For Those of You Who Believe in Speaker Break In, I have a few questions

I bought some new speakers this week, the Polk Audio LSiM 703s.

Regarding speaker break in, can you tell me a bit about how the sound changes from the tweeter, midrange and woofer in new speaker during break in time? And do each of these three break in at relatively the same speed? (A tech rep from Polk Audio told me that they estimate a 60-100 break in time for the LSiM 703s. I am at 43 hours.)

My new speakers have ring radiator tweeters and the woofer and midrange are Dynamic Balance drivers with super cell aerated polypropylene cones. Here's a link for more info, in case you need it - Polk Audio LSi M 703 (Midnight Mahogany)

 

I own a pair, but have had them a while now.
As far as "Break in" goes, it is truly hard to say with any real certainty, as I remember "Hour One" sounding great as they were, and by "hour 100" they still sounded great.
Very hard to do a comparison based solely on memory, as I am certain I became more accustomed to their sound signature at the same time, over those several days.

I did notice the bass dug a bit deeper after several hours, but not certain exactly when.
As far as the mids and tweeter, gonna be honest, not really sure if they changed or not, but that is not a bad thing as they sounded great to begin with. (Yes they are a bit bright)

 

No, not too bright at all.

 

I said a "bit" bright, but more in comparison to the older Lsi15 speaker Polk made.
I actually prefer the LsiM sound as my room is a bit dull.

 

Yeah, my room is dull too. I sit on a medium sized, soft cloth couch when I listen and I have wall to wall carpets. So the added brightness is a very good thing.

I guess I started this thread because I found that when the speakers first came out of the box, they were very thumpy in the bass, especially when I would turn the volume up. This has gotten better as I have used them, but I am wondering how much better it will get, like how smooth does the bass get on these speakers over time? Any thoughts on that?

(To be clear, I have these speakers two feet from the rear wall and I sit two feet off the front wall (this placement cannot be increased, unfortunately.) And there is about 6 feet of space from the left of the L speaker and to the right of the R speaker. Speakers are toed in to meet at a spot on the wall directly behind my listening position.)

 

Of course room dimensions and acoustics will factor in a good bit, honestly I did not find the bass bad to begin with, and it did change some but more as in being a bit deeper.
How far from the back and side walls are yours if I may ask?

Polk LSiM703 loudspeaker Measurements

Stereophile measured them fairly flat (in the bass and mids) and in my room the bass is not really overpowering in any way.
Mine are about 2 feet from the rear wall, and maybe 8 feet from each side wall and about 6 feet apart.

 

I put my dimensions in my edit above, thanks for your response.

 

Could any of this be due to your amp / preamp settings? What amp are you using and does it have any way to dial up / down the bass? Crossover settings? Are you using a sub?

 

No sub, all tone controls are off.

I guess I am wondering how long does it take a woofer to tighten up. And how much tighter will it get.

 

Aside from the specifics we know about these Polks, there's also something to be considered about the "other" breaking-in...of your brain. You must realize that, taking a recording you are used to hearing over your old speaker setup, and sitting down in the same room in which you have been used to hearing it in, and not being able to reconcile the sound from new speakers, requires a little re-training of the mind in addition to the system, to satisfy your expectations. And that takes a bit of further listening. So that's always a factor I resign myself to when going through the burn-in period.

Just as bringing home a new teevee, that you first saw in the store under Costo-style warehouse-lighting, with the "vivid" settings on, is not going to give you that specific effect in your rumpus room with the muted track-lighting pointed towards your Picasso. You're going to dork-around with the settings yourself, maybe look up setting suggestions on AVG, who knows, even calling in a pro to re-calibrate.

So quelle suprise, auditioning a pair of new fronts in Magnolia against all the other offerings there, but in that environment, may surprise you because of how their charactaristics sound in your own space. give it time.

Also, I think this has been brought up before, consider adjusting the soft things in your room, adding more "fluffy", and less hard, parallel surfaces. Even if, for no other reason, that you take the effort to physically engage yourself in adjusting your rooms' acoustic attributes, there's gonna be a psychological benefit.

 

OK, your OP did not specify, and had to ask, because never surprised at what the root cause is sometimes.

Additionally "break in" is a debated topic in speakers, amps, electronics in general - and if you are looking for a hard number with scientific proof, doesn't exist. Even if someone gave you a number, I would challenge its validity....

 

I don't know about the break in, nor I have heard this particular model, but from my experiences with various bookshelf speakers I can tell that a great deal of the sound depends of the speaker stands and how they are set.

 

I only know, for sure, about the break-in of Audio Note speakers, as I am a dealer for them. Maybe this applies to some or all other speakers as well. The greatest difference, as a speaker breaks-in is greater dynamics, lively-ness, and overall quality of sounding more live. This is really 3 ways of saying the same thing.

I have never heard any speaker actually change tonal balance, with break-in, e.g. getting brighter, or duller, or more bass-heavy, etc. It is just the overall quality that you can look forward to improving, and certainly never a change that means speakers you didn't originally like change to a sound that you DO like.

With Audio Note speakers it happens forever, over the entire life of the drivers, until a driver gets damaged from age ("age" meaning much more than 20 years).

 

I can only comment on two new speakers I have purchased, but both are 'bookshelf' types as I like to do nearfield bookshelves on stands + subwoofer. Both (B&W 601 and Triangle Titus) behaved similarly - bass was weak for several hours then became louder, deeper, more musical, etc. but I can't say 'tighter' altho I may not have listened for that. Maybe more musical = tighter.

I don't recall noticing much differences in mid/high ranges, maybe because the bass was so dramatic. Probably everything improved over the first "n" hours of playing.

 

Agree with above that the basic character of the speaker will likely not change after "break in". They will, however, play with more ease and authority- they literally loosen up and follow the tune with less effort. Finding a speaker that plays music without bringing attention to itself is the biggest challenge in the audio playback chain imo. So many room variables to overcome....
ATB,
Mark

 

In my experience, @Dillydipper 's point is a very good one. We notice very different things listening over the course of even an hour or two, and quickly get accustomed to new voicing/sound profiles (within limits). I'm not saying speaker break-in isn't a real thing, but I would respectfully suggest that "brain break-in" is at least as marked and powerful.

 

I hear what you are saying, but I am fairly certain that the specific issue I am most concerned about does not have to do with what you are describing. I am speaking of a speaker "thump" or "boom." And this "thump" is lessening (I use the same recordings to test the bass each time) as the speakers break in. I am hoping that it continues to lessen. An engineer friend of mine confirmed via email that he feels that during speaker break in, "bass gets tighter, with better pitch definition (as in real life) and less “fluff” and “boom.”" I was relieved to hear this, as I had not heard this boom before, except when my old speakers were too close to the rear wall, or my listening position was too close to the front wall, or both.

At this point, I am at 47 hours. And Polk estimates a 60-100 hour break in, so things look good.

 

I don't think there is any debate with speaker break in w/ these speakers and many others I have purchased new over the years. I think Polk was going for a bookie with extended bass. I thought it got in the way a bit run full out but it was a very good price/performance speaker for HT. (and their 706 center is a monster) That is, setting the Xover small with an AVR. I liked it better when I could set the crossover with a pre in two channel use as well. So, I tightened the bass by giving them less to do.
Others make good points in giving yourself at least two weeks living with them. I can't remember when they were fully broken but it was over 40 hours.

 

I still remember the night I purchased my Dynaudio X34 speakers here in the city. I put them into the back of a cab with me and couldn't get back to Harlem fast enough to wire 'em up and spin a favorite album of mine.
The first thing that came to mind when the music began to play was, God these don't sound good at all... I just wasted 3 F'n grand! I was ready to return them that same night, but I decided to break them in and hope that they'd sound the way the Dynaudios in the store did.
After several days of nearly non stop play without me around, the sound changed considerably...
Like the way they sounded in the store.
It was almost like the difference in sound quality between my fm radio, it's a pretty crappy receiver, and my turntable set up. The music sounded a little boomy and muddy. Completely undeteailed. After dozens of hours of break in, they turned into the speakers that I love today.
That's just my own personal experience with break-in.
If I upgrade my speakers again in the next year or two, I'll be expecting to have to break them in a bit to get the best sound they can offer.

 

George, they do indeed break in. The bass will tighten up, but I can't say it will be enough for your liking. I found them a bit tipped up around 50Hz, which many companies do with their monitors to help with the illusion of bass.

As I mentioned previously, the 705 is a better balanced speaker.

 

The teeeter doesn’t change but my experience with my new BW 702s is that after 50 hours the midrange and bass speakers really loosened up and at 70 hours it was like night and day. Nowhere near as bright. Love them now.

 

The tweeter would not change that much but the blending of the drivers will and that is everything. I find they have a ring to them on at a certain range that once you notice it...
still a nice speak.

 

Do you or anyone else know where I can get one of those frequency measurement graphs for the Polk Audio Monitor 40 speaker?

 

No idea.