Speaker Breakin Period

[Musicman51]

I want to thank those that did help try to answer my question, although we did get mislead a little, i suppose it's all related in one way or another. To git back to my original question, yes i do believe in a speaker break in period. Here are a few responses those in the know had to say. Thanks again for all the support.

Hi George,

Yes, there is a "break-in" period and it's going to happen whether you want it to or not. The speaker will continue to break-in as long as you use it, but the most noticeable amount occurs early on. Break-in is caused by the speaker heating up and softening. The resonant frequency will drop considerably at first and eventually level out to a slower decline as the moving parts wear. The change in tonality is overall warmth and a smoother top end. A lot of players are aware of this and don't bother playing it or making a judgement about the tone until it happens. Others like the speakers right out of the box. There are many methods people use to achieve break-in, such as using a variac or music for an extended amount of time. Some people even have a specific song they use. At Eminence, we use a noise signal generator set to a very low frequency when we want to test or compare. It's nearly impossible to do a fair comparison without some level of break-in. The idea is to get the speaker moving without causing abuse. Some of these methods can be risky. I've fried a few speakers in my time. The safest and simplest method to achieve break-in is to play it long and loud. It will eventually happen naturally. Other factors that can affect the rate are temperature and humidity. I can't really advise when it will occur because it varies from speaker to speaker. It can even vary with two of the same model.

Regards,

Anthony Lucas
Sr. Lab Technician
Eminence Speaker LLC
anthony.lucas@eminence.com
(502)845-5622 ext. 341

While a new speaker is a little stiff when new and will pick up some low end as well as experience a downward shift in its bass resonance after it has been thrashed with high power for awhile,
generally, the speaker will sound very good right out of the box and the break in may not be as dramatic as some may claim.

Thanks very much,

Ted
.
Weber Speakers
1308 E. Hoffer St.
Kokomo, Indiana USA 46902
765.452.1249
Fax 765.452.6228

George:

I have found that Jensen musical instrument speakers sound great right out of the box. A lot of players just need time to become accustomed to the new speaker's tonal response and feel when changing from a speaker they may have used for years.

Thanks for your inquiry.

George,

Every speaker has some sort of break in period, and the amount of time varies from on product to another. Typically it's 15-20 hours if you use a sign wave at half excursion, and a few days by just playing music through them. There is no better way than another. After break in periods people have mentioned hearing deeper bass, cleaner mids and better sound overall.

Regards,

Matt Phillips
Technical Advisor
Parts Express Int.
800-338-0531 x 2

And so the age old question continues. Thanks again for your ideas and comments...... George

[ddouglass]

Even the "expert" can't agree, eh George. I guess it is that way in any technical situation. You go with what sounds best to you and your customers in our case.
Now as for the Amplifier settings there again it is up to you to find the optimum range for your amp.
First off from purely a technical view an electronic amplifier circuit be it solid state (transistor) or older tube version is at its peak efficiency with 75% power applied. Beyond that the amplifier circuit will clip and distort the signal.
However depending on the quality of the Amp unit (the whole box) you buy will determine your setting. The higher-end (quality not price) units are adjust so that 100% of you volume control is actually roughly 75% power to the amplifier circuit. This way you won't distort or clip your signal. The lesser quality Amps do not have this and will be much more likely to distort if you use maximum power.
George, unless the bands instruments are also fed through a sound board you won't see them run wide open because they do not have any other control on volume except the instrument amp. That said if you run you amp at the higher volume then control the amount of input with a sound board/mixer then you output will be a cleaner crisper sound at the volume level you desire. This also puts all your control (mics and music) in one location.

[Musicman51]

What you are proposing may be true, actually not entirly, there are so many variables that no blanketed rule applies here. This is fine if all you use is a mixer and amp. But you add in other things in the input pre amp path and this is not neccessary a rule to follow. You add EQ from an outboard EQ unit, it adds volume, you add compression, it to may add volume, you add a sound enhance ie: DBX BBE they have a volume control, Lexicon reverb, they have most generally two volume controls, pre and post. So you see, you are at rated volume for your speakers at far less then 75% of your amps operating potential. You couldn't use 75% of your rated amps power, with these variables ratioed in, with the average speakers that most fella's are using, regardless of brand. Although as i said, the 75% rule may be a norm for some, it is not by any means a rule of thumb. Just not necessary to achive the full potential of your speakers rated output. By adding effects, and these things i have mentioned into your signal path you will under almost all circumstances get an incease in preamp modulation, sine, and signal. So much so, that if you ran your power amp at the 75% rule, on top of this hot output signal, it may very well spell disaster. I have noticed through the years, especally with the younger folks, for some reason, the more power one has, the more one turns things up and uses it. Again, caution is the key here. If i have a 100 watt power amp, then if i buy a 200 watt power amp i will be twice as loud right? nope.... It's called "Head Room" which is what the 75% theory is trying to achieve, but does it? It is easy to paint all situations with a broad brush. Thanks Again...George

[Lonman]

Originally Posted by Musicman51

What you are proposing may be true, actually not entirly, there are so many variables that no blanketed rule applies here. This is fine if all you use is a mixer and amp. But you add in other things in the input pre amp path and this is not neccessary a rule to follow. You add EQ from an outboard EQ unit, it adds volume, you add compression, it to may add volume, you add a sound enhance ie: DBX BBE they have a volume control, Lexicon reverb, they have most generally two volume controls, pre and post. So you see, you are at rated volume for your speakers at far less then 75% of your amps operating potential. You couldn't use 75% of your rated amps power, with these variables ratioed in, with the average speakers that most fella's are using, regardless of brand. Although as i said, the 75% rule may be a norm for some, it is not by any means a rule of thumb. Just not necessary to achive the full potential of your speakers rated output. By adding effects, and these things i have mentioned into your signal path you will under almost all circumstances get an incease in preamp modulation, sine, and signal. So much so, that if you ran your power amp at the 75% rule, on top of this hot output signal, it may very well spell disaster. I have noticed through the years, especally with the younger folks, for some reason, the more power one has, the more one turns things up and uses it. Again, caution is the key here. If i have a 100 watt power amp, then if i buy a 200 watt power amp i will be twice as loud right? nope.... It's called "Head Room" which is what the 75% theory is trying to achieve, but does it? It is easy to paint all situations with a broad brush. Thanks Again...George

Actually if set properly, all the outboard gear won't add any more volume. Say on the eq, you want the input & output sound to remain the same volume, so once eq, you do a bypass comparison & adjust the output to match the uneq'd signal. Same goes with the compression - however I adjust this for every singer so there is no one setting. EFX get used through the Aux or EFX sends, and are controlled by an open channel on the board, so no extra volume there. Plus if the effects are adding any significant volume, they are not adjusted properly, you shouldn't actually be able to 'hear' the effect in most cases, but KNOW if it wasn't there. Some songs do require heavier effect as an actual part of the song.

But I agree with muzic as far as speaker break in for the most part. The speaker is going to break in from the first time it's plugged in and producing sound. Plus many manus bench test each speaker for a couple hours to get true spec ratings & this could be considered a break in.

[Musicman51]

Each person has a setting that sounds good, and works for them. I wasn't aware there were so many written in stone rules for what's correct, and one must follow to be the correct position..new to me...lol If it works for you then i think it's correct. If it doesn't work that way for someone else, and they set their mix up differently, then thats what works for them. I think this thread has pretty much gone it's distance..thanks for everyones views....

[Lonman]

Originally Posted by Musicman51

Each person has a setting that sounds good, and works for them. I wasn't aware there were so many written in stone rules for what's correct, and one must follow to be the correct position..new to me...lol If it works for you then i think it's correct. If it doesn't work that way for someone else, and they set their mix up differently, then thats what works for them....

No, no set rules, I was just clarifying that when set properly, the outboard gear you mentioned will not add any additional volume, that's what the output knob on each of those are for - to compensate for the additional volume they do tend to add. Not trying to get anyone to run their sound any differently.

Agree with Sam, if a breakin period were required, the manus would state that in their manuals.

[muzicman144]

George, i guess one question in this forum leads to another and begins an endless cycle with theory after theory. I, IMHO, believe the "break in period" for a speaker is about 10 minutes. If it don't "break", its "broke In".
As for amp settings, I turn the amp wide open, all mixing boards i use have slides with factory reccommemded pre-settings, and the trim control is recommended to fine tune one's sound to prevent clipping. Again, never blown a speaker in over forty years setting up sound for clubs, arenas, and outdoor venues.
I, however, did like your phrase of the gas pedal and brake. Quite a good comparison i thought.
Enjoyed your imput
muzicman144: