Just enough so you can easily remove them. Don't want to end up with the dreaded Stinkfoot!
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Sound generators for breaking in speakers
- Thread starter Stephen
- Start date
Just enough so you can easily remove them. Don't want to end up with the dreaded Stinkfoot!
- Dec 18, 2000
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- greenboy designs: fEARful, bassic, dually, crazy88 etc
If those are pythons in the form of Python boots, be advised that some oil products products interact with the fungus amungus to concatenate the dreaded Bromidrosis.
billfitzmaurice
Commercial User
- Sep 15, 2004
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- Owner, Bill Fitzmaurice Loudspeaker Design
That's what they may recommend, but it's totally unnecessary. Even with just a music source 99% of full break in is reached within 40 hours tops.
One frequency is all that's required with woofers. A broadband signal is helpful with a multi-way cab, but only slightly so, as midranges and tweeters don't require the same break in that woofers do.
Only those which have moving parts, ie., speaker cones. Strictly speaking drivers aren't electronic devices, they're mechanical devices powered by an electrical source.
That's the second reason for such a low frequency tone, because they're virtually inaudible. The first is to reach maximum excursion with minimum power.
There is no Fs when the driver is mounted. Fs stands for Free Air Resonance, the bare unmounted driver. When mounted in a ported cab excursion is at a minimum at Fb. When in free air the driver excursion is also at a minimum at Fs.
The 25hz has been going for two hours now, its a pretty quiet hum in the background, I will turn it off in a while, wonder how many hours it needs ultimately ?
It seems every day I stumble across some new nugget of useful information. Thanks for today's!
Have you considered... practicing?
I would have to agree with this. I've found that speakers break in nicely over a few hours of a medium volume rehearsal.
Some of us buy new cabinets and have gigs lined up, so low volume playing over days/weeks is not an option. I've blown speakers in the past at gigs, and part of the reason may have been drivers that were not adequately broken in. So as always, YMMV. 
Some of us buy new cabinets and have gigs lined up, so low volume playing over days/weeks is not an option. I've blown speakers in the past at gigs, and part of the reason may have been drivers that were not adequately broken in. So as always, YMMV.
I'm not aware of any reason to tie driver failures to lack of break-in.
The reason for breaking a woofer in, is that (with pleated paper surrounds, at least) the suspension loosens up after a bit, and changes the tone a little. I find it more noticeable with guitar speakers than bass.
If anything, I'm thinking that a driver fresh out of the box is actually less likely to blow up, since the cone excursion would be slightly reduced.
billfitzmaurice
Commercial User
- Sep 15, 2004
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- Owner, Bill Fitzmaurice Loudspeaker Design
That's not the case. Cabs are designed around the T/S specs of the driver. Those specs are not realized with a driver that hasn't been broken in; I've measured 20% variations from spec with new drivers. Blowing a driver because it's not broken in would be very rare, but not impossible.
Ya, no risk of breaking anything. Bill is the authority on this, if somebody wants to break them in, fine. Myself, I've never done it. I find about 2 gigs turned up good is about all it takes.
Greetings...first let me state my qualificatios: more than 40-years as a professional electronic repair technician, same period of time playing my bass, past member of Audio Engineering Society (San Diego), many years selling and using HIGH END audio, Bowers & Wilkins, Thiel, et cetera...and I'm here to tell you that ALL electronic devices have a "break-in" period.
Some of the Thiel loudspeakers have break-in periods exceeding 400-hours! Using a tone generator only addresses one frequency, (and therefore driver(s)) at a time. If you're using bass frequencies ONLY, a tone generator may be helpful.
HOWEVER, you must play the rig at a 'realistic' volume. This can be very annoying...hearing pure tones continuously...so consider breaking your speaker(s) in in the garage or some other isolated location.
Since you're an engineer, what's your opinion of audio cables needing a break-in period, or biasing the dielectric?
Parameters really don't change much. With a woofer, supposedly they become a bit more compliant. And I've heard the word "seated" being used. For a P.A. or Bass Guitar cab, don't even worry about it. Maybe if we are talking about real Hi-fi like a lowther or something on that level. You are not preventing any damage anyway with a break in period.
I'd agree with this. Mainly applicable at lower frequiencies where the piston behaviour of the cone is doing the work. It loosens up the suspension from it's initial "brand new" assembly and the sound does audibly "smooth out" a little after break in. It's a somewhat small but noticable change.
