I know there is a lot of debate about if speakers do sound better after proper break-in time. If you are a believer, or even if you arent but know all about it, what would you recommend as good break-in audio?

What types of music would you listen to or leave playing on repeat? I tried to google it and couldnt find anything! I probably could have done a better search. Is it something i can find easily?

Thanks in advance audio smarties!!

What ever kind ya like. I'm a non believer.

I broke my stuff in with some Stevie Ray Vaughan, it's been sounding perfect every since.

Actually I don't believe the speakers needs to be broken in myself ... I'm a non-believer also.

The important thing here is your ears. It sounds silly, but everyone needs a few hours with known pieces to adjust completely to both speakers and their interaction with the room. So don't think of it as breaking in your equipment, more as getting used to them. Once you feel OK, then you can start tweaking and adjusting.

If you subscribe to the idea of speaker break in, then I submit that the sound quality must be in a state of continuous decline as speaker break in suggests wear and as the speakers age the sound must therefore degrade at a continuous rate.

Still believe in speaker break in?

Listen and enjoy the new speakers

Eric nailed it, I'll come home from listening to music on another system or even in the car and it may take a couple of minutes to readjust to the Axioms. Doesn't take long though.

I would think that probably holds true with just about any system though.

I1, just to be safe, to insure the best future performance of your speakers you should play nothing but classical music through them for at least the first three months.

Play the "Exorcist" soundtrack backwards over your speakers.

It's too bad....everyone giving non-serious replies, pay them no mind.

It's a well known audio fact: Polka's...24/7 for three weeks!

Listen to JohnK. Don't listen to the polka guy.

Seriously, "speaker break-in" (if you believe it) is not like engine break-in where mating metal surfaces are fitting to each other with use. Speakers are essentially non-contact by design, so I don't think choice of music would make much difference.

Most people break their new Axioms in by listening to all of their CDs again

Larry, that sounds like my home when I was growing up!

What a dichotomy.

Being a non-believer, how could I possibly recommend break-in music?

I'm really going to have headache.

Best speaker break-in is a good solid square wave... maybe one that sweeps 20Hz-20KHz and back...

Oh, wait.. break IN not break DOWN... sorry...

Bren R.

When I went to the Axiom plant to pick up my speakers I talked to them about speaker break-in period. They were of the opinion that speaker break-in takes about half a second. The first time a live signal hits the drivers. Since the speakers are tested at the plant, your speakers are already broken in. Joe talked to me about the rubber used on the outside of the driver and how there are no chemical changes in the compound with use.

However he did say that "person" break-in is real.

If the manufacturer tells me there is no break in period, I tend to belive them!

Paul

I have heard no decisive facts to ever convince me speaker break in is real.

However, prior to even getting an interest in upgrading my sound system, the 'first song sounds crappy' scenario bugged me enough to ask an audiologist about whom I know from my years of working at a hospital.

He had an actual scientific name for this effect. He also explained that for a hearing test to determine at what point your auditory senses are beginning to fail, it is just as accurate to start at the inaudible and move up to a point where the subject can indicate he hears something audible.... However, it is always done the other way around to allow the subjects ears to grow accustomed to hearing the sound as presented by the ear phones.

I frequently ask myself how this type of legend starts. A lot of these "things" often comes from real phenomenon that are misunderstood (or squarely lied about!) or applied in the wrong context. Human psyche does the rest...

The one for electronic break-in could be an extension of the very real electronic "burn-in" tests where electronic is challenged (hot room, loads of power...) to age components artificially to weed out early-failures components (the vast majority of electronic components that fails will fail within six months; most of what survives that period will survive a long time). It is possible that some individuals throughout modern age have confused the purpose of the natural-selection burn-in test and extrapolated a required "break-in" period that would logically continue to "improve" while the only thing they are doing is further aging their equipment and reducing its life expectency.

As for Axiom (and if my memory serves me right), their burn-in period is 100 hours at at least 400W (M80s). I don't remember exactly (nor the details) where I got this; could be from a reviewer that had done a tour of the facility or Ian answering someone in this forum. If after that the speaker still needs "break in", return the speaker!

Play all of your country and western music backwards... that way your girl friend will return to you, your truck will repair itself, and your dog will come back to life!

So even though speaker break-in is a myth, the benefits of playing country and western music backwards are substantial!

Play Paul Anka covering Nirvana.....

Oh.

You LIKE your speakers.




Never Mind.

That is not break in it is torture.

>>As for Axiom (and if my memory serves me right), their burn-in period is 100 hours at at least 400W (M80s).

That's their "power handling test" performed on a single speaker from time to time, not break-in performed on every speaker. Each speaker does get hooked up to a signal generator and checked for frequency response (and distortion ?) but that is not considered to be "break in".

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).

thanks for the replies!! i have non axioms remember (dont hurt me)the Energy RC-70 and they say 100 hours of break-in which seems like a lot! I thought classical was the way to go as well and i'll do that.....with some exorcism music backwards around the 90 hour mark!! :P

If you have (and I am abso. sure Axiom does) a good manufacturing process with a good SPC process, failures as you described it would be rare. But they do happen.

I am betting for most people online speaker shopping is still a bit scary. If a speaker shows up not preforming properly at a customer, they may just pack the thing back up and ship it back, not even realizing it was defective. Because there is no store to take them back to and a duel listening session with a sales person or technician, the product has to work perfectly everytime. This must be critical to Axiom's business model (along with the excellent customer support they offer).

That's a good point. Subwoofers with DSPs would be more prone because of the circuit boards, though.

Hi Infamous1,

That's hilarious--100 hours of break-in! I'm surprised that Energy perpetuates such nonsense, but Energy/Mirage/Athena are all part of Klipsch now, so perhaps such peculiar advice emanated from the Klipsch division.

I say "peculiar," because, as previous posts have indicated, the only break-in that occurs is a psycho-acoustic phenomenon, in which your ear/brain/hearing system accommodates the sound of new reproducers in your particular room.

What's also interesting about such recommendations is that all the research on this, which in my view is definitive, took place in Canada at the National Research Council in Ottawa, where Axiom, PSB, Paradigm and Energy/Mirage guys all did tests and measurements. We kept a supply of "anchor" loudspeakers there for years, including Axioms, Energy, Mirage, KEF, PSB, Paradigms, etc., all of which were regularly placed into the double-blind listening tests along with new speakers being reviewed and measured for magazines. The accumulated data on the speakers kept at the NRC showed that the speaker frequency responses of our "sonic anchors" did not change at all over the years, and that, in the blind listening comparisons, the same speakers garnered the same rankings from different groups of listeners.

As one previous post mentioned, if the motor assembly, spider, the elasticity of the surround material, cone and dome materials actually "broke in", then with prolonged use, it would continue to change and age over time, causing easily measurable changes in frequency response, some of which would no doubt be audible.

But the speakers didn't change over time and many hours of listening tests over years. And the rankings of the same speakers also were remarkably consistent from one year to the next. A speaker that measured and sounded excellent out of the box continued to yield the same curves and rankings for years, sometimes ten years or more. If a speaker sounded good, it continued to do so for years; the bad speakers also measured and sounded just as bad years later. They didn't change or improve. We kept some really wonky speakers around as well so there would always be a scale of bad to excellent that we could always include in any round of speaker testing.

Everyone who did work at the NRC knew this. I suspect Energy is just perpetuating some of the dearly held high-end myths about speaker "break-in" so as not to offend reviewers or editors who, lacking the data, actually buy into this myth.

Regards,

Alan

Thanks Alan for your input..

yes thank you! i've been afraid to play them at any sort of decent level because I wasn't close to 10 hours let alone 100.

Let them babies rip

Crank them up, I want to hear them all the way over here!

Here's my favorite break-in method.

1. Find some mono program material. Old Beatles recordings work well.
2. Connect your speakers out-of phase (i.e. connect the wire backwards on the back of one of your speakers).
3. Put your speakers face to face so there is less than 6" of space between their fronts.
4. Get a heavy blanket and drape it over the speakers. This will muffle the sound that leaks out while they're playing.
5. Turn on your equipment, insert CD, turn up the volume all the way, and hit play with endless repeat.
6. Now leave the room immediately and let the music continue for 30 days or the duration of your money back guarantee, whichever is shorter.

Because the music is in mono and the speakers are out-of-phase and facing each other, you should actually hear very little sound even though the speaker drivers will be moving quite a lot. And who would want to hear the sound from un-broken-in speakers??

I figure if you do believe in break-in, you should go all out.


Did I mention I'm a non-believer?

There is also a 28-day version to be February-compatible.

The important thing is that the break-in must be longer than the return period. See a pattern ?

DAMMITT!!!! 6"???? I thought it was 16". Woe is me. This explains why everything sounds a little off, even with a solid state maple shelf, crystals and magic pebbles.

"In an electrodynamic driver featuring the usual surround-diaphragm-spider construction, driver suspension mechanical compliance plays a key roll in determining the measured value of various driver parameters. All of these parameters will shift as the mechanical compliance of the driver's suspension shifts in value. The bulk of a driver's compliance shift will occur at the time of initial burn in.
Subsequent shifts in compliance are largely temporary in nature. An example of one such mechanism contributing to such temporary shifts is that which arise from the elastic deformation of butadiene-styrene surrounds. Given sufficient time to recover, these changes tend to reverse themselves and the driver returns to its pre-stimulus state.
As the enclosure compliance in both totally enclosed boxes and vented cabinets dominates that of the driver for most practical implementations of either type enclosure currently in production, any potential changes in system amplitude response attributable to changes in driver suspension mechanical compliance tend to be minimized. Normal production unit-to-unit driver spec variances can affect final amplitude response of a system to a larger degree than that expected from normal pre- post-burn in driver suspension compliance changes."

Link to full article

Thanks, that was a fun read.

Now, THAT'S funny!