Speaker Break In - Fact or Fiction? Test on the Micca RB42 

Something that I think a lot of people might not realize is a lot of manufacturers burn in their speakers before they leave the factory, so results from personal burn in tests may not yield much of any result or nothing at all. I suspect Micca does, but I'm not too sure. I might have to ask my rep at Micca about that

30 years ago I worked in a HiFi store and for some loudspeakers burn in was an absolute must. Fresh out of the box those speakers sounded lifeless, uninspiring, no dynamics, no bass. It took 2 or 3 days to get them to sound like they supposed to. You could hear the difference day by day. Obviously we only played them during the night. I can’t remember what kind of material those specific cones were made of. Materials may have improved, but back in the day break in was a real thing.

I just bought a complete set of Klipsch floorstanding speakers (their top of the line home theatre series). Klipsch recommends 100 hours for full speaker break in. My brother bought B&W top of the line speakers and they recommend the exact same thing. Even when I had to replace the subwoofer in my car Rockford Fosgate recommended that it would take a MINIMUM 20 hours for complete break in, so YES this is a REAL THING 100%. I definitely noticed the difference in the subwoofer from when I first installed it to 20+ hours later. No comparison. Think about it, when a speaker is made all of its components have never been used before and in order for the speaker to "loosen up" and provide its "full dynamic range" it needs to be broken in and used for a certain period of time. Same thing applies to cars, tires and many other things in life. The basic rule of thumb for speakers is, the more "higher-end" the speaker the longer the break-in period.

Before I watch, it's both fact and fiction. The surround and spider will stiffen when not used but the first couple transients loosen them back up.

Thanks Joe, I've wondered about this in the past. Interesting results.

Been watching your content more and more lately. Excellent channel! Subscribed!

This test was well done. I'm in the school of thought that the speakers do burn-in as I've heard the difference in my speakers and subwoofers firsthand. This was very educational.

As someone who has assembled my own speakers I can tell you it is absolutely fact. Once a subwoofer starts to loosen up it becomes more efficient to drive which affects all variables in the chain. While the resistive load of the coil will be the same, the reactive load changes and can result in a better damping factor for your amplifier. The woofer also reacts differently with its enclosure which can change the sound signature. I think the biggest factor would be time under power and it's affects on the suspension of the woofer.

I have been playing guitar for over 20 years paying close attention to the sound my amp makes. A few years ago I built a speaker enclosure and purchased new loudspeakers for it. There was without a doubt a break in period. It took a couple months playing an hour or two most days, but over time the highs mellowed. When I first got them I thought I had made a huge mistake in the ones I had chosen and pulled the treble out. Over time I had to bring highs back in to retain the crispness that I like. Not at all an apples to apples between what we are using but that's my 2 cents in the mix.

Good info to know .. thanks for this.

Great video!

great video! control, variable, test method, results, observations. This was one of the most scientific experiments I've watched on youtube. Great job. I'm hoping my civic's speakers break in because my sub is barely doing anything.

I trust my ears and I can say that I'm 100% convinced that speakers need burn in time. Furthermore, I would say that every single new hifi component if ever owned including turntables needed time to burn in.

I wouldn't be upset if you revisited this topic one day with a subwoofer. I feel like the smaller the driver, the less surface area of suspension parts... The less to actually burn or break in. Like a 6.5 inch driver has more spider and surround to become flexible with use verses a 4 inch driver. Or a folded surface tweeter verses a metal dome tweeter. We ran an extreme class db drag racing (SPL competition) vehicle back in the day. Bulletproof glass, wooden interior, two 15's, 7 batteries, and 4 amps... Our number was always lower when we swapped out the subs for new ones while changing nothing else. After some use, our number always went back up to where it had been. It wasn't hours and hours of use before it came back up, but those competition setups aren't your typical-use setups either. Regardless, great video!

Thank you!

Cmon Joe, everyone knows a speaker needs 1,000 hrs of burn in before your brain can make you think the sound has changed. 😂. Cool video. I’ve never put any stock into burn in. Maybe subs loosen up a bit as the spider is stiff but certainly not 100 hrs needed.

I remember my cerwin Vega vs15s and when they turned up the surround was vivid red and after facing the beasts together and running them for 10 hours a day for three days the surrounds were more of a pink and they sounded much tighter in the bass region.

was the mic burned in?

I think it is more important in DIY, manufacturers even tell you how They want there. Speakers break in. Some as long as 100 hours.

As a Logitech user, I'm pretty sure that the sub-woofer in my 2.1 Z213 system has loosened up now. It was much stiffer when brand new, and that was around three years ago. Back then, I couldn't hit frequencies under around 50 Hz. Now I can hit around 31 Hz, but just barely. I can tell because when I slide the 31 Hz band down on my equalizer, I can hear a difference. Even though just a little, I can still hear it. Also, on my previous system, the Altec Lansing BX1221, the sub-woofer is noticeably looser than the Logitech sub, to the point of rubbing the coil when I uneven it.

SO I mainly listen to music using headphones... My Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro have most certainly "improved" over time. Right out of the box, they had a restrictive/tight bass response (unnatural amount), and female voices were a bit more harsh. However after a fair amount of play time (40 hours or so), the bass response is more natural, and female voices are very easy to listen too now. However, my other headphones have stayed the same and I have not noticed any "improvement" in sound signature. So in conclusion, in my experience, I can say that some "speakers" will benefit from a burn in process, and some won't.

Man! So elegant 'cause it's simple, yet intelligent experiment method! You're far smarter than I guessed, wich was already quite a lot. My congratulations, Joe.

I would be interested to see a few more like this video, maybe for different headphones? I know that it would be trickier for results as far as a control etc

It would be interesting if different materials were tested to see if there is any validity to this. As you may recall, fluance claims their speakers need a burn in because of the type of material they use.

Ok, but did the control speaker know you were burniing in its partner? Obviously the change in it was due to confirmation bias. I kid! Good test. Looking forward to your full RB42 review.

Best audio youtuber

I've found pink noise doesn't move the cone much, so tend to blast house music through my speakers as loud as they will comfortably play without overloading the cone. What I did with a set of Eltax when I replaced the woofer on one of them which had been damaged by previous owner. I knew the system would be used by my grandma quietly and the stereo unit I had was under a watt anyway, so the replacement woofer would remain stiff otherwise. I've also compared how soft and pliable my speakers are compared with my mum's. I tend to push mine at high volumes, whereas hers just do dinner music.

I watched a guitar amp/speaker vid which made me a true believer. The before and after difference was so great it wasn't up to debate. I think I can construct a big cardboard box and put each speaker inside of it individually with enough sound insulation to keep the roar down to a purr.

Places with non burned in speakers when you receive them I always thought that you were supposed to have the speaker at a lower decibel AKA volume not a higher decibel or volume. The reason being because of the glue behind the woofer needs to form the cracks in other words. That's what every audio engineer has ever told me.

Well done on the scientific approach. Really interesting video. I think a bass driver depending on the suspension material can change slightly in its dynamic response, as to audible difference in sound being heard that would be the question. I think your results are quite correct 👍

I did a test with bass perception a couple years ago. The reason this all came about is due to a pair of Polk Audio RTI 1000 tower speakers. When I bought them they were used and well broken in for years from the previous owner and to me had about 6db more bass than my old bookshelf speakers did. They seemed boomy and not very hifi. But I used them for a month and I realized I became used to the sound and started to like it. It was still bass heavy and slightly boomy after a month but much more acceptable to my brain. I then put back my old bookshelf speakers and I was shocked, they sounded so thin and lacking bass. I did place them in the exact same spot in the room where they were previously so I know it wasn't due to a different room configuration. So I think speaker burn in is a way for the manufacturers to get people to accept the change in sound. This is a more noticeable change than burn in for me.

I've been told many times speaker break in doesn't occur. Yet, when I used the fluance ai40 I had to dial back the treble and bass because the mid-range was so reserved sounding. After 3 weeks I found I was raising bass and treble up a little at a time until it was almost flat. Could've been in my ears but I think anyone should give a speaker 3 weeks of regular usage before making a judgement. Even then, if you haven't used it at least 60 hours at pretty loud volume it probably hasn't done all it could do as far as changing it's sound form. I think speakers do warm up or break in or something or either my ears do but I think it's the speakers. It's like they just become clearer not necessarily changing their frequency responses, it seems to have to do with quality of those frequency responses. I think you can get 2 "flat" speakers and one can sound lifelike and the other sound like it's coming from a can so to speak. There's more to a speakers sound than frequency response measurements or probably any kind of measurement data can show. Those things are useful but I don't think they can tell the whole story of how it will sound to your ears. How do you measure airiness? Or imaging? Or soundstage? Or bloated bass? You can perhaps get a sub to measure more evenly pushing into a corner but the result could be in worse bass quality because it turns it boomy, over attenuated, under detailed, you just can't measure everything. I believe break in is one of those things.

Would’ve liked to see this test done but with: -A bigger higher quality amp that’s already burned in -Multiple speaker designs -burn in for ~100 hours instead of 24 -playing pink noise but also playing all sorts of music genres during the burn in

I'm curious if there's a change when you slam it with 2000w transients, maybe the cone flex or intense stress would have an effect.

Nice

I have replaced woofers a few times and have done other 2way and 3way builds. This isn't a big deal and they don't change much at all maybe its the difference between used hard and brand new. Go to parts express and look at wavecore woofers and they show the small theil before and after on the pdf that they have. Wavecor WF152BD03

Off topic: what do you think about snare drum sound on that speaker? if you recall it obviusly. I'm whatching a playlist, really nice content. Saludos desde Argentina bro.

Break in should be rather 50 to a 100 hours. Different types of drivers will react more severe to this as others. Softdome vs planar diaphragm tweeters or really stiff bass drivers and so on. As mentioned in other comments, some manufactures break in at the factory. In some cases, it's even stated clearly at the box or manual there is a break in period. Personally I could hear a rather big difference with my own new speakers. Low end got deeper and more detailed while the tweeter became less harsh, softer and easier to listen to.

Very scientific and clear research. Very nice job! Some say that the burn-in process is more for the crossover than the drivers. Since some speaker have very complex designs up to 50 parts for the crossover, do you think it is possible to test that theory? Thanks so much!

Yes it works, because I have 4 speakers are used 2 of them the most, and the 2 that get used the most sounds much better than the other 2 that don’t get use.

It’s different for different speaker. I’ve owned speakers that sounded down right defective out of the box and models that didn’t change at all. There’s so many measurements that you can make beyond frequency response, but whether you believe or not is ultimately irrelevant. What’s far more interesting to me is your comparison reviews. Keep up the great work!

I think speakers need time to warm up like tubes. They usually have capacitors in their crossover and these things charge up with time. Maybe this is why we feel the difference in the bass after playing them for a long time. They charge up.

You messed up, speakers only burn in if you play "Fire" By Hendrix through them.

Break in does exist but it happens within seconds and minutes not hours and days like you often hear. Generally, the smaller the driver, the faster it breaks in. Like some others have mentioned, often the parts are broken in from testing before the speaker is even assembled or when the speaker gets tested before it gets sent out to you. You can chalk up differences "heard" by people to psychoacoustics. You want it to sound different and so your brain makes it sound different to you.

what changed in the external parameters air humidity, air pressure due to changing day to day weather ?

does it affect the impulse response? REW may be able to tell you.

Hello Joe, I'm new to the passive speaker game . Do I need a dac for these speakers ? Thank you for your time

From my experience Every speaker is not equal. Some factory's burn drivers in before shipping, Some do not even need it. I think if there is lots of excess glue on the spider, or surround it might need loosened up a bit. The newer stuff seems to have better quality control.

Can you go over speaker placement for portable speakers?

Ive been playing around with this but on an entirely new system and not very scientific. After 4 hrs roughly of pink noise my setup sounded a lot better but it could have been many things most notably amplifier burn in on a brand new outlaw 5000 also all new SVS interconnects and fresh speaker wire so who knows i just figured it couldnt hurt anything so give it a shot haha..

Humidity, atmospheric pressure, temperature is probably what caused the changes.

Small formfactor speakers doesn't change much after post burn in , you should do this test again with tower speakers.

Every Elac UniFi I have ever owned (3 pair) measured very strange straight out of the box... But after a couple of hours they all settled down to about the same normal measurement... I think there is an initial driver\crossover break in which occurs immediately after taking them out of the box, but quickly settles. (At least with the Elac UniFi series) I saw it every time. Mostly I saw an unnatural boost in the mid to treble region for a couple of hours. I think Elac's special concentric driver unit requires a very short time to come to spec out of box.

Does one Manufacturer print this in the setup manual?? Just dropping that gem.

Let's be honest most people don't have the equipment to do these sorts of tests and rely completely on how they sound to them. There are so many variables, type of sound, music types, position of speakers, cabinet size, sub woofer with frequency control etc. Also most people have a slight imbalance between their ears and it's not all the same. Then there's personal taste and choice of style. For example try listening to a full orchestra recording off vinyl then compare it with an electronic dance track off a CD then maybe a rock track off MP3. Listen to these in a large room then listen to them in a car. Whatever the sound snobs say it's still your ears and what you like. Budget equipment far exceeds the sounds you used to get from even high quality speakers from years ago. You only have to listen to the bass response from a small bluetooth speaker nowadays and compare it to the monster cabinets of my youth.

is it normal for two speakers differ in freq.response measurements especially in the high frequency? coz i notice my one speaker is more dynamic or brighter in highs than the other one.is it normal?

Seems like the next test would be to do a burn in test for a high end pair of speakers.

A half db? Humidity, barometric pressure, and temperature could all add up to a half db. It's pretty insignificant. Even accumulation of some dust particles on the mic might might provide a marginal change. And frequency tests don't tell the whole story. What about decay and distortion? All in all, the more I look into the matter, burn in is real, but quite negligible. A bad sounding speaker won't miraculously sound better from burn in. You're probably just getting used to it. And to make sure, don't listen to the speaker at all during what the manufacturer says is a reasonable amount of burn in. Put on some material and leave. Continue until enough time has been put on them. Then listen to them. If they're still awful, then they're awful. Send them back.

could be anything temperature humidity everything can make a change even small pieces of furniture in the room

I always wondered. If break-in/burn-in period is necessary, why manufacturers don’t give you instructions or do it in factory?

Hung up on a string we tested the fs of a Faital Pro 10 fh520 after a very short break in. It had shifted down 2 hz already after a day of breaking in. I would say these tests are misguiding since there don't seems to be a blanket we can put on alla speakers. As in most tests, "it depends". Spider construction, surround, cone materials. If measured the same after a day of pink noise and we had a 2 hz decline. Only shows that there is no simple answer.

It's sad how people think the only way to test break in is to measure frequence response. They neglect measuring impulse response, 30hz/300hz square waves, distortion character and other aspects that really make a difference on how refined the speakers sound. Our ears and brain's are complex enough to detect more than just frequency response of speakers.

i bought the FOCALPOLIKEVLAR components line for my car decades ago. listening it for the first time along with my rockford fosgate amp was a total disappointing and made me wonder; is this the sound what i paid for? it sounded like tinny, real crap i just thought. playing it for a couple of days then made it sound a lot better, it was night and day. how i love those speakers sing! so i must say, speaker break in is true, my ears just can't lie. fast forward today and one of the drivers(woofer) now dead. bought a new pair and i'm into breaking it in.

Was it recommended by the manufacturer of this speaker to break them in. I. E. was there a break in Recommended as with the Fluance Ai60 speakers that you recently reviewed. If I remember correctly you said the AI 60s said there was a break-in. Maybe there is a break in period with some manufacturers and their materials they use and not others.

I measured 2 new woofers with DATS V2, there were measurable parameter changes after running a 20Hz sine wave for 24 hours. It may not show up so clearly in a completed speaker system, with the box and crossover, in a frequency measurement.

great test. but the one playing for 24 hours probably got a bit hotter. wich could explain the difference.

Would seem burn in would only apply to a fresh rebuild. Yes?

I don't think this apply to subwoofers because the spiders do get more flexible after breaking in

Next challenge... break in test for a stylus (and after that use the same methodology with cheap vs expensive speaker cable) 😉

Great objective video Thank you!

Joe, Please demo some Martin Logan speakers. The motion series is great (I personally own the Motion 40's). And their electrostatic speakers are simply breathtaking. I work at Magnolia and work with many of the speakers you talk about every day, including the ones I mentioned. Best audio videos I've come across

Would the experiment not work better if you compared data of a set of speakers now vs data from before about the same speakers

Could the change be from the amp? Like do you typically use that amp a lot? Could it be the 24hr load on the amp that caused the change in both responses the next day?

I think that people think burn in makes a difference but I think they are getting used to listening to their speakers and their ears start adjusting to their speakers which makes them think the speakers are changing

I think it depends, I know my SVS SB-3000 subs are loosening up over the past few weeks. At least to my ears they are, need to tweak again. But, it could all be in my head too... My SVS Ultra speakers, they sound the same to me, been about a month with them, and they play daily. Listening to them all right now.

Back in the day, my father burned in his Wharfedale Diamonds 7.2 Anniversary back in -00. What we did was play it at normal speaking volume for about 10 days of daily use. And both of us could hear a different after those days.. If it was the speakers actually soften up, or if it was our ears just getting used to them is up for debate though :D

look back in the day i had a mcintosh ma6600 integrated amp along with the dynaudio focus 220 2nd gen. i bought everything toghether brand new. out the box it sounded great. i wasnt doing any break in test. just normal listeing. after about a day an a half. i noticed a pretty big change in sound as i was listening i didnt even see it coming but the bass extedended the mids an highs everything started sounding bigger more depth. i was pretty shocked. it was very noticable. so im not sure if that was the speakers or amp. i already had the cd player so it wasnt that.

I've heard that the smaller the woofer, the less significant and less necessary break-in is.

Burn-in is real, I bought Sony MDR-XB450 On-Ear EXTRA BASS headphones in 2017, I was disappointed the way it sounded then. Gradually the sound started getting better and better and today I hear sounds which I've never heard in last couple of years. It now sounds with so much of clarity on the same songs I've been hearing over the years. So, Burn-in is something I've personally experienced it so it is REAL.

First let me say thank you for taking the time to do tests. Definitely effort involved. Regarding break in, it maybe like breaking in a pair of shoes or sneakers, when new it’s tough, hard and can be uncomfortable. So with speakers maybe larger units with larger drivers break in has a bigger effect on the spider and surround. Some manufacturers of speakers I own recommended a minimum of 75 hours and up to 300 hours of playtime. 24 hours may not be enough.

you were only measuring the frequency response. Not phase accuracy etc. That type of distortion will not show up on your measurements, but it will be very much more audible.

Some other youtuber tested break-in for a subwoofer driver and got major differences in T/S parameters before and after beak-in. Maybe it depends on the speaker,

I just purchased a pair of speakers from a high-end audio retailer and the salesman was pretty adamant that it would take around a hundred hours of break-in time before they began to reach their full potential as far as sound quality goes. He opined that I should hear a noticeable difference at that point and that it would improve a bit more as they reached 500 hours of use. However, nothing in the owner's manual indicated there was a burn-in period. I think I got what I paid for because they sound pretty darn good to me right out of the box. I think you may have debunked another audio myth. Great job. The other two old white dudes concur and send their warmest regards.

I've always heard people say it takes weeks or sometimes months, leading me to believe it's a mental thing more than anything. When it's new your brain isn't used to it. You get used to the sound and it becomes more "enjoyable". A really bad pair of speakers never seem to become great by using them more though. 😂

This is what I believe about speaker burn-in, and it's only belief, I might be wrong all the way. I believe that if there is such thing as speaker burn-in, it will only apply like a muscle, you will make it "hotter" so it might behave differently than a "cold" speaker you just turned on. Based on that belief I'd have to burn in my speaker every day... I also believe that if it changes anything, there is no guarantee that it will actually sound better, it might sound different (even if I can't notice it) but not sure it will be better. To finish, if there is such a thing as speaker burn-in for high-end products, I believe that the company should have done it if they are a serious company, and if company states that burn-in is unnecessary, well, it is going to be fine. But I have to admit that when I received my speakers this winter, I turned them on for a few hours at "low" / "middle" volume so as not to "blast" them right out of the box and to keep a few surprises for real listening sessions and movie experiences, and also to enjoy discovering them a little bit right upon unboxing. So this might be considered as a speaker burn-in and maybe I am a believer.

Welp I guess my skar audio speaker will sound like trash forever. I bought the rpx models of the 4x6 and 6x9. Guess you get what you pay for no matter the brand. Could it be because I am still running the stock amp for my car speakers?

Well, after about 10 hours or so, I had to re-adjust my sub about 2db to match. Something loosened up.

isn’t 24hr a bit short burn in time? I thought roughly 200 hours more or less was common.

Er, why cant we hear if there's a difference?

KEF recognizes that burn-in may affect the sound and Cambridge Audio & Klipsch .recommend it.

Good speakers can need hundreds of hours of burn in to loosen the suspension (especially full range speakers with higher power handling as bass drivers have larger excursion), cheaper speakers not so much.

Still, true or not, it's certainly a lot more believable than the speaker cable myth:)

What I have found over the years is larger speakers loosen up just a little from use and that allows them to sound a little tighter when the sound changes. I notice the biggest difference on 10" and up speakers. My Klipsch speakers have 6.5 woofers in them and some sounds slightly changed after I ran them a week. I listen to a lot of Chicago and the bass parts sounded a littler tighter and quicker to react after the week. It was subtle and I likely wouldn't have heard it if I didn't listed to those CD's so often. When I went to Crank it ups in the late 80's early 90's, you could geta bout 1/2 db and a smoother bass response after the subs were broken in for a few days. I don't think I have ever heard a difference after that break in vs. years latter. The only really high end speakers I have ever owned I got used so not sure about all mfg, but most seem to say give them a break in period. Very expensive Speakers may be broken in at the factory, I don't know. All the Polk, JBL, and Klipsch I have owned said to break them in. Wether it helps or not, it doesn't hurt to do it. My Sennheiser HD595 Cans also said to break them in. I noticed way back that subs were easier to move by hand after a week of using them. The quicker the cone can move the better it should sound, or at least the better it should represent the audio being fed to it.

please review - NUMAN Retrospective 1978 MKII

Cool stuff BTW what about Amp warm up? is that a real thing? i hear lots of audio guys talk about leaving their amps to warm up for like 6 to 12 hours in order to get the best performance? I don’t know, I mostly use good old Japanese audio amps and they all sound the same regardless if they are warm or cold.

Speakers break you in, your brain gets accustomed to the sound. But hey if you believe in speaker break in and it makes you fell all warm a fuzzy doing it by all means do it it’s your life.

Which speaker sounds better to you, the burn in speaker or the control ? Note: while the speakers are the same as in brand and model, they are not identical. Thank you for taking the time to do this but ultimately one would have to use a bigger sample size of burn in speakers and control speakers. Uh oh, audiophiles will be "break in" matching speakers and stating they hear a difference. I personally don't believe in this theory

I first encountered speaker break in my youth (in the 80s) before I was even aware of the phenomenon. A pair of Altec bookshelves just sounded off when new. Not very happy with the sound but over time, things seemed to drastically change for the better. Only much later, I found out about speaker break in after reading a few audio magazines.

In my experience normally most of the burn in happens normally in the first ten minutes after that the changes tend to be more subtle and can be viewed as a refinement or stabilization of it, this also depends of the stiffness of the materials used, the power rating of the speaker an the power used to drive it, basically trying to burn in using only 1% of the rater power is going to take hours but doing it at only 50% of it rate power makes it happen in nimutes. One interesting note is that the tests done by any respectable manufacturess are enougth long to do most of the burn in needed to do the loosening the materials.

To be honest, if a speaker had a significant measurable difference after days of use, I would question the build quality of the speakers and the manufacturer's QA standards. Our senses are not infallible and it's easy to not consider that when talking about how speakers sound. Things from our mood, to our sleep patterns and even our diet can effect how we interpret sound.