Sonus Faber Elipsa's Ordered

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by T-3G

Can't wait to see yours Bought mine last September, and my Elipsas are sounding wonderfully these days. Out of the box they will sound muddy and congested, but now they are quite impressive. They take some time to open up, so give yours at least 3 months.

You hear that!!! You can't box them up the next ,morning and send them back.

Jim

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by KMC45

If mine had sounded muddy and congested out of the box I would have sent them back.

Does that mean you don't believe in equipment break-in?

[jdandy]

Serge broke-in my Sonus Faber Guarneri Momento's. They sounded terrific right out of the box.

[schaefer11]

A speaker driver moves about a gazillion times per second. If there is a break in period, it should be in a few minutes, IMO. I personally think it is our ear/brain combination that breaks in to the new sound. And as for electronics....., I do know my tubes have to warm up a bit.

[T-3G]

The engine in my new car revs few thousand times a minute, and requires 1,000 miles to break in, which translates to about a month of daily driving. And I won't push it for at least until about 5,000 miles.

My Elipsas could not resolve passages with double bass out of the box very well, for example, but after 2 hours or so of breaking in it improved dramatically, like I was listening to a different pair of speakers. I also have two pairs of the same speakers that were purchased at different times, and the new pair sounded completely different from the older pair until after about a month.

[Masterlu]

My Strad's changed dramatically too after they broke in.

[1KW]

Anticipation

My Cremona's sounded very good right out of the box. Bass did improve as the speakers broke in.

[schaefer11]

Originally Posted by T-3G

The engine in my new car revs few thousand times a minute, and requires 1,000 miles to break in, which translates to about a month of daily driving. And I won't push it for at least until about 5,000 miles.

My Elipsas could not resolve passages with double bass out of the box very well, for example, but after 2 hours or so of breaking in it improved dramatically, like I was listening to a different pair of speakers. I also have two pairs of the same speakers that were purchased at different times, and the new pair sounded completely different from the older pair until after about a month.

What kind of car do you have that still requires break in? Of the brands that I am familiar with, break in ended 30 years ago or more. Modern production tolerances and materials have made that a thing of the past. If you drive normally, your fine right out of the box. Of course if your "normal" is going to straight to the drag strip, that might make a difference!

My concern with a speaker driver that "breaks in" would be that performance would quickly reach a point where it peaks, then begin to deteriorate. Of course, deterioration would probably be gradual and you would probably not even know it happened. Sort of like the piston rings gradually wearing out as the miles on an engine rack up. In the old days, the materials used needed to "seat" and then, over time, would wear out much quicker than today's materials, which do not need to "seat" in the first place.

I do remember seeing one article where drivers were measured over time, and my recollection was that there was a change in measured performance but it was minimal.

Lastly, why would any manufacturer let a speaker out of the factory that doesn't sound as good as it can. And I don't buy the excuse that it would be too hard to break in every driver. If it made a difference, they would figure it out.

[MC352]

I think this requires a double dose of Lurk

[1KW]

Actually the rubber on the speakers particularly the woofers does soften up and become more compliant over time which I would imagine allows it to respond easier to sudden changes of dynamics and to work better particularly at lower power.