Break-in ... Optimization or Conditioning?

[OscrDGrch]

Hello All,

I have had the "speaker break-in" conversation in other contexts before and am wondering if phones, with their relatively small drivers, simply benefit from usage or require specific conditioning when new. I'm hoping it is a matter of the former and not the later. If it is the later and a detailed regiment is required for the first 100 hours or so, is there a post describing this process?

TIA!

 

[radrd]

General usage is great. Some play certain CDs or vary the volume, but just using them will do it. Some recommend slightly higher than normal volumes and lots of bass, but I would just listen to what you like at volumes that you like; they will break in fine on their own.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Of course, there are owners of certain not-so-popular phones that claim that you need 100hrs of break in at maximum rated power for them to sound great

 

[phonatic]

Can't honestly say I have seen anything scientific in this area of knowledge, but it seems that any program is satisfactory for break-in, IME, and that headphones generally do benefit from break-in. Examples:

Grado SR-60. Man, it was at least a year before I felt the sound had stabilized.

Sennheiser HD497. I've had them for a couple of weeks, used them heavily for maybe 12-15 hours since then. I am pretty sure they have stabilized. My early comparisons with Grato are invalidated, much to my pleasure.

Sportapros. Mainly had them in a drawer for a couple of years. They seem to sound better than they did new. Bought off the clearance table at Borders, these are amazingly good, not just for cheap portables. They sound better than many phones I've checked out costing considerably more. A bit sloppy in the low end, tizzy in the high end, but very musical and non-fatiguing. Phenomenal.

Koss UR20. Crap in the beginning, crap in the middle, and crap in the end.

Haven't noticed a break-in effect with other cheap crappy phones, either. It seems to mainly benefit better headphones. I could be making this up, but it has been my subjective impression over many pairs of phones.

 

[OscrDGrch]

Excellent ... thanks y'all!

 

[r3cc0s]

just use pink noise at a decent listening level
and let it run for hours

pink noise has plenty of frequency ranges, and will break in drivers quite well.

 

[OscrDGrch]

Ahh ... OK ... thanks!

 

[jessica00]

speaking of pink noise, exactly how do you generate it?

 

[OscrDGrch]

Quote:

Originally posted by jessica00 speaking of pink noise, exactly how do you generate it?

Squeeze the stuffing out of Miss Piggy.

You can purchase reference albums or CD's. Some EQ's can generate pink noise for calibration. I think Cool Edit Pro 2.0 might be able to generate pink noise as well.

 

[r3cc0s]

you can download some from like kazaa and look the mp3 for a long period of time

or you can stick it to an unused reciever, and just put it to a radio like fm, on a channel where there is no signal
that is pink noise

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally posted by jessica00 speaking of pink noise, exactly how do you generate it?

There are some EQ that have it in the circuit to optimize the listening room, and there are some CDs with it, MCM sells one with it, I can mail you a copy of these tracks if you like, I will copy the tracks two minutes and two other minutes in reverse phase, and two of white noise, 6 minutes in total, you have to loop them to get the desire effect....but is more or less the same as if you set a tunner in between two radio stations this static noise is more or less the same a pink noise, at least it will make the same effect.....

 

[PinkFloyd]

This e-mail I received from Karl Peshcel at AKG may be helpful:

Hello Mike,

You are certainly right that after a certain period of use the sound may change. It's difficult to evaluate this change as it is certainly in a region where only users with very good ears and a critical and objective sense of listening will detect the difference. Technically it can be explained that the compliance of the membrane get's better with time and hours of use and thus the sound gets more richness and width in frequency response. I have not heard this about the 501 in particular, so I really appreciate your comments and will also pass it on to our R&D people. We for instance know that our K1000 really needs such a burn-in period and furthermore audiophile users regularily change the storage position of the K1000 in order to avoid that the capsule's voice coil gets off centered or the diaphragm gets an irregular shape. Such precautions certainly are not necessary with the 501 as the membrane is much lighter.

Thank's again and many kind regards from Austria

Karl