Speakers Break In test

[~BURNY~]

Finally found the time to run this test.
Only ran the stress tone for about 8 hours but I don't think doing it for 72 hours would have changed the result, blasting pink noise and a sequence of low & mid freq sinusoidal tones.

Still scratching my head on this one. I hoped I would be able to make it more scientific but I have to deal with some weird low level noise coming out of my interface out of nowhere.

None of these will null.

The difference was very noticeable reamping right after several hours of noise (and maybe not for the better).
Then it got almost back to square one after letting both the amp and the speakers cool off for some time.
Yes, almost... These won't null maybe partly because of the weird low level noise, maybe not.
Overall I'd say it's a waste of time but you be the judge:


https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2973685/V-type break in test.rar

 

[Red Phoenix]

I don't hear any difference..

 

[~BURNY~]

If any, I'd say the "right after file" has a weird low mid peak making it loose clarity and a loss in the very high end (aka fizz). I seem to hear a very slight high end roll off in the "cool file" but I can't really tell if it's a placebo effect or not. It sounds a hair darker than the reference to me. Not the kind of difference I would notice in a mix anyway.

 

[~BURNY~]

Any more opinions/comments on this?

 

[UncleBob]

Haven't listened yet, someone swapped my cables around now the skin effect directionallity is ruined, I'm going to have to re-burn those in before any critical listening can commence


Just kidding, my wireless is down so I'm on a laptop, grabbing the rar now.

 

[UncleBob]

Unbroken and Cooled down sound the same pretty much (as they should)

Broken Right after sounds a BIT worse to me....a tiny bit

 

[~BURNY~]

Haha! At least that's consistent with my observations. I'm glad my ears aren't totally shot.

 

[deLuther]

Unbroken and Cooled down sound the same pretty much (as they should)

Broken Right after sounds a BIT worse to me....a tiny bit

Same opinion.

 

[JeffTD]

Sorry, but 8 hours is not breaking in a cabinet.

 

[Red Phoenix]

What's actually the supposed tonal change after breaking in? I can only imagine that the speaker cone may loses some stiffness and the sound may smoothen a bit?

 

[~BURNY~]

Sorry, but 8 hours is not breaking in a cabinet.

I knew this argument was coming. But based on what Jeff? Your experience or scientific data?

Imoved my setup since then but since everybody seem to agree there's no significant difference, I could use the 8 hours broken in speakers as a new reference and go for another round. Sounds fair?
I'm totally open to it. I just need to find a period of time when I don't need my signal chain for anything else.

I "solved" my noise problem by reseting my patch completely btw, so I¨'m all for it.

For the time being I'm still leaning on the skeptical side and I think many people get tricked by the fact that the speaker/amp will sound indeed different immediately after a long period of use.
I've read somewhere that Neumann/K&H advise against this procedure for their monitor line basically saying the difference will be inaudible.

 

[~BURNY~]

What's actually the supposed tonal change after breaking in? I can only imagine that the speaker cone may loses some stiffness and the sound may smoothen a bit?

People generally say it sounds "smoother" or "warmer". The kind of stuff people say when they hear an improvement.

 

[Mago]

I guess it's save to assume, that if there's no difference after 8hrs, why should there be any after a longer time...at least I think most of the time I read people let them break in
"over night", so what, 12hrs?

Even if you say you let it rip for a day, those 8hrs should be 1/3rd of the way to being broken in.

Unless for some reason the sounds changes rapidly and without any kind of transition? Which I can't really imagine, since it's about the paper cone and glue being rocked to be smoother...

That being said, I didn't break in my cab, but I still believe that the cab was harsher at first than it was after half a year of rehearsals.
Could have very well been imagination though, but after some point it was a lot easier to get nice tones from it. Maybe I just got to know it better, or maybe there's really a point from where on the cab sounds radically different *shrug*

I'd say go for it Burny, and see what it does. You can still compare it to the 8hrs, even if you changed the setup.
Thanks for the test too!

 

[Rex Rocker]

Yeah, not much difference.

 

[JeffTD]

I knew this argument was coming. But based on what Jeff? Your experience or scientific data?

Based on experience. I've had way too many brand new and used cabs side by side to not notice that there is an identifiable hardness and brashness to speakers before they break in. I've also replaced enough speakers in cabinets to experience the same thing. Maybe it's 100% the way they feel while playing that's influencing my judgement, but 8hrs is NOT enough when we're talking about cabs that have been gigged/toured/used for years vs an 8 hour halfass break-in.

Record a riff, leave the cab in the same place with mics untouched for a week, get at least 24 hours of break-in on the thing, and then record the same riff and I'll take your tests seriously.

Neumann/K&H might recommend a lot of shit that doesn't apply to guitar amps considering they're putting out a totally different spectrum range and are half the size of the guitar speakers.

 

[JeffTD]

I guess it's save to assume, that if there's no difference after 8hrs, why should there be any after a longer time...

See, I read this and agree, but only if I interpret it as sarcasm. But you're Austrian, so that's not possible. :laugh2:

 

[~BURNY~]

Based on experience. I've had way too many brand new and used cabs side by side to not notice that there is an identifiable hardness and brashness to speakers before they break in. I've also replaced enough speakers in cabinets to experience the same thing. Maybe it's 100% the way they feel while playing that's influencing my judgement, but 8hrs is NOT enough when we're talking about cabs that have been gigged/toured/used for years vs an 8 hour halfass break-in.

Just to be clear I don't question the fact that you experienced this and that you're being 100% honest when you say you heard a significant improvement.
Now to say that in your experience 8 hours isn't enough would imply that you did stop after 8 hours and noticed it didn't make a difference then kept going and noticed a difference after 24 hours. Hence my question.
The test itself is pretty annoying to run so If I can spare the hassle of blocking my gear for hours, that would be nice to say the least but I want to do this right.

I am not talking about aging through normal use though. I have little doubt about the fact that a cab that has been touring for months, maybe years will sound different that a brand new one.

Now If you think 8 hours isn't enough which sounds like a perfectly reasonable opinion, well let's do this so we can all agree on a result.
Again, I'll be happy to be proven wrong since my test is entirely motivated by the suspicion that it could be bullshit. A hunch, no more.

Record a riff, leave the cab in the same place with mics untouched for a week, get at least 24 hours of break-in on the thing, and then record the same riff and I'll take your tests seriously.

Can I at least subtract 8 hours or 24 hours more is what it takes to be taken seriously? Just seems a wee bit arbitrary.

Neumann/K&H might recommend a lot of shit that doesn't apply to guitar amps considering they're putting out a totally different spectrum range and are half the size of the guitar speakers.

Agreed and I'm not taking it as gospel anyway. Big renowned companies say bullshit all the time. Just thought it was interesting and consistent with other people's opinion on regarding guitar speakers.

 

[bryan_kilco]

I have never done such a test, but I will have to agree that 8 hours is a bit short. Like Jeff said - compare that to a cab that has been used for years.

Really interested in hearing some proper results though!!

 

[53Crëw]

Sorry, but 8 hours is not breaking in a cabinet.

Agreed. 8 hours isn't much...

get at least 24 hours of break-in on the thing, and then record the same riff and I'll take your tests seriously.

Agreed, again. Avatar runs their break in process for 15 hours, FWIW. Even then, I suspect the speakers are just starting to loosen up.