Speaker Breakin Period

[Musicman51]

Do you believe a new speaker needs to undergo a "Break In" period? Be it a FOH PA speaker in a 2 or 3 way speaker cab, or subwoofer, monitor cabinet, guitar amplifier speaker etc? What do you base your opinion on? Do you think they sound better after this "Break In Period"? George

[muzicman144]

Originally Posted by Musicman51

Do you believe a new speaker needs to undergo a "Break In" period? Be it a FOH PA speaker in a 2 or 3 way speaker cab, or subwoofer, monitor cabinet, guitar amplifier speaker etc? What do you base your opinion on? Do you think they sound better after this "Break In Period"? George

George, i've been playing for forty years and have never heard that question yet. But i do not believe there is a "break In" period on speakers or mixers,etc.
I do believe you learn how to best utilize what you have as you gain experience using said equipment. Some speakers sound better turned a certain way in respect to the room as each has a varying sound pattern. I believe you should learn what your speaker does, how its sound pattern works best in relation to how you are using them. Some speakers "throw" sound better than others. This is what makes them sound better instead of a "break in" theory.
muzicman144

[billyo]

there's is no break in period for speakers as far as i know, but everytime i do i show, i usually start with my Mackie boards gain ( volume) down to 0 and i gradually raises it up to about 30 and i'll play music for about 1/2hr. and i then will gradually raises it up to the unity gain , i have a Mackie SRM450 powered speakers and i have them on 1/2 way ( 12 o'clock ) to full gain ( volume )the entire duration of my show.. by doing these steps it will prevent me from blowing my speakers from a sudden burst of sound...i've seen people starting up with all volumes turned up and blowing their speakers...i only use my boards faders to turn up/down my vouume..when i used to used a non powered speakers, i had all my amps turned all the way up,( used to have 6 of them ) and still used to do the same steps...

[Musicman51]

Thanks guys, these are great replies, and tips. I will reserve what the manu's have told me untill a few others hopefully give us their input. Now, just so there is no misunderstanding, i am talking about a "Brand New" transducer {speaker}, right out of the box, never before used at any venue. It can be loaded, and used for any purpose. Not necessarily how we use it, when, or where. ok?

[billyo]

i think the question here is should be " how to prevent blowing up speakers " George even though it's new and still in the box and never been used, some speaker cones tend to get brittle if it's been sitting in a stores storage room for a while.. in my opinion i will still do all the steps i suggested or do...good luck on your new speakers..

[Musicman51]

That is true billyo, but my question is simply stated. I am curious as to views on using a brand new transducer. This question is older then any of us here my friend. I think basically there are rules we need to follow to safeguard our speakers from failure. However..... with that being said, i had a speaker blow on me, through absolutly no fault of my own, and did nothing but turn my power amp on. Now of course, they have soft starts in most power amps.

Muzicman144: This question i think dates back to the flood, and has been disgussed on almost all musical forums around the world at one time or another, caused many a flame war on the Fender Telecaster Forum, dealing with Fender amps. Incidently, great to know you are a musician as well as i am. I have been playing beer joints, honky tonks, dives before some of these kids were born...lol sad to admit. Right around 40 years as well. I play lead guitar, pedal steel guitar, dobro, bass. Lets talk shop sometime. Thanks for all comments.