Speaker break in

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Interesting. They sound a bit blanketed at first, then they start to sound more open, brighter. I'd expect the opposite.
 
anomaly said:
Interesting. They sound a bit blanketed at first, then they start to sound more open, brighter. I'd expect the opposite.
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I feel the same way. When I get a new speaker it seems harsh at first to me
 
I've done my own experiment and testing on 2 quads of speakers, M65 creamback and MIC V30's on 2 separate occasions.

Blasted them bitches for about 54 hours straight in my band at the time's lockout rehearsal space with a looper. Low end chugs, hanging chords and leads. The V30 was noticeably less bite-y afterwards but not a giant world of difference. Creamback sounded exactly the same. The M65 has a beautiful midrange but man it's just a dark and undefined speaker to my ears. Definitely not a higher powered GB like its supposed to be IMO.

In the end, speakers age with heavy use and I believe the tone changes over time no doubt but I also think it depends on the cone/speaker on how much they change.
 
When I got an Avatar 212 the speakers were broken in and it sounded great out of the box.

When I got a Splawn 212 the speaker were not broken in and you could tell.


anomaly said:
Interesting. They sound a bit blanketed at first, then they start to sound more open, brighter. I'd expect the opposite.
Click to expand...

Why opposite?
 
Thought that video was fascinating. The implication that what is played through the speaker affects the nature of “break in” is really interesting. The amount of time and effort to explore this further is massive but I would love to know more
 
ive had many new cabs and never experienced this magic break in other people talk about, the lengths people go through trying to prove whatever is going is just silly to me.
 
Why is it always v30s as well with all these break in and comparison videos?? Do greenbacks or T75’s or whatever not break in or sound different as well?
 
RaceU4her said:
Why is it always v30s as well with all these break in and comparison videos?? Do greenbacks or T75’s or whatever not break in or sound different as well?
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Maybe because of popularity and/or maybe because they can be harsh as hell.
 
Whenever I hear people say they hear "significant" differences in a speaker after they've supposedly been listening to it cranked for only "a couple hours," I usually assume it's just their ears adjusting to it. Either that or they're experiencing some (either temporary or permanent) hearing damage and high frequency loss.

However, yeah after a high wattage guitar speaker is cranked for triple digit hours, I would expect some differences. But honestly I never expected them to get brighter. That's kinda wild. The speakers becoming more compliant or easier to vibrate at the frequencies they're most used to vibrating does make sense though.

It does make me wonder what the total lifespan of a speaker is though. Like maybe it gets brighter or "more compliant" after a hundred hours or so... but what happens after a thousand hours? I realize that kind of question eventually necessitates stretching the experiment out to infinity but it's still interesting to think about.
 
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Finally got to 'try' to watch the video. I skipped around but got the basics. He said around the 31" mark that there is a difference. The ones he sent to Captain's Guitar Lounge (i think that's it), had more break in across the entire frequency spectrum. That because, like Avatar, they apply a load designed to do that. What I'm not sure but it is continuous for 20 hours, 72 hours, whatever.

By his own admission, his personal break in was that one short guitar riff played over and over again. That is not how the pro's do it.

In real life, there are so many other factors. Frequency. Humidity. Breakin etc. You can't FEEL crushing chugga chugga in an iso box or at a factory hooked up to a load of some kind. :dunno:
 
One speaker that really does sound different when it's broke in is the Tone Tubby red alnico. A lot of the high end gets reduced, but it stays chewy and full. I bought one a few years ago locally on the cheap because the guy thought the thing had blown. I put it in my grab-n-go Runt 20 combo, and it smoked the factory Cream65.
 
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