How to break in full range drivers? & their frequency lumps in perspective

I hope this will help ;
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[@realworldaudio]

Links shown in the video: Lii audio: www.lii-song.com/product/one-pair-6-5-inch-full-range-speaker-driver-f-6/ Scan speak driver: www.madisoundspeakerstore.com/approx-6-midrange/scan-speak-18m/8631t-revelator-7-midrange-8-ohm Focal Utopia woofer: pdf.crutchfieldonline.com/ImageBank/v20210306154600/Manuals/091/09135WM.PDF

[@Jo_S_999]

Sorry to hear about Dave Butler's burn-in woes. We are here for you Dave!

[@Jo_S_999]

Thanks Janos. I remember reading about Markaudio break-in recommendations. They really know what they are talking about. It really scared me out of playing complex tracks with new speakers. I now keep the volume at whisper range and playing for only a few hours at a time for the first few weeks. An easy sequence of tracks for initial break-in would be solo guqin albums for week 1, incorporating Bach solo violin partitas into the mix at week 2, adding bach solo cello suites to the mix at week 3 or 4. All at whisper volumes, then slowly progressing the volume to conversation level on the 4th week. Add string quartets and other small acoustic ensembles for another few weeks to a month. Then I play whatever. I was doing this with the Lii Song Fast-6, which turned out sounding pretty decent.

[@gerihifi]

Hi Janos, I did build my little box, stuffed with some dampening material and then put the new drivers against each other with little distance between them and play some white noise signals for several days. First day as you said, low volume not to stress them too much and than next days a bit lowder so that cone moves more. Thanks 😊 ...Same thing I did with my sub chassis (SB34NRXL75-8), but instead white noise I only used 20 and 30khz Signal. Did help a lot...

[@hugobloemers4425]

Hi Janos, thanks for sharing the methodology for breaking in a speaker. Could you shed some light on how to treat vintage drivers. I remember you mentioned that even vintage Altec drivers need a break in period after not being used for some time. How to deal with vintage drivers that have been idle for years? and what to expect when you start using them again? Obviously based on the premise that there are no other issues.

[@AitchAitch999]

For my Mark Audio drivers, I played a range of music really quietly for several days, then slowly increased the volume. Doing it this way, I found they needed much more burning in than the manufacturer suggested, so maybe it wasn’t the most efficient strategy.

[@davebutler3905]

Impatience... There is probably no real substitute for time but I am remided that Yamaha claims to have found a way of artificially aging wood for musical instruments. Allegedly, a brand new instrument can sound as good as one that has been played for 50+ years. Perhaps a sealed box with a sub woofer mounted on one side and the virgin driver on the other. The new driver could be left disconnected while the amplifier drives the sub to cause excursions. A man who makes traditional wooden long bows once explained to me that a newly made bow must never be fully drawn. The most tedious part of his work was breaking them in by drawing each bow hundreds of times, while gradually increasing the draw length till the wood is relaxed enough to take the full bend.

[@toeknee8481]

thanks Janos, my Sonido 175-A drivers have just arrived , will do a very slow break in. A question about SPL/Freq graph for anybody in Janos land ; What is an acceptable level of smoothing to apply on these graphs that is fair? Not being over exaggerated.

[@Phloored]

I have this way i stumbled into. I use new drivers for low volume on an open baffle. I know when it breaks in because the bass will come alive starting at 50 hours and going through another level at 100-150 hours. My lee audio music-8's sounded wonderful right out of the gate. I did hear some high end silkiness increase after about 20 hours.

[@davebutler3905]

Confession time... Thanks for your detailed response to my silly comment. You have saved my future drivers and hopefully other people's from being worked to death in their infancy. I did all the things you listed completely wrong plus a few extra tortures... Like using a signal generator to get the suspension to loosen up by doing yoga. If there was a register of offenders who have been cruel to speakers, I would be banned from owning any ever again. The lable on the F-6 driver states clearly 10W. Perhaps I should learn to read? However, I have since ordered another pair of Lii Song drivers... this time the F-6S. But this time I will leave the sledge hammer in the shed and try to be as patient and gentle as a caveman can be. How do the manufacturers do these response curves? Do they "burn in" the drivers first? They should be using anechoic chamebers at the very least. As you said... Response curves may well be smoothed, having the effect of glamour filters on photographs. But I wonder if the unbelievably flat responses, like this example, are totally AI generated snap shots.

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

I do the same with old triodes...............burn in / break in gradually ...........

[@Justwantahover]

I hand "pumped" a two year old driver and a brand new exact same driver and the new one was way harder to "pump"! 😅

[@I.am.KubKab]

Hi Which speaker cables do you use for your speakers?

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

HOW TO BURN IN ?...... With heavy metal and untill you smell the glue melting on the hot voice coil ( a friend told me so ) .............I will rather try first the four seasons in real time and Demis Roussos /Ivan Rebroff after the winter ....." ensuite " ..Ella to test and burn/BREAK in the tweeters ............late but not last...I finish with JS BACH : Toccata and fugue in D-Minor......played by Helmut Walcha ......... What will come out .................maybe if the speaker likes the music i will be pleased to play for you with love ....... Now it's dancing time for the BEES and the geese to play saturday night fever. .................your amplifier will also benefit from a burning run ........... PS : Oh I forgot to play ...........Burnin-(g) Love ..........