He speaks about hi-fi systems, but obvioulsy it applies to bass amplification as well…
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Speaker break-in: myth or reality?
- Thread starter gtirard
- Start date
For me personally, I’ve never bought into the speaker break-in notion.
I’m not saying I don’t believe it, but with several hundred PA drivers of all sizes, plus my own couple of dozen bass speakers in various cabs, I’ve treated them all with discretion and consideration of their power handling capabilities from the first note to the present.
Based on my track record of not blowing drivers, I believe I’m doing things right….
(BTW, haven’t seen the video, I’ll try to get through it when I get home….)
I’m not saying I don’t believe it, but with several hundred PA drivers of all sizes, plus my own couple of dozen bass speakers in various cabs, I’ve treated them all with discretion and consideration of their power handling capabilities from the first note to the present.
Based on my track record of not blowing drivers, I believe I’m doing things right….
(BTW, haven’t seen the video, I’ll try to get through it when I get home….)
It's hard to objectively remember how new speakers sound without prior comparison, and there’s little scientific evidence that significant sonic improvements occur after extended play.
Also, some people confuse Warm-Up with Breaking In.
Just sayin'.
Also, some people confuse Warm-Up with Breaking In.
Just sayin'.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 60,985
- 5
- 220,761
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Pro level drivers change very little unless you break them in so hard that they become partially broken.
Yes they change, but nowhere near as much as the myths suggest. Guitar drivers are (or can be) a little different in this regard because they are built differently.
Yes they change, but nowhere near as much as the myths suggest. Guitar drivers are (or can be) a little different in this regard because they are built differently.
Myth. Or as @agedhorse suggests, any change is minimal.
Well you know how some players are. They'll crank the head up, hit an open E or B for the fivers out there, as hard as they can to "feel the thunder" and then...
Poof! What happened to my cab?
Never noticed it with bass, absolutely for guitar. After the spider stretches, and to some degree the surround and possibly cone, it's very noticeable. I've only installed 6 varied bass speakers, but I noticed no changes over time.
- Feb 12, 2006
- 60,985
- 5
- 220,761
- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
Different construction, materials, adhesives, dopes, winding height versus top plate thickness, etc. compared with a bass speaker or pro audio speaker.
Did I waste my money on all that speaker conditioning cream?
You should have bought green felt pen instead.
The Barefaced current position on the issue.
barefacedaudio.com
This is a contentious issue with a lot of snake oil and mysticism about it. But it's quite simple really - most pro audio or musical instrument speakers have doped fabric or paper or card suspension. The suspension is the cone surround and the voice coil spider. When brand new this suspension is often stiffer than when the driver has been used well into its working excursion range for a few hours.
If you really want to you can break in the suspension using pink noise or a low frequency sine wave but these methods do have some risk of speaker damage if you don't know what you're doing, so I recommend you just play the cab and don't be surprised if your tone changes a bit in those initial hours.
Driver break-in
This is a contentious issue with a lot of snake oil and mysticism about it. But it's quite simple really - most pro audio or musical instrument speakers have doped fabric or paper or card suspension. The suspension is the cone surround and the voice coil spider. When brand new this suspension is...
barefacedaudio.com
This is a contentious issue with a lot of snake oil and mysticism about it. But it's quite simple really - most pro audio or musical instrument speakers have doped fabric or paper or card suspension. The suspension is the cone surround and the voice coil spider. When brand new this suspension is often stiffer than when the driver has been used well into its working excursion range for a few hours.
If you really want to you can break in the suspension using pink noise or a low frequency sine wave but these methods do have some risk of speaker damage if you don't know what you're doing, so I recommend you just play the cab and don't be surprised if your tone changes a bit in those initial hours.
The guy who's done some recones for me says a new recone is a little "tighter" than a used, 'broken in' speaker. Makes sense to me.
I don't think much about it, just play and use some common sense... And at the end of the day I still don't think much about it.
I don't think much about it, just play and use some common sense... And at the end of the day I still don't think much about it.
Or, their ears!Well you know how some players are. They'll crank the head up, hit an open E or B for the fivers out there, as hard as they can to "feel the thunder" and then...
Poof! What happened to my cab?
I figured that the concept of breaking in speakers might be bunk.
Then I bought a new RCF 15" powered PA speaker to use with keyboard.
When I got it rigged in and powered up, I was not that impressed with the sound.
Running keyboard through a clean low power preamp with no EQ, the speaker's range sounded limited and the overall sound was rather muffled.
I figured I could send it back (on my dime) or try burning it in.
I pulled up a 10 hour burn in track on YouTube. Full spectrum audio sounds and noises including sweeping low tones.
Listened to the track for a bit, decided that it sounded and seemed legit, well produced and engineered for the purpose.
I ran that track through the speaker for a bit more than 20 hours total in three uninterrupted sessions.
Wasn't in a rush, could have run the track longer, another few hours or so.
But I decided to give the speaker a try instead of going longer. I was skeptical and was not expecting any sort of improvement.
Plugged in the same signal chain, powered it up, and I couldn't believe the difference.
The speaker sounded clearer, more responsive and more "open", which is a subjective term. The range was noticeably improved.
I don't know how much better it can sound than it does now, but I was satisfied so I just started playing keyboard through it.
Maybe it will improve a bit more with age and use. But it sounds usably good now.
And there was a total absence of mice in the basement and garage during the burn in.
Then I bought a new RCF 15" powered PA speaker to use with keyboard.
When I got it rigged in and powered up, I was not that impressed with the sound.
Running keyboard through a clean low power preamp with no EQ, the speaker's range sounded limited and the overall sound was rather muffled.
I figured I could send it back (on my dime) or try burning it in.
I pulled up a 10 hour burn in track on YouTube. Full spectrum audio sounds and noises including sweeping low tones.
Listened to the track for a bit, decided that it sounded and seemed legit, well produced and engineered for the purpose.
I ran that track through the speaker for a bit more than 20 hours total in three uninterrupted sessions.
Wasn't in a rush, could have run the track longer, another few hours or so.
But I decided to give the speaker a try instead of going longer. I was skeptical and was not expecting any sort of improvement.
Plugged in the same signal chain, powered it up, and I couldn't believe the difference.
The speaker sounded clearer, more responsive and more "open", which is a subjective term. The range was noticeably improved.
I don't know how much better it can sound than it does now, but I was satisfied so I just started playing keyboard through it.
Maybe it will improve a bit more with age and use. But it sounds usably good now.
And there was a total absence of mice in the basement and garage during the burn in.
