Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions speaker break-in music

Break In, according to Axiom, if not snake oil, will happen within a few seconds. They do not break in every speaker for 100 hours. The Power Handling Test is part of their QC.

And you base this on...

What Axiom has said itself over the years.

Hm! Don't like the sound of this... It would the first in my career of electronic equipment manufacturing...

When I had the plant tour a couple of years ago I saw the speakers on the line and they did put a signal through ever speaker before they packaged them. They do 100% testing on every driver and amp (subwoofer).

As with any SPC (Statistical Process Control) system for any manufacturing facility they will also do random sampling to test other specs. One of which I am sure would be a power handling test. I also saw the room inwhich this happens - it is very sound proofed and not in the main building, for good reason)

When the signal is passed trough your / the speakers on the line during the 100% testing, that 1/10th of a second the signal hits the drivers IS the break in period for the speaker.

Sirquak is quite correct in his post!

As a Manufacturing Engineer, I was quite intrigued with their process.

BTW the 100% test of each driver is not done by humans, the speaker is put in chamber and specially calibrated microphones measure the output of each driver before the computer gives the speaker a Pass or fail rating. I beleive it not only measures output, but frequency response and will give a complete report on it's findings if a driver fails. Very high tech.

Paul

The aging must be done on the drivers at the drivers' manufacturing plan. Otherwise, they could offer warranties. Rate of early failure is far from small.

I would tend to agree. Axiom's drivers are made in China, and I am sure they go through a complete SPC process there before they get to Dwight, Ontario. However, they still do a complete check on the speaker before it leaves the door for the customer.

Being an Online company requires very controled process to ensure the customer is happy. The shipping costs would kill Axiom if most people sent their speakers back due to failiers in the field.

Call Axiom or email Alan yourself then, or use the search tool. I think I'll believe the manufacturer on this one.

Yes me too. I work as a desing engineer for a company that makes hospital beds. As the designer, I know the bed better than any customer, even though they use it every day. I speced it out, I know it's limits, and abilities better than anyone.

It is always best to believe the manufacturer when they tell you something about their product.

Paul

My post was based on walking around the factory, seeing the offline "400 watt room" (on the outside of the building -- I think they actually have 1000+ watts available) and the 100% test rig at the end of the production line.

Speakers don't strike me as something with a high out of box FAILURE rate. Defects maybe, which need to be discovered through inspection or testing, but not failures (for purposes of argument, I'm defining "failure" as a change in behavior from acceptable to not acceptable).