What really happens physically (and electronically) during Magnepan break in process?

[Harbapapa]

I have been breaking in my new Magnepans for a week now and was wondering what really hapens there. Is it the mylar is just stretching or coming more elastic? What I seem to notice is every time I start listening again, the break in seem to have gone a little a bit "backwards". I mean it's like the mylar has gone back to it's initial state? When I continue listening it seems that speakers reach their earlier potential again bretty fast, and continue to improve from that.
Is there some changes in electronics also (crossover and so on...).

[josh358]

According to Magnepan, the break in is a consequence of thermal cycling. I think you'll find that once they're broken in broken in, the effect will be long lasting. I don't know if it's permanent, though, I've seen varying opinions on whether they have to be broken in again when they've been unused for a while.

Break-in with electronics, where it does occur, should proceed very rapidly -- basically, it's a matter of electrolytic caps reforming after a period of disuse. (Though there are those who say otherwise.) I think it's possible to confuse break-in with the fact that the ear accommodates to new equipment or acoustics over a period of hours and days. The ear will "tune out" some forms of distortion and it's easy to mistake this for improvements in the equipment itself.

In the case of elastomeric mechanical devices like loudspeakers, though, break-in is a real and measurable phenomenon that takes a while to occur.

[fmrnykr]

My 1.6QRs took about 150 - 200 hours to finally settle in. Once they get there you'll know it.

[GaryProtein]

According to Magnepan, the break in is a consequence of thermal cycling. I think you'll find that once they're broken in broken in, the effect will be long lasting. I don't know if it's permanent, though, I've seen varying opinions on whether they have to be broken in again when they've been unused for a while.

Break-in with electronics, where it does occur, should proceed very rapidly -- basically, it's a matter of electrolytic caps reforming after a period of disuse. (Though there are those who say otherwise.) I think it's possible to confuse break-in with the fact that the ear accommodates to new equipment or acoustics over a period of hours and days. The ear will "tune out" some forms of distortion and it's easy to mistake this for improvements in the equipment itself.

In the case of elastomeric mechanical devices like loudspeakers, though, break-in is a real and measurable phenomenon that takes a while to occur.

No question about it.

The break in is largely in the mind of the owner who has spent a lot of money and his ears are becoming accustomed to how new equipment sounds in his house.

Even with electromechanical devices with rubber and elastomers like a woofer, just how may cycles does it take to break in? Even if you say a million cycles, at a slow 20 Hz, even that happens in less than 14 hours. The mylar ribbon should break in even faster.

Mylar is a registered trademark owned by Dupont Tejjin Films for a specific family of products made from the resin Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). The true generic term for this material is polyester film.

[josh358]

Yes, I'm never really sure even with speakers whether it's my ears that are breaking in or the speakers. :-)

The manual of my Tympanis does say "New Magneplanar T-IVa speakers will not display their full bass potential. After a month or two of use the bass response will lower 5 Hsz or more. At this point the response will stabilize and the speakers' rated performance (or better) can be realized." As I recall, there was a similar statement in the manual for my MMG's. So I assume they've measured it. According to Wendell Diller at Magnepan, the new quasi-ribbon .7 models require only about half as much break-in time as the older models.

The only other thing I know is that the designers of at least some dynamic speakers take woofer break-in into account. Otherwise it seems the Thiele-Small parameters would be off. I guess the compliance of the suspension increases a bit with initial use, lowering the resonance point. If I ever knew how long that takes, my memory is gone. :-)

[chops-tube]

I know there was a break-in time for the MGLR1's I had years ago. I listened to an identical pair at my work for about 3 weeks before I decided to buy a pair for myself. When I got my brand spankin' new pair home and out of the box, they actually sounded like the cardboard boxes they came out of. Yuck!

I would say that after three or four days, they started sounding like the well broken in pair at work. Although, like the OP stated, I recall them sounding "boxy" again when they sat over night unused for those first few days. However, once they were fully broken in, they remained sounding good anytime I used them.

[josh358]

Heh, yes. The only Maggies I bought new were a pair of MMG's and they sounded horrible out of the box. Cardboard is a good description. But that changed rapidly. The bass improvement is I think a lot slower.