Speaker break-in and cable break-in

[Olskool]

"It took many weeks of burning-in with speakers facing each other and polarity reversed before I could play them.".[/QUOTE]


I just purchased new Vienna Acoustic Beethoven Concert Grand speakers. Above is a response received on another thread about break-in so I thought I would seek broader input about breaking in new speakers. Any input or experiences you have to offer are appreciated.



My system: ARC VS-115, ARC LS-27, NAD M5 SACD/ CD, EVO DAC, Project 6 PerspeX, Project Evolution tone arm, Sumiko Blackbird MC cartridge, Project Tube Box SE II, Project Speed Box II, Cambridge Audio iD100 iPOD Doc, M2TECH EVO DAC, Nordost Red Dawn speaker cables, Heimdahl Interconnects, Blue Haven SE interconnects, Nordost Vishnu / Blue Heaven Power Cables, QB4 Distribution Block

[Rayooo]

Originally Posted by Olskool

"It took many weeks of burning-in with speakers facing each other and polarity reversed before I could play them.".

WOW, that's a new one on me!

[Mikado463]

hook 'em up, play music and enjoy ! Position and adjust, incl room acoustical treatments as required. Your Vienna's being an electro-mechanical transducer will require 'some' run-in time but no where near what some 'audiofools' will tell you !

the above quote you posted implies that the speakers new were damn near unlistenable, IF they were trully that bad NO amount of 'burn-in' would help !

[AudioNut]

Originally Posted by Mikado463

hook 'em up, play music and enjoy ! Position and adjust, incl room acoustical treatments as required. Your Vienna's being an electro-mechanical transducer will require 'some' run-in time but no where near what some 'audiofools' will tell you !

the above quote you posted implies that the speakers new were damn near unlistenable, IF they were trully that bad NO amount of 'burn-in' would help !

It ain't necessarilly so. . . Avalon Acoustics - makers of some of the world's finest speakers, tell you in their owner's manual - not to listen to their speakers for the first few hours - because they can cause severe headaches or some such. This is probably a phenomenon of the ceramic drivers that they use in certain of their speakers. Once broken-in, they are sheer perfection. (So sez I)

On my Avalon Eidolons, i followed their instructions, waited patiently to listen and wound up with a phenomenal pair of speakers.

A number of speakers demand a period of break-in to become "listenable" , so I maintain that you are incorrect in your statement "NO amount of 'burn-in' would help".

And, having the speakers face each other allows the speakers to be played at higher volume levels because they cancel each other out, and keep your household from being overpowered by loud noise while you are breaking in your new speakers.

[Olskool]

Guys, I need to state here that to keep this post from being too convoluted I separated the part of the respondent (making the statement of many hours breaking in and facing speakers) discussing his experience with a new set of Red Dawn Cables at the same time as new speakers. I've asked him to further clarify the statement so I don't want to completely color this in one direction that the speakers were horrible. He never mentioned which speakers were being burned in. You can see the complete quote in my post of the decision coming down to two, Harbeth HL5 and Vienna Acoustics. I don't mean for this to offend. I just want to learn more about breaking in new speakers. Thanks

Olskool

[Mikado463]

Originally Posted by AudioNut

. . Avalon Acoustics - makers of some of the world's finest speakers

agreed !

not to listen to their speakers[/B] for the first few hours

OK, that's fine but not some of the absurd amounts of time, I've actually heard folks claiming the need for 500 plus hrs !

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by Mikado463

agreed !





OK, that's fine but not some of the absurd amounts of time, I've actually heard folks claiming the need for 500 plus hrs !

Yes. And it's more than the drivers.

BTW what's the over/under for absurd and how does one know?

[Barry1]

Agree metaphacts. I have some passive crossover parts in an external box on my Maggies with over 600 hours on them and they're still not totally opened up spacially. I'd call that absurd - at least it's driving me crazy. Of course they're not your garden variety speaker parts (Duelund Cast) and are pretty big values. Currently taking delivery on a cable cooker so I can fully burn them in.

[Amfibius]

I think anybody who uses the "audiofools" tag doesn't respect others. This kind of attitude should have no place on AA. I get instantly put off by anybody who uses that line.

As others have said, it's not just the drivers that need to burn in. There are also the electrical parts in the passive crossover and the voice coil. And yes, some types of speakers, like electrostatics, seem to have an incredibly long burn-in time.

Having said that, I found that most of the effects of burn-in on new speakers seem to happen in the first 24 hours. If they are unlistenable straight away, after 24 hours they should be 90-95% closer to their actual performance. Upshot - after a good few days of burning in, and if the sound is still unlistenable - these are not the speakers for you. Exceptions apply for "exotic" driver types of course.

[bradleyc]

It takes a long time to break-in those brand new tight diaphragms on Maggies for instance, hundreds of hours until they perform their best. It's not just burn-in time for caps, wire, etc...