drop several hz from the initial measurement.

 

Double posted - sorry!

 

The designer of Harbeth speakers recently stated that his speakers only need a couple of hours break-in. I also think it is more the listener needs time to adjust to a different sound,YMMV.

 

Do speakers need breaking in? Yes, in my experience. Straight out of the box speakers can sound any combination of bass light, glary through the midrange and sizzly in the treble. Playing sound (music or noise) through the speakers for a few hours is usually all that is needed.

The last pair of speakers through my lounge, the new Sonus faber Domus Grand Pianos, had no bass straight after they were unpacked (and there's nothing weirder than hearing a Mahler symphony where the cellists and double bass players have packed up and gone home!). A few hours later the bass had retured, but was woolly, indistinct and would pitch properly. Another few hours and the speaker settled down. That's one of the more extreme examples of a speaker breaking in.

Some posters in this thread have once again trotted out the sorry theory of "break in" merely being the listener getting used to the sound. So once again I need to outline the easy to use (yes, even by the anti-audiophiles who love posting their negativity on this forum) method of determining this.

Compare the sound from the new speaker straight from the box to the exisiting speaker. Note the differences. After the new speaker has run in, compare and note the differences again. If the differences between the speakers altered, then the new speaker has changed. If the differences have not altered, then the new speaker has not changed its sound. To quote John Lennon, "It's easy".

 

I believe that the break-in time is shorter than most people claim. I'm definitely in agreement that speakers need some time to "loosen up" since the surrounds on cone speakers are tight straight from the box.
I just don't buy some peoples claim that it takes several hundred hours of break-in time.

 

Neither do I.

 

I believe this too. Heck, my whole system needs some time to break in everytime I turn it on.

My speakers have a 200 hr. break in time according to the manufacturer.

 

I think speakers do require some break-in time. The amount really depends on the individual speaker model. As mentioned some of the break-in is your ears adjusting to the speakers sound. My Paradigm Studios sounded better after a few days of music listening and movie watching.