How long of a speaker break in is reasonable?

Speakers that am considering (spatial x5) require a break of a few hundred hours (at least). I am going to hear them in person in 3 weeks. it just makes me wonder when people post negative reviews of the sound prior to break in. I am fine with the speakers opening up and sounding better, but is it reasonable to think that they should sound ok to start with?

 

They are $7000 speakers...
-Bill

 

One would hope the dealer has already run them for at least a couple hundred hours.

jeff

 

... And not even remotely proportionate to the rest of the OP's system!

 

First listening impressions are extremely important. Ideally you should fall in love with what you hear initially and expect maybe more improvement with proper placement and some break in time. Make sure your amplification is able to extract the maximum quality of sound with synergistic matching.

If the speaker leaves you with any hesitations in sound quality upon a reasonably set up first auditioning…….RUN!

There’s so much out there I’m sure the “perfect” speaker awaits your discovery. I do hope this is it. Good Luck and please keep us updated.

 

Yet. Choosing the speakers 1st and then the rest. I like my a-s801, but it is not my intention to use it as a permanent amp. The Yamaha will be for an extra room

 

Which is why I am not diving in head 1st without serious thought

 

I prefer less thought and more listening. But to each their own.
-Bill

 

My humble Dynaudio speakers improved very noticeably after about 20 hours, then continued to subtly for a long period afterwards. The guy in the hifi shop said they’d need at least 6 months to be their best with daily listening (so 150 hours plus based on an hour a day). I can’t imagine hi end speakers are any different. And they should sound pretty damn good straight out of the box! In context to their ‘value’ mine certainly did…

 

Nice idea...

 

Within 50 hours I think you'll probably be mostly settled in but small changes will occur throughout further listening.

I have heard of very dramatic changes beyond the 50 hour mark with some speakers and components but not often.

I'd talk to the manufacturer about what you can expect considering such a long recommend burn in time.

Spatial makes great speakers. Keep us posted.

 

I'll let you know what I hear in person after 9/25. Those have been broken in (owner estimates) 500 hrs

 

I think that the optimal approach would be to wait until the amp and speakers can be bought together - they really do need to work together.

 

I ran the same pair of speakers for 35 years before purchasing some new speakers in the past few months and was really surprised at how long the speakers (Opera Grand Mezza) took to run in.

I ran a burn in disc on them for 2 or 3 days straight about 3-4 hours a day as well as playing music on them and running Netflix/Amazon video related streaming at least another 3-4 hours a day and they still probably took about a month to really come into their own.

They were noticeably thin and a bit aggressive in the break in period and, in the end I did not feel the burn-in disc did very much with the speakers, although I have had very good luck and results with it on interconnects for example.

So all in all, in my case, it was probably 200-300 hours of actual playing time. If you're only doing an hour or two a day, that is a very long time!!!

But I would think that 500 hours should be fully broken in.

 

That is not out of the question. Might mean saving up a bit longer, but been waiting since the early 90s. I can deal

 

Food for thought. My speakers are now sounding better than they ever have previously and it’s only taken well over 40 years. Some break in time I guess.

 

Burn in can be so drastically different (timewise) for so many different components and interconnects. $7,000 is a lot of money to take a chance on without already hearing a pair burned in. Great speakers need compatible speaker cables as well. The best example I can give is my cousin loaned me a phono amp to run through my preamp versus the phono stage in my preamp which I hated. His phono amp sounded great. I ordered the one that I wanted (not his brand). It sounded harsh and tinny. My first thought was, "What the hell did I do?" I'm cheap by nature. His phono amp was $350 and mine was $200. The burn in on Vincent products can be very extended. I liked my phono amp more and more every day. Now the sound difference is negligible. I got lucky. Research is great. Ears are better.

 

A day or two?

 

The Spatials will sound great out of the box. I actually liked the sound of the M4 Triode Masters a little better prior to break-in, though that was largely on account of a room mode.

You don’t need to be in any hurry to replace your amp either. It will be more than sufficient to drive the Spatials and I can think of pricier options that wouldn’t pair as well.

 

I’ve been told by some (or maybe it’s just hearsay) that for various components it can take up to hundreds of hours for break in.
They also say that they downplay the fact so as not to discourage people. I can see that happening. If you like it to start with it’s nice to know that it’s only going to improve with time.

 

100 hours is a reasonable period of time for speaker break in. Improvement in sound will occur even after that period of time has passed. The drive units, cone material, surrounds, etc., need time to loosen up.
My expectations of listening to speakers (or any other component for that matter) in the dealers showroom is that they should sound good but with the understanding that they will sound different with my equipment, in my listening space because every room is acoustically different.

 

I have often wondered if break-in is a real phenomenon or just the ear and brain psycho-acoustically adjusting to a new aural reality.

 

Have you made your musical choices for the audition. That can be crucial. See how these speakers interpret your favourite and most demanding material. It should sound better than you have previously experienced. Once you finally get your chosen speakers home it should be a really great experience listening to all your favourite music over again shining in a new light.

 

imo, speakers do need break-in since they are a mechanical device, a machine, in essence a linear motor.

a few hundred hours! That sounds a bit extreme.
I would guess 10-20 hours of fairly loud, bass heavy music would do it.
A 60 Hz tone does 216,000 cycles/hour
That is a lot of flexing and lapping! Lol

The difference between new and broke in?
I can't say.

I would guess the curve looks like this:
80% broke in after a short time

This is how cylinder wears in. Initially and quickly seats, then gradually over 10,000's of cycles.

 

Excellent post. If you don't absolutely love them during audition, leave'em be,

I'm a little more than 4 months into a new pair of speakers and can't say with 100% certainty I hear much difference between now and out of box. It took a few weeks to get them set up properly with positioning, toe-in, and a change in speaker height. After that though, they sound the same. But here's the thing, I haven't exactly been listening for changes, and I rarely listen to the same music at regular intervals. I've just been playing whatever strikes me for enjoyment so I may not notice any wild changes.