breaking in a new speaker

[jjmt]

Just curious was to whether anyone has any great insight into the process of breaking in a new speaker? The last speaker that I bought (a Weber p12-ish something; I would have to open the cab that it is in to get the actual model) I took out to the garage and hooked up to a variac for the day. That work very well.

But I no longer have a garage, and my family is rather intolerant of me making "noise" (my wife include my guitar playing in that description ). So, as I'm going to have to make some noise to break in the Weber 15f150 that I just put in the 835, I would like to deal with it as quickly as possible.

One option I have available is to use a signal generator (aka my phone) driving the amp, rather than the variac driving the speaker. Would it break in faster being driven at, say, 30Hz, rather that 60Hz? Looking for ideas.

[jjmt]

I run my speakers off my old Pioneer SX590 receiver. I run the bass up and treble down. I cover the amp with its padded cover and place a couple of pillows around it. You can play music that your family likes at a reasonable volume. It's a win, win.

Well, it's not like anyone in my family actually likes the same music. But this is a good idea. Rather than using a signal generator app, I can just use spotify. Alas, I won't be able to cover the amp due to heat. But I can put it in a closet and toss some pillows in from of it.

[jjmt]

OK. So I got a lucky break this morning. My oldest went off to school for a 4-hour drum-line practice, and my wife went shopping. The youngest was home but on xbox with big ol' headphones, so he was not a concern.

I ran 30Hz through the amp. It sounded *aweful* when I started. So much noise that I was pretty sure that I had a microphonic something that I was going to have a challenge debugging. Plus, the volume was going in and out like there was a power supply problem. So, there actually *could* be a problem there - my restuffed cap cans are certainly suspect. But anyway, that all shook itself out. After about 10 minutes the noise went away, and as I kept ratcheting up the volume (ultimately getting to full volume), I was getting a relatively pure 30Hz out of the speaker. The cab doesn't really do 30Hz, so it wasn't perfect by any stretch.

But it's really fun listening to a speaker break in. It starts out with a whole bunch of overtones that ultimately just go away. After about 90 minutes, I stopped seeing improvement and decided to call it Good Enough.

[vibrating string]

I didn't know there was a break-in period for speakers. I just installed a new Weber 12A125A last night and it sounds great in the amp with my strat. What am I missing?

I see this same issue popping up with acoustic guitars and breaking them in. I guess everything mechanical needs breaking in on some level. The only thing I can imagine needs breaking in on a speaker would be the apron or skirt surrounding the cone, which needs to flex.

Larry

[jjmt]

I didn't know there was a break-in period for speakers. I just installed a new Weber 12A125A last night and it sounds great in the amp with my strat. What am I missing?

I see this same issue popping up with acoustic guitars and breaking them in. I guess everything mechanical needs breaking in on some level. The only thing I can imagine needs breaking in on a speaker would be the apron or skirt surrounding the cone, which needs to flex.

Larry

Yes, exactly. Eventually the whole speaker cone will move more freely. You'll be amazed at how much better it will sound after about 20 hours of playing.

[cerrem]

It's the mechanical compliance that increases with break-in...
As the speaker's gets more compliant it's electrical impedance lowers as well..