Speaker and Amp Break-in ... Fact, Myth or Urban Legend?

LVC

LVC

Fractal Fanatic
Over the years I have purchased (or had custom built) many guitar amplifiers and purchased many speakers (new and used). One thing that has been consistent has been the need for amp "burn-in" and speaker "break-in".

Some amp builders actually "burn-in" their new amps for several days before they ship to customers and it usually takes some time after you get the amp before it finally starts to open up (one of the reasons why I love vintage amps -- all the breaking in has been done for you).

Speakers -- the same thing -- most manufacturers recommend a number of hours to fully break-in a speaker.

For my Axe -- I purchased and tried two different amplification solutions -- the Atomic ActiveCLR Cab and the Matrix GT1000 with their Q12 cab. I did not "bond" with the CLR for a number of reasons and returned it (see I did not use the other "B" word) and I kept the Matrix solution.

The solution I currently have went through the "traditional" break-in period. The speaker initially was a little stiff -- after 10 hours I started noticing a difference and now they rig sounds absolutely golden.

I think the designer of the Atomic CLR posted on another website that speaker break-in was a myth.

My experience with amps and speakers over the years support the recommendations and actions of experienced amp builders and speaker manufacturers.

what say you?
 
Reminds me of the same concept but with cars. In the last century it was common to "break in" the car out of the factory. New cars nowadays do not require it. There may be some truth to it.
 
Purely my own experience, but every speaker I've bought, be it a guitar speaker or for my home cinema setup, the manufacturer and vendor have always recommended a break-in period.

Whether or not a change has occurred is very hard to determine for the average punter, as I'm going by how I remember something sounding, rather than having a "broken in" speaker and a "new" speaker in front of me to listen to.

My experience, there has been a change as the speaker has broken in, but that's hardly scientific. I could just as easily have tweaked something to get rid of whatever I thought had changed :D
 
I am by no means an expert and this is just pure speculation (although I'm reasoning from a materials science background), but I'd imagine it greatly depends on what kind of material is used for the speaker and the way it is produced/assembled. Certain materials may not be entirely in a steady-state (building-up/rearranging/relaxing internal stresses) after initial production, and I assume there may even be more fluctuation here if a speaker/amp is made by hand (vs. mass-produced on an assembly line). I can see why modern-day speakers/amps might not require much of 'breaking in' as I imagine their production process by now is fairly well-defined and further optimized than the old vintage amps of the 60's, but I'm not convinced that this renders the need for breaking-in obsolete: it may just have shortened the break-in period.
 
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^ +1

These threads and those alike make me think who the heck cares??? lets take the speaker break in for example. If I do break them in and it works for me cool. If I don't and it works cool. Why does there need to be a set way for all this stuff??

Nothing against the OP but opinions will always vary with this kind of stuff. Personally speaking and my opinion alone there's no right or wrong just what works for u to be able to bring across what inspires you. Imagine if some of the unorthodox guys like Hendrix were around today the bashing he'd take for not properly playing his guitar the right way, or using delay to create "noise". Its music.... Break it in how u wish, set up ur rig how you want and just enjoy what you do. The bickering and crying in that thread and some of the ones here of late can become tiresome and outright childish. I think the instant remedy to all this is cough cough releasing 10.0 cough.

=D
 
I see no harm in discussing/exploring the background of various phenomena as long as it occurs in a respectful/civilized manner. If people don't want to know about it or think it's not important (to them) they don't have to read or comment on it; I guess that's both the beauty and pitfall of these internet forums. :)


edit- to add: I am oblivious to whatever goes on on TheGearPage, since I've never visited that page apart from the previous link in this thread. What I saw in this thread I merely took as there being two opposing views regarding the speaker break-in phenomenon, and asking for any evidence supporting one or the other view. Any personal attacks or whatever I am unaware of, and certainly don't encourage. End disclaimer. :p
 
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We all know Jay can reply here. He did on the whole "B" thread. No offense to LVC but this thread is useless and a fire starter. Many members from here are on TGP and we will see the most of the same replies here too. Although I don't bygone LVC's goal was to make this personal. There is 0 chance that Jay not take this personal and this thread like the last few other will be filled with personal attacks and rebutles.
 
swervedriver said:
I see no harm in discussing/exploring the background of various phenomena as long as it occurs in a respectful/civilized manner. If people don't want to know about it or think it's not important (to them) they don't have to read or comment on it; I guess that's both the beauty and pitfall of these internet forums. :)
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Absolutely. I think I'm just shaking in a corner crying why bc of that thread lol. I'm sure reaction here will be totally different.
 
I've always thought guitar speakers "needed" to be broken in. I mean Avatar.co sells thier own versions of Celestions , the "Hella Tone" series which are speakers with 40 hours of break in on them.
Is Dave from Avatar 'wrong"???
Scientifically speaking?? who knows, all I know is that my buddies 1967 and 1972 Basketweave cabs sound better than any other cabs I've ever played thru (original speakers in both cabs) and my RCF 12NX wedge seems to be 'responding' and feeling more 'natural' the longer I own it and the more I play thru it.
Placebo effect??? maybe.................................maybe not.
do I really care? .........................................................not really
 
brokenvail said:
We all know Jay can reply here. He did on the whole "B" thread. No offense to LVC but this thread is useless and a fire starter. Many members from here are on TGP and we will see the most of the same replies here too. Although I don't bygone LVC's goal was to make this personal. There is 0 chance that Jay not take this personal and this thread like the last few other will be filled with personal attacks and rebutles.
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+1

But I don't think that Jay can reply here anymore. Do an advanced search for him and note the date of his last post.
 
kmanick said:
I've always thought guitar speakers "needed" to be broken in. I mean Avatar.co sells thier own versions of Celestions , the "Hella Tone" series which are speakers with 40 hours of break in on them.
Is Dave from Avatar 'wrong"???
Scientifically speaking?? who knows, all I know is that my buddies 1967 and 1972 Basketweave cabs sound better than any other cabs I've ever played thru (original speakers in both cabs) and my RCF 12NX wedge seems to be 'responding' and feeling more 'natural' the longer I own it and the more I play thru it.
Placebo effect??? maybe.................................maybe not.
do I really care? .........................................................not really
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I personally don't know about break-in periods being beneficial or not, and I agree with you. If I like it I use it, break-in validity be damned. I can see value in this type of manufacturer's break-in period for quality control and to confirm performance, since immediate failures never see the market place.
 
jimfist said:
+1

But I don't think that Jay can reply here anymore. Do an advanced search for him and note the date of his last post.
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I used to think he could not post here any more but when LVC' boomy comments came out about the CLR Jay did post here a few times in that thread
 
If you believe in something, you'll find the evidence to make it true to you. No matter what the topic is, no matter what that something you believe or not believe in is about.

I approach this subjectively: I like to work speakers in for a while before I get to critically listening to them. I've often put full range music through speakers - guitar cab speakers, studio monitors, wedges, PA speakers, etc - for extended periods at high volumes stuffed in a closet so it doesn't bother anyone before I 'check them out'. Whether or not that is a placebo (given the adventure that TGP thread went on) is irreverent to me. My reality is what I believe to be true and IMHO my personal belief is akin to this metaphor: you have to warm the car up before you take it on the track to see what it can do. So I'll pound on new speakers for a day or two without trying to critically analyze them, then after that 'break-in' period - get to really being critical about what they do or not.

Jay points out on TGP that this is mostly hocus-pocus and snake oil; I don't agree with him but don't need to argue the point. What matters in the end is the actual performance; not the 'does it break in or not' debate.

We do what we do.
 
For those of you that do break them in, for how long do u do the break in process? Scott I know you mention a day or two. Is this continual for 10-12 hrs a day. Less, more?
 
Physically looking at a speaker, it seems like common sense that a brand new formed-paper cone attached to a metal basket with a rubbery doping compound around the edge would be initially stiffer and more resistant to vibration when it's brand new, and become looser and more freely able to vibrate up and down with less effort after some amount of break-in period. Also seems like common sense that relative degree of this 'loosening' effect would vary between different types of speakers.

Maybe Jay wouldn't disagree with the above. But the important question is, does it really make the speaker SOUND any different, let alone 'better'?

I don't know the answer. I'm a big believer in direct A/B side-by-side comparisons, which is something I've never been in a position to do with 'new VS broken-in' speakers. I don't see how you can buy a new speaker for your amp, use it every night for a month and then honestly say 'Yeah, it sounds better now that the speaker is broken in'. There are way too many variables to form your opinion that the amp sounds better now than you remember it sounding a month ago.. especially when you expect and WANT to believe it sounds better now.
 
redburst21 said:
For those of you that do break them in, for how long do u do the break in process? Scott I know you mention a day or two. Is this continual for 10-12 hrs a day. Less, more?
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I shoot for 8 hours before I get critical with anything. I'm not a huge stickler for keeping track of the hours; I just leave them roaring while I go to work. I am sure the neighbors think I am fairly insane and they probably strongly dislike Don Henley's "Building the Perfect Beast" and Sting's "Ten Summoner's Tales" greatly for going on rotation for hours and hours (though nowadays I tend to just plug in the DAW and let it play randomly selected songs more often than not). ;) :D
 
redburst21 said:
For those of you that do break them in, for how long do u do the break in process? Scott I know you mention a day or two. Is this continual for 10-12 hrs a day. Less, more?
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I used take new speakers and leave them in a room in the basement for 2 or 3 days with a bass frequency amplified through them loud enough to see the cones vibrate in and out significantly. Feed them a sine wave, or in a pinch I'd use my old Korg keyboard with a key held down by something heavy, playing a sound with infinite sustain.

Whether this actually made them sound better is unknown :)
 
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