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Speaker break in

Johntheson

Johntheson

Guest
Apr 10, 2011
201
7
Newport News,Va
#1
I bought a 63 PF a while back, and it was damaged during shipment, to the point of the JBL having to be replaced. JohnK put a vintage recone kit in it that he had owned for quite some time. I also bought one of Mark's Vintage Blue repro B15 cabs, as the one that came with the amp I bought from John was a B12N cab. I wanted to have both for the difference in sound. My questions are; how long does it take to break in the speakers, and is there some other method that you guys use other than putting playing time on the speakers? I've got a number of vintage amps, but I've never had to have any of the speakers reconed. I don't gig now, and with my limited playing time ( an hour a day maybe); it just seems like it's going to take quite some time to break them in. This is according to what I've read, and I've learned to take online info with a grain of salt. Thanks for any help.
John Sr.
 
#2
No need, especially on a more midrange voiced driver like that one. It MIGHT open up in the low end a little bit after playing it for a few hours, but probably not with that driver.

I would just play through it an hour or so at moderate volumes before the first gig to make sure everything is OK.

Some very robust bass drivers (like sub-woofer drivers with that huge xmax) can open up quite a bit as the surrounds loosen, but again, nothing special needs to be done.

Enjoy the new driver!!!!!
 
#3
There are methods for breaking in a speaker that involve either playing recorded music with decent bass through it, or a pure low frequency tone, but neither of those is as fun as just playing through it.
 

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