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New Speaker Question

post #1 of 21
10/4/03 at 12:30am
Thread Starter 
Well, my wife told me she was fed up with me spending all of my time inside my headphone gear. So I told her that was fine with me and I went out and bought a pair of B&W DM601 S3 speakers.

So I am very happy with the new speakers, but I was wondering if there is a recommended burn in procedure or if I should just use them a lot. I don't know much about speakers and this is my first real jump into something decent.

Finally, I am driving the speakers with an old school Nikko amp that I have had for years. My amp is likely holding back my speakers, so does anyone have any suggestions for amps, say in the sub $1000 category - new or used it doesn't matter.

Thanks


Mark
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post #2 of 21
10/4/03 at 1:17am
I have 602's, and the best burn in for Kevlar drivers (and most other speakers for that matter) that I've heard of is.

Step 1. Place the speakers with front baffles facing each other, about 1-2cm apart.

Step 2. Reverse the phase on one of the speakers

Step 3. Play some music.

The phase reversal works best on mono tracks or those with little stereo imaging. The driver will still pump away, but the sound is canceled out.

As a side note, I noticed the sound changing (for the better) for about 2-3 weeks after I bought them. B&W claim it can take up to a month of regular use to get Kevlar drivers to properly settle in.

Hope that helps.
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post #3 of 21
10/4/03 at 1:24am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally posted by Kirium


Step 2. Reverse the phase on one of the speakers
Thanks, Kirium. One question though, what do you mean by reversing the phase. Sorry I am new.

Mark
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post #4 of 21
10/4/03 at 1:31am
I agree with that but I have to add just another suggestion, so:

Step 1. Place the speakers with front baffles facing each other, about 1-2cm apart.

Step 2. Reverse the phase on one of the speakers (just reverse the cables on one of them and period)

Step 3. Play pink noise instead, this is the tone used in theaters etc...for burn in, and setup, I was recomended this on the PartsExpress technical forum with good results, OTOH the pink noise autocancellation placing one against each other, is great and less annoying that simply play it, and it uses all the freq at the same time, all the time.


"......B&W claim it can take up to a month of regular use to get Kevlar drivers to properly settle in......."

Well this is funny, by that time the 30 days money back guaranteed had expired, and if the settle in is not of your like, what to do???
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post #5 of 21
10/4/03 at 2:20am
By reversing the phase of one of the speakers I mean take the cable from one of the speakers, and instead of hooking it up normally (i.e. + to +, - to -) hook the cable up with the -ve part of the cable going to the +ve binding post, and the +ve part of the cable going to the -ve binding post.

Sovkiller, you mention the ideal signal which is pink noise. Unfortunately I didn't have a test disc at the time (until I registered my speakers, and B&W sent me a lovely little interactive disc with some short tracks and test tones on it..)

In leiu of pink noise, I'd go with bass heavy stuff, light airy stuff, a real mixture of what you listen to...
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post #6 of 21
10/4/03 at 2:49am
Nonono, you don't reverse the phase. If they are facing the same way, then you reverse the phase; if you face them against each other, they will reinforce each other, sort of like a passive radiator design. Therefore you don't reverse the phase. (Hint: try it. I was trying to go to sleep once, and forgot to reverse the phase, and what do you know, you could barely hear it.)

I vote for just using them a lot, preferably with full-frequency-spectrum music.
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post #7 of 21
10/4/03 at 7:35am
Just hook up the speakers, place them where you are going get the best from them and start enjoying them. Try amps from Parasound, Rotel, of look for a used Krell KAV 250 or even a used 300i integrated from Krell. Also A used McCormack DNA125 would drive those speakers great and is a super nice amp. Good luck.
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post #8 of 21
10/4/03 at 12:16pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Dusty Chalk
Nonono, you don't reverse the phase. If they are facing the same way, then you reverse the phase; if you face them against each other, they will reinforce each other, sort of like a passive radiator design. Therefore you don't reverse the phase. (Hint: try it. I was trying to go to sleep once, and forgot to reverse the phase, and what do you know, you could barely hear it.)

I vote for just using them a lot, preferably with full-frequency-spectrum music.
YES, you reverse the phase, and to place one against each other is exactly for that purpose, to get the cancellation of the waves, and attenuate the sound and make the pink noise less annoying, as when one cones goes up the other will go down, and you will hear less movement of the air.....pink noise is not so difficult ot get, just get an FM, and get the static noise between stations, or one blank TV channel, this is more or less the pink noise....fortunatelly my EQ has a pink noise generator, and I use it that way....
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post #9 of 21
10/4/03 at 12:38pm
Well I just bought a pair of Totem Arros, and in the 'manual' (paper that came with the speakers lol) they do mention that the speakers should not be played to very high levels before 85-90 hours.

Besides, I think the speakers will burnin on their own, as you play them, I'd just suggest not blasting them too early
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post #10 of 21
10/4/03 at 1:15pm
Thread Starter 
Hi guys, thanks for all of your suggestions. I downloaded free noise generating software from the internet and have it set on 'pink'. What volume should I have it at? It doesn't sound like much is happening at lower volume, is that the way it is supposed to be? I have speakers a few centimeters apart as suggested.

Thanks

Mark
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post #11 of 21
10/4/03 at 3:22pm
Annother interesting burn-in... tnt-audio suggest Prodigy's Fat of the land as a great disc to loop for the process... regardless of whether you like the group or not, it'll probably be more pleasant in the background then pink noise.
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post #12 of 21
10/4/03 at 4:30pm
The break in process (or burn in) is just to make the drivers work, for some time, to make they loose their stiffness fom the "out of the box" status, maybe the caps on the crossovers need some working too, IMO there is nothing writen on that, of what is better for that purpose, they use the pink noise as it is an effective way of having all the freq, at the same level, all the time, very energetic process, but any sound will work also....even if you do not do anything, the break in will take place sooner or later...just play them and forget about them, jus that don't try to make any really critical listening until at least three days had passed, after that I doubt you will notice any change, of course that they will take place, but they will be very subtle...

A normal listening level will be fine, but of course as louder you go the better and faster it will take, in the case of mechanical break in, like drivers or headphones...as the pink noise will be very annoying just place them in a corner and if possible cover them with some quilted bed cover or the like, a bed comfort could be fine also and forget about them for a day or two....
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post #13 of 21
10/4/03 at 7:38pm
Burning in actually causes the spider to loosen up, it's basically all stiff and stuff when it's made, some companies do pre-burn in stuff, but I think they might have stopped that.
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post #14 of 21
10/4/03 at 8:04pm
And some others uses material that never loosen up.....
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post #15 of 21
10/4/03 at 8:16pm
Quote:
Originally posted by Sovkiller
YES, you reverse the phase, and to place one against each other is exactly for that purpose, to get the cancellation of the waves, and attenuate the sound and make the pink noise less annoying, as when one cones goes up the other will go down, and you will hear less movement of the air.....
I'm telling you, I did it both ways, and it was significantly louder when they were wired out-of-phase.

Zoomie, please try it both ways and report back.

Maybe my noise generator has its phased reversed in one channel, but I highly doubt it.
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