How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

[STRATDELUXER97]

Hello all...You all know by now how much I Love my Vox Valvetronix head and the matching AD 2x12 vox cab I just got for it...The cabinet sounded great right out of the box when I plugged into it...It still sounds great also...

I've only got about 4 hours of loud playing through my cab and I'd like to know what you guys feel is the best and quickest way to break the 2 Celestions in?

I Know there was just a recent post on this,but I want some recent and fresh ideas?

Thanks
John

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

i think, honestly, the best way is to just play it a lot

i remember when i had my hot rod, for kicks i ran the speaker into a 5150 & played it for an hour or so

plugged it back into the hot rod, fired it up, and well, it didn't sound the same, pissed me off

 

[Warheart]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

from the celestion website:

How do I break in my speakers?

Important Note! Before breaking it in it's advisable to "warm up" the speaker gently for a few minutes with low-level playing or background hum.

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.

have fun!

 

[pac112]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

one quite easy way to do it is to jack it into a source for eg. a CD player. voila! no hands needed.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

Thanks so far guys.....I've pretty much been doing the clean chording/lead thing through my cab...At loud volumes...I can feel air going across my ankles while playing...LOL

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

heh, i know how that is

i plugged my 100 into a 4x12 yesterday, set normal at full, master at 5, kicked on my disortion & hit an e5. my pant legs litterally like blew back

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

heh, i know how that is

i plugged my 100 into a 4x12 yesterday, set normal at full, master at 5, kicked on my disortion & hit an e5. my pant legs litterally like blew back

That's alot of fun,but don't do it for too long brother! I mean at 17 the volume just isn't an issue,but at age 45 and after many years of playing,it does become a concern...

But anyway...Ripping through my Marshall slant 4x12 with V30s is a literal blast... :dance:

 

[Hellion]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

I don't break new speakers in. I just put them in the cabinets and fire 'em up.

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

John....hook your stereo up through the cab and lay the cab speakers down to muffle the sound. Turn it up while you are out running errands, or at work for the day. A few hours of that treatment and you're speakers will be well on the way to being broken in.

 

[Breogan]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

I have to try this...

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

John....hook your stereo up through the cab and lay the cab speakers down to muffle the sound. Turn it up while you are out running errands, or at work for the day. A few hours of that treatment and you're speakers will be well on the way to being broken in.

Nice....Thanks Jeff.....I Like your idea..I was wondering how anyone would have put up with my cranked stereo through my cab all day? :smack:

Do I use my vintage Pioneer SX 939,1010 receiver or my wonderful Marantz 2275 through it? :13: Life just sucks sometimes! LOL I have another Pioneer SX 1010 that I use in my recording area.....All nice and pretty and working like they were new thanks to me! LOL

 

[pac112]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

wow John!! you got some pretty heavy artillery there.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

wow John!! you got some pretty heavy artillery there.

I'm all about tone and I'll buy whatever I need to,to get it! LOL....
I was on a pretty heavy Vintage Pioneer/Marantz receiver binge a few years ago...I ended up with a Pioneer SX 838 for my son,a 939, 2 1010s and a Marantz....All are at least 75 real watts per channel...The 1010 is 110 watts per channel of just earth shaking clean tone...Just incredible stuff was being made in the early to mid 70s....I grew up listening to all of my Pink Floyd,Yes,Deep Purple,Zeppelin,Sabbath,etc on these receivers...

I also have 2 very nice Technics Direct Drive turntables....1 I bought new in 75 and I've used it all these years...I grabbed another one off E Bay and I have 2 cd players and a really nice old Akai cassette deck and an ADC EQ in there also....I've always been into loud,great sounding music....Than there's the stereo speakers! LOL....In the picture is my original Technics SL1700 turntable,the ADC EQ and the Akai Deck...I've babied this stuff from day one and I alternate receivers every day and I have speakers in my garage,my music room,and in my main large great room area of my house...I have everything from Bose 301s in my music room..to JBL speakers in my main room...... :dance:

 

[JumpMarine]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

Hook the speaker up to a stereo and play it at low volume for 48hrs, wham bam thankyou mam......

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

John is about to unleash SONIC FURY on the Tampa Bay area.....look out folks!

 

[mrid]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

You could use a signal generator (If you had access to one, that is).

 

[YJM_Rocks]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

John is about to unleash SONIC FURY on the Tampa Bay area.....look out folks!

LOL maybe i'll hear it over on the east coast

 

[MikeS]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

Nice....Thanks Jeff.....I Like your idea..I was wondering how anyone would have put up with my cranked stereo through my cab all day? :smack:

I know you are somewhat joking there, but the volume you run while breaking in speakers doesn't need to be load enough to hear from room to room at first. By breaking in a speaker you are allowing the materials to stretch and lose their rigidity slowly. Therefore, quiet is good for the first few hours. Maybe turn it on real low when you leave for work or something. This will allow the speaker's materials to begin to break in. When you return home, slowly turn the volume up over the course of a few hours.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: How Do You Guys Break In Your Speakers Again?

i read somewhere that weber runs a low DC current through the speaker for a short period of time to allow the speaker to slowly stretch.