How could you quietly break in new speakers?

korovamilkdud

WhoDatologist
I'm trying to figure it out. I'm excited about the speakers I got today actually, they sound good already. Can't wait until they loosen up. :yo:
 
Re: How could you quietly break in new speakers?

there was a lengthy discussion about using fabric softener for this, whether or not it's natural, yadda yadda etc etc.... kevlar3000 does this if i'm not mistaken.
 
Re: How could you quietly break in new speakers?

Know anyone with an Isolation Cab? Mount that sucker in there and then crank Master of Puppets through it for a few days.
 
Re: How could you quietly break in new speakers?

I kept the speaker in it's shipping box and hooked it up to the stereo at work. Every night I would turn it up and let it rip all night and then turn it down in the morning. 2 weeks worth.
 
Re: How could you quietly break in new speakers?

Know anyone with an Isolation Cab? Mount that sucker in there and then crank Master of Puppets through it for a few days.

This works.

Also you can mount the speakers together with the cones facing each other (not too tight, let some air move in there, use a bolt/nut). Wire them the regular way so they fire at each other. They will be out of phase and the volume will drop significantly. You can also throw a blanket or two on them just don't let them get really hot.
 
Re: How could you quietly break in new speakers?

You can't break in speakers w/o volume...even cheating will only get you part of the way there...volume will be needed to get the rest of the way.
 
Re: How could you quietly break in new speakers?

DO NOT attempt to break your speakers in by any other method than playing through them with your guitar and with your amp eq'd the way you like it. If you keep pumping the frequencies you want through your speakers they will acclimatise themselves to your sound. Just like a new mattress adjusting to your body shape and sleeping preferences. DO NOT blast a full range of frequencies through them at high volume. If you're a thin guy you wouldn't want your new mattress broken in by having a really fat guy sleeping on it for a couple of weeks would you ?
 
Re: How could you quietly break in new speakers?

DO NOT attempt to break your speakers in by any other method than playing through them with your guitar and with your amp eq'd the way you like it. If you keep pumping the frequencies you want through your speakers they will acclimatise themselves to your sound. Just like a new mattress adjusting to your body shape and sleeping preferences. DO NOT blast a full range of frequencies through them at high volume. If you're a thin guy you wouldn't want your new mattress broken in by having a really fat guy sleeping on it for a couple of weeks would you ?

This. I have been playing my mesa 2x12 with V30s in it for about 5 months now, about twice a week, at band level, and it still doesn't sound broken in like my friend's identical cab that he has been ripping on for 3 years.

It's a sound that does come from playing, just like a nicely worn maple neck.
 
Re: How could you quietly break in new speakers?

phil - you're bang on the money. 'Just like a nicely worn maple neck' is a good analogy. It's best if you let it occur naturally. And don't buy a 'reliced' guitar either.
 
Re: How could you quietly break in new speakers?

DO NOT attempt to break your speakers in by any other method than playing through them with your guitar and with your amp eq'd the way you like it. If you keep pumping the frequencies you want through your speakers they will acclimatise themselves to your sound. Just like a new mattress adjusting to your body shape and sleeping preferences. DO NOT blast a full range of frequencies through them at high volume. If you're a thin guy you wouldn't want your new mattress broken in by having a really fat guy sleeping on it for a couple of weeks would you ?

Awesome! :lmao: People use many methods, and I'm not sure if any method has been proved to outweigh another. My belief is that anyone is free to try what they feel works. But just playing regularly through it is the way I do it. And this is a funny way of explaining it.
 
Re: How could you quietly break in new speakers?

A common way to loosen up a new, stiff speaker cone is to connect it to a filament transformer at the correct voltage to put about 20% or so of the rated power through it. This gets things moving enough to loosen up the initial stiff ribbing/glue, which takes some of the harshness out. I do it for about an hour usually when I get a new speaker (which is much shorter than some recommend).
I'll paste a link to a useful article when I find it.
As far as messing up a speaker by breaking it in to the wrong music... sorry, don't buy it. A speaker moves forward and back, to and fro.

Here's the link I was talking about, from Ted Weber's site: http://www.webervst.com/sptalk.html
This page has a lot of useful info on various topics, but the speaker break-in section is about two-thirds of the way down the page. It's easy to spot because it has entry fields where you can enter your speaker info to have it calculate the required voltage needed for safe break-in.

As I said, I've used this method several times, and find it works very well to take the initial harsh high end out of new speakers, and improve the low end a bit. Nothing dramatic, but certainly noticeable.
 
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Re: How could you quietly break in new speakers?

If a speaker is being broken in out in the forest and no one is around to get annoyed by it, is it still loud?
 
Re: How could you quietly break in new speakers?

what're you doin tryin to keep your LOUDSPEAKERS quiet?

it just wouldn't rock if you were pumping 100 watts through a stack of eight QUIETspeakers...
 
Re: How could you quietly break in new speakers?

Just like a new mattress adjusting to your body shape and sleeping preferences... If you're a thin guy you wouldn't want your new mattress broken in by having a really fat guy sleeping on it for a couple of weeks would you ?
:smack: the most ridiculous analogy ever. :haha:

It sounds like a bunch of rubbish to me. If there is a discernable difference (which I doubt), you won't be able to hear it. This is the kind of thing that you would need to measured with electronic equipment to be noticeable.

Loudspeaker manufactures have no instructions about "breaking in" loudspeakers, except Celestion that says "Break in a speaker with a fat, clean tone: turn up the power amp volume to full, and control the level with the preamp gain. Use a level that will be quite loud, but not painful in a normal size room.
Have the bass and mid up full, and the treble at least half. On your guitar, use the middle pick up position (if your guitar has more than one pick up) and play for 10-15 minutes using lots of open chords, and chunky percussive playing. This will get the cone moving, and should excite all the cone modes and get everything to settle in nicely. The speaker will continue to mature over the years, but this will get it 95% of the way to tonal perfection in the shortest time."


Only 10-15 minutes my pseudo-engineer friends.
 
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