Burning in speakers 

"still sounded a little horny". Don't ever change Paul.

I love that honesty of "they don't even sound close to a real instrument". Also, I couldn't agree more with the "adjusting". You adjust the volume, stop listening to certain tracks etc etc ... there are for example tracks which I love (high quality master record ones, just to make that clear), love them on my headphones but not my speakers ... which shine on other things though. It depends a lot on the construction and what that company tried to achieve. I am talking about pretty pricey components here though and I have heard quite a few setups already, it always amazes me how different they all are.

"Aint no perfect speaker, not even close" That's permission to be satisfied with what you already have

The most honest and informative coverage of this topic. Thank you!

Learnt about burn in after building my first speaker set, at first didn't like them thought they were too bright and almost tinny. After a month or so of casual use I made another set with the same drivers and realized the difference between the 2 sets, its amazing how big the difference is! Original set sounded so much warmer and natural, just all round better, where as the new set sounded bright and tinny again.

Thanks for your thoughts and wisdom . I recently bought some new speakers and it certainly did take some time for them to burn in, i never considered how much psychological adjustments I was making myself.

would love to hear Chris's take on burn-in

What a GOOD answer !! So true ...

such an elaborate exhaustive explanation. Now I understand.

Wow, what you just said is incredible for me because I understand more about this variable. I didn't realized that I am the biggest variable. Thank you!

Great episode👍👍👍👍

I’ve had 3 sets of B&W speakers so far. The instruction manuals clearly state they will sound better after breaking in. Someone who claims to once work as an engineer at B&W told me the woofer cones have resins that need to be broken before they can move freely without resistance.

Thank you for the video and explanations about burn in.

It's the same with a typical mother-in-law. At first, they're shrill, but after a while they warm up to you, especially if they're financially secure ;-)

Great insight.

Did I hear Paul say "there are exceptions" when it comes to horns. Once again, I almost fell out of my Barcalounger, LOL! 🤣 This from the man that swears against horns.

tjat is 1 awesome video and xplain on it thanks 4 all the info and your knowledge, shareing

I'm a Klipsch fan when I bought my 8000 rf back on November 2000 the first time I played them with my Sumo Andromeda amplifier my 15 yr old Son told me they sound horrible. After all this time up to now with some twikin And repositioning my Boy agreed they sound so good with any kind of music.

Well said!

Good points all around, Paul. For the record, there are 3 types of "maturing"; burn-in, break-in, and settle-in. Burn-in for all electrical signal processing. Break-in for all mechanical processing, and settling-in for all physical items. Every speaker goes thru an electrical, mechanical, and settling-in phase. Even if one chooses the grossly inferior isolation methodology, there is still a mechanical settling-in phase because NOTHING is ever truly "isolated". Therefore, I propose ceasing to use the word "isolation" and henceforth use the term "less-coupled". As in coupled and inferior-coupled aka less-coupled. :)

It is possible long throw drivers such as woofers may loosen up after a while and the resonant frequency may lower slightly. This may or may not be audible but effect will not be huge. ESL’s are a different matter. The conductive coating on the diaphragm takes some time to cure and treble becomes smoother and bass response lowers after several hours.

Agree, very well said

I've experienced the burn-in effect. Also after I had the cracked surrounds replaced on my current speakers. But there were some speakers I purchased I could not hear any burn-in, some Wharfedale 200 series speakers for my HT. Maybe Wharfedale already did it.

AHA! Paul. Perhaps that is the answer to the fact that for years to which I considered that my brain (and everyone's) ended up equalizing the room-equipment binomial. After a while it is very difficult to find differences. Something similar happens when one adjusts, configures or calibrates the TVs, at first the colors are easy to distinguish, but once the rods of the eyes become saturated and tired, it is difficult to see differences, one has to withdraw to see the window , neutral things and then move on. I once understood it as other senses one requires to smell coffee when it saturates the smell by smelling so many different perfumes. Or in the case of wine, drink water.

This is potentially the greatest question to ask, one that always seems be be avoided in forums.

The impedance of a woofer does change after burn-in. However, frequency response not so much. Speakers do have a “warm-up” though in that they change response after being played loudly for a while, though these usually aren’t for the better.

I’ve never been able to burn my ears into compensating for “hardness” in the upper midrange.

I've bought a Grado PS500 headphone a while ago and still had my old SR80, so I decided to test whether burn-in is a thing by directly comparing. In this case at least, the PS500 changed quite dramatically over the course of ~65hrs, and it was definitely not me adjusting as I basically tracked the change against the SR80. Also, I'm currently getting my feet wet in DIY speaker building and can tell you that burn-in can easily be measured. After a 48h burn-in period, the free air resonance of some Dayton Audio 4"-woofers I bought for my first project went down from ~70Hz to ~55Hz - about 20%, which is rather a lot, I think. Some argue that since QTS goes down along with it, the bass response remains the same. This is true as long as your target Q is significantly higher than the QTS of the driver - if they are close, the box size requirement will skyrocket for the fresh driver vs a burnt-in one. Thirdly, the lowering of the free air resonance means that the suspension becomes a good deal more compliant, and no one can tell me with a straight face that this won't affect the way the driver sounds, even given a similar frequency response.

It's true. We also adjust.

Hey Paul. Thanks for the video. At 2:07, can you elaborate on why you believe it to be true that speakers change in sound over time? I would assume you've done some type of well controlled frequency response acoustic testing in an anechoic chamber to determine this? That's a substantial claim to be making saying there is a "huge difference". What is exactly does huge mean? Can you give specifics? And what type of speakers are you talking about? Have you noticed any differences in response changes with different designs, price points, and quality of construction? I say this because Neumann has done extensive testing on their products after long term use. Thousands of hours. And they've stated clearly that the speakers do not deviate substantially from original factory specification over long term use and that burn in is not needed. 0.5 dB change.

I use a pair of Focal CMS 65's in my studio as my main near-field monitors. As I recall, they "broke in" over the course of about 20 hours of use, which delivered equal parts (subtle) sound improvement, as well as me getting used to hearing something different than my long-used Yamaha NS-10's. Overall, the Focal's have been the best near-fields I've used to reveal both flaws in the mix and my adjustments to fix them. Too bad they don't make them anymore...

My British made Mordaunt Short Pageant speakers from 1979 are well burned in / broken in! 👍😂 42 years old and still sound as sweet as a nut, and always have! Continuing on the theme of adjusting to a new sound system, I bought s new TV. It has a lot of different sounds modes and an equaliser. Most modes sound terrible! I settled on Theatre mode, with the bass and mid-range boosted in the equaliser, using my ear for 'good sound.' My TV now sounds great! Or did I just adjust?

i had more then a few new speakers and they all needed burning in. some change a little, some change a lot. got new budget fyne f301s 3 days ago for my 3rd set-up and they were literaly beaming at me the first day. imaging and soundstage was complete mess. awful experience. 3 days later (some 15-20 hours of playing music) beaming completely disapered and soundstage improved A LOT. also, there was a lack of bass the 1st day, now it poped up. i hope it will continue improving cause its a nice little speaker that i want to keep cause it looks very nice.

just an addition to "our ears adjust": if the speaker has a harsh or bright sound, it is only go the get on your nerves more. and that is the most common type of effect of a new speaker. i never had an uncomfortable sound i got used to over time.

recently got my new speakers, all new setup so might be even great effect for me. manufacturer said 50 hour burn in. and sure enough many hours later the top end was not so sharp any more. but it really takes some power to do so, i had to find a good pink noise that hit the tweeter with the lowest it played and leave my speaker playing at rather high volume for hours each time i left the house. weeks later it had an effect :)

Paul, You are a briliant guy. So nice to watch your videos. You are so natural in the way you explain things so clearly.Thumbs up.

Og course it affects the sound when they are more stiff. It kinda answers itself. That's why bass, mids and highs often gets alot better after a few hours when they loosen up a bit. In general I mostly notice the biggest difference in the bass/low mids since they move more. But also tweeters and mids can get less harsh etc.

It’s all a recreation of sorts and there’s no substitute for the real thing good or bad. Even though we all try at home and well it to be honest, it comes up way short no matter how good we think it is. It doesn’t mean designers aka engineers and listeners alike don’t strive for the evangelical light of audio 🤪 reproduction in the achievement of rabid rapture & euphoria in our own living rooms. I don’t know if we will ever see IT, but that’s why I love this hobby, because it presents that kind challenge and I hope one day that we all just might get to hear it at home. Have fun with this hobby folks because if it wasn’t for the enjoyment that music brings, none of us be here engaging in what this should about and that is playing back recorded music to perfection at any level of cost. Thank you Paul for your time. I get a kick out of your energy & kindness because you’ve devoted your life to this quest and passion to try and solve the all elusive mystery in sound reproduction and like so many of your peers in the business share as well. it makes all this so much fun and very very enjoyable! 👍👍

Some manufacturers burn in their gear for you. I understand Bryston burns in their amps for 100 hours at the factory. Speakers have got to be similar if not 'worse'.

i never noticed a difference in sound after getting a new pair of speakers until i bought the Elac Uni-Fi UB52’s. i was immediately disappointed after hooking them up for the first time and almost returned them after a couple of days. for good measure i played music on a very low volume for over a week and all of the sudden they sounded COMPLETELY different.

To simplify break-in as it applies in a technical sense: Your drivers suspension affects t/s parameters. Because it will only be virgin for a short while and relaxed for the rest of it’s Iife it’s sensible to model the enclosure for it using t/s parameters of a relaxed suspension. This is why they sound best after break-in. Hope that helps some folks.

if we burn in amplifier with steaming, is it going to have negative impact to the amplifier?

Greetings from Havana, Cuba. Thank for the videos, it is making a big difference in my understanding of sound systems. Thanks again!

As a decades user of Maggies - beginning back with the IIIa's which I believe was somewhere in the early/middle 80's - - when I set up a new set (directly out of the packing boxes) of my current 3.7i's I was not pleased, wondered if I hadn't made a mistake - - my dealer warned me that at least 200 hours was needed - - well, ya know the story, and I've been around the block enough to know it wasn't me adjusting to those terrible new panels - with each passing day there was noticeable improvement (left them running 24/7) - - definitely a break in period required for the Magnepans, in my opinion, well worth waiting for.

Hey Paul, do you burn in the speakers outside or inside your house?

When will we get the chance to burn in PS speakers? If ever?

When I was first selling high end stereo equipment back in the early 90s, we were visited and trained by many representatives such as JBL and BOSE, Denon and Harmon Kardon and even DCM and Advent. Of course each rep was going to push some magic singularity that made their speaker or sound system the best over all others. They'd throw specs around like Speaker Sensitivity, Time Balanced Cross-Overs, Wattage, Amperage, titanium voice coils, and even "Look, our speaker cabinets are made from REAL solid wood and not particle board!" Then they'd demo with their favorite tracks to show off the speaker quality. Among ALL the vendors, there was one constant theme they'd all preach. "The entire point of building a high-end sound system is to try to come as close to live music as possible." When you're on the sales floor, none of those buzz-words and propagandized specs they taught you help. Oddly enough, none of them spoke of speaker burn-in. I didn't learn any of that until many decades later with headphones and found it to be a real phenomenon. After over 30 years, I have discovered a solid truth. Speakers are a reflection of everything that comes before it. Starting with your house's power, to the outlet, to a power strip or power cleanser, to a receiver, pre-amp, amp, CD player, DAC, music streamer, vinyl record player, tape deck, then finally out to the speaker. If you change the quality of any of the components in that chain, you will alter how your speakers sound. My DCM Timeframe 600s have been connected to 15 different rooms, 6 different amplifiers, and has had multitudes of different speaker wire, interconnects, media players, electrical strips and power cleaners. Those speakers have performed differently under every single configuration. So consider that even if you've gotten used to the sound of your speaker, it can be improved or worsened by any additional or new equipment in the chain.

I got a question about speakers over the years we went from connecting components with rca jacks, svideo, optical, hdmi why are we still screwing two wires between speakers and receivers do you ever think maybe its time to have maybe just one hdmi between these two and bring this connection into the future?

From my experience, sometime casually after 100 hr of use with 4 x RP600m, 1x RP504C and 4 x RP500sa, I unexpectedly was surprised and noticed the magic.

Woofers may need to breakin mechanically but caps in crossover go thru forming ....these have biggest breakin / burnin period affecting the sound . Just play them at moderate or low levels and I would say give them up to 100hrs before critical listening. After the breakin period, speakers will sound cleaner, have better resolution and specially when driven harder almost as if distortion level was lower 😉

Back in the 1990s, I've heard stories of Rogers LS3/5a taking as long as 5 years to fully break in. I've also heard stories that when bought new, these loudspeakers will also break in faster if you play well recorded death metal music through them on a regular basis.

Does this mean Speaker reviewers on RU-vid have been for years giving a false representation of speaker audio reviews. ??

I like and would have Quad electrostatics if my room were three times bigger. I know you are not a horn fan but Lowther speakers are infamous for taking a long time to break in. I compared my current Lowther drivers with the surviving driver from my previous pair and there was no doubt the new ones had a thin shrill sound in comparison. It took a good six months for them to break in. That was about ten years ago and they now sound much more balanced. (I do listen to other brands and designs too but Lowthers are my personal favourites.)

PAPER SURROUNDS! Some drivers have them, and they definitely change (loosen) as they break in. This mainly affects lower freqs.

What if the speakers were already broken in from factory?

Does the same apply to op amps? Preferably the Burson v6.

I have found that some speakers take longer to burn in satisfactorily than do others. The most extreme example I have experienced in this regard was with Monitor Audio speakers. I worked at a store that started selling them and all of the salesmen at first thought they were a bit too bright. After about six months of use on the floor, everyone agreed they sounded smoother and warmer. I do not think this was due to our adjustment to the speakers since we never had that kind of extreme experience with other brands.

Yes speaker burnin is real now some people say they cant get the perfect sound im a middle age man i got my hearing tested i lost the lower mids and the top end about upto 13.5khz i can hear may i suggest a really good pair of hearing aids the technology has advanced alot and what a difference having the high end hearing aids and they also improve spacial hearing the speakers sound like from 25 years ago

Crossovers have to break in too. Well, not the coils or inductors, but the capacitors need to form as the electromagnetic induction of operating changes the dielectric inside the capacitor until it reaches an equilibrium. Older speakers which have not been played in years need to reform the capacitors as the formed state has gone back to a neutral or null state as well. Vintage speakers may need the capacitors changed due to increase in series resistance due to drying out of the capacitor.and may past their useful life cycle.

Any views on the benefits of using these? Burn In CDs: Densen Audio Technologies - Densen DeMagic Sheffield Labs : XLO Test & Burn-in CD Sheffield Labs : MDMS : System Conditioning and Degaussing Stereophile's Special Burn-In Noise

Would be helpful to stop confusing break in with burn in. Break in is (typically) mechanically wearing into nominal motion. Think catchers mit or new blue jeans. Many speaker in deed have to physically break in. Burn in is to pre stress electronic circuits by energizing them at relatively hi temp over time to expose marginal components inducing them to fail. Similar but different goals.

Speakers probably need burn in again when they have been stored for some time. Room temperature could be a factor as well.

Got some klipsch towers! Sound never sounded so sound

Happy birthday, Paul! : D

I've been told to break your speakers in with the type of music you will mostly play but also hard rock. if you break them in with jazz and instrumentals, soft rock. then they will never play hard rock as good as it could. I've tried this with my latest pair of Wharfedale's and it seems to work. they actually play hard rock better then my JBL's so maybe there is some truth to it?

Most speakers don't take long at all but my Maggies took some time.

Hi Paul as usual you answer a question is the glass half-full or half-empty have a good day my friend and as always you remind me of my grandfather with Alzheimer's thanks and bye-bye😂😂🤣🤣

I'm also not a fan of horns. I never got the Klipsch sound.

Burn in is very real on speakers, and the burn in time will depend on the speakers, i bought b&w 702 s2 a month ago and they almost took 100 hours to burn in,

Burn in with frequency sweeps are best. Break it up, 200 and below and 200 to say 4000 and 4k to 22k. you may need different volume levels for each. Don't use square waves.

Speaker burn in is typically done within the first 48-72 hours - it's no big deal, and it's one of the reasons why I go to a hi-fi store to audition speakers rather than listen to them the first time at home - they've had the burn-in done for you so you get a decent idea of their sound straight away. It's the same as a new car - give it a few hundred miles before you open it up, let everything bed in. The only downside of speakers needing time to run-in (stretching their spider fabric, clearing their diaphragms if you will) is that you have to wait a couple of days after unboxing before you can get to listen to your new toys!

🤗 THANKS FOR SHARING …I AM HAPPY TO SEE SO MANY UTUBE VIDEOS OF AUDIOPHILES RECOGNIZING ….many admitting for the first time that their is a break -in 🤔 For the sake those new to the hobby😍😍😍

4:41 "Still sounded a little horny, but..." 😂

Found that on my subs as the rattling in ceiling increases

My focal chora 826’s tweeter sounds different every time it’s warmed up

What amuses me, is that those that advocate running in speakers (and electronics) for an extended length of time, always conclude they sound better after the period. Why never worse? The human mind ... that's why!

Why not analyse the sound (extra sensitive mic or something similar) before and after "burning in". See if there's a difference. If there is, then we can try to figure out if it's enough to make a difference. But maybe there isn't..

Paul, I find your videos to be unsettling... at least for the first few seconds. Then I adjust to them, and watch till the end.

Good Good question, and as always, a good good answer! I'd like to be part of some serious tech-talk with you sometime. Have some good good wine, and a good good time! Hope everyone has an amazing day!

I just got some brand new in the box Pinnacle AC-650's....from around the year 2000(they stopped making them in 2003,and Pinnacle is no longer.)I am breaking them in slowly after being temperature acclimatized.They were well known 250 watt 6 1/2 " two ways in their hey day. My fifth pair of varying Pinnacle models....and hopefully my last.(subsequently my ears don't need breaking in....just some tinnitus removal.)I think after sitting 20 years,....common sense says, yes, they need some tender break -in,....eh?

No.1 contender for break in I would think would have to be 'pro' drivers (like eminence/fatal) with their heavy paper concertina surrounds - Tekton uses these. N.B. 'Pop piano' rarely sounds like a piano - typically bright and compressed.

This is an amazingly awesome explanation. and certainly put my mind at ease about the new monitor speakers i have just bought for gaming. Thank you for posting this. however i do have one question. Whats the better way to run in speakers ?

It takes some loud music to burn speakers in effectively but if you see smoke coming, you got them burned too much.

If it physically moves... It needs breaking/burning in

I cant understand how we cant get sound perfect anymore when in the 90s you can get such nice sounding stereo systems however i was a teenager in 90s my hearing was near perfect must be the hearing lol

Trying to tell me at the factory they're not testing / breaking these in much like an engine motor? Every single engine every made is compression tested and ran under load before selling to the consumer. So that is to say this isn't done in the speaker world?

I have installed many focal berylliums. It takes about a 100 hours before they start settling down. Their beautiful sounding when their broken in.

So... why don't speaker companies "break in" their speakers before they ship?

it's yer ears that get broken in

Initially, Home Demoing. I found Focal to be exciting and crystal clear. That was short lived and after almost a week I could no longer bear the horribly constant sibilance from the metal dome tweeter and the weak bass definition and reproduction. I found the focal sound to be shouty, obnoxious and unrefined. My ears most definitely did NOT adapt and the longer I listened the more I disliked them.

You can eliminate the "adjusting to the speakers" by doing the break-in period without listening to the speakers. Once the recommended number of hours are on the speakers, settle in and evaluate. If you don't like what you're hearing then you know they are not the right speakers for you.

To properly burn in my speakers ,I use an Acetylene torch with a large heating bud.Usually only takes about 15 minutes.Be carful use proper safety gear and never ever try it in the house.I find anything sold by Sound United ,sounds much improved with this break-in period.

If it made that big of a difference they would perform that EXTREMELY CRUCIAL part of a products quality and life span, directly at the factory. They would not leave it up to the customer to mess it up.

Just use them as intended and burning in happens one way or the other. If that's even a thing I leave that in the middle.

But horns are much more efficient at producing realistic sound. That is why most commercial cinemas, live venues etc use horn loaded speakers. Horns. Your ears are horn shaped as well.

Oh man, i hate it when my piano sounds horny. Speaking of speakers, any ETA for your new line of unhorny speakers ? Thanks Paul ;-))

If speaker burn-in is real, why don't microphones change their sonic signature over their first year since they're essentially being "burned in" constantly by being exposed to sound? Not trying to be snarky, I'm asking seriously.

I certainly adjusted to the taste of beer 🍺😀. Anyone else lol

4:40 That got me...😂

to ensure it's too late for the store to accept a retun ;)