Hi Bob:
I tend to agree with you except that some newer speakers have
drivers made of such stiff material that they actually do SOUND
better after they get flexed a little bit. I doubt many if any
speakers made today have the old paper cone material on woofers, for
instance. Some high-end audiophoolishly-priced speakers claimed to
come "broken in" from hours of loud playing at the factory. Remember
that some of these modern woofers have cones made of metal films,
certainly a long way from "egg carton" paper.
The same is true in some respects of modern headphones -- the
drivers are made of relatively stiff materials that may not flex
optimally right out of the box. In any case, I figure it can't hurt
to run the cans with the junkola super-compressed FM rock station
all day and see if I hear a difference with better music at lower
levels tonight. I'm not running them anywhere their rated break-up
point right now, just louder than I like to listen.
As for the foam thing, I remember watching the foam surround on a
friend's older Infinity speakers literally blow apart from loud
music at a party. Some of the older types of foam get brittle and
flakey from exposure to either air or moisture or heat or all and
then they disintegrate from the flexing of the woofer. Without the
foam to damp the woofer edges, it sounds awful and I think some
speakers can then over-drive the piston to where the speaker is broken.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert J Hodge" <rjhodge@xxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 9:29 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] headphones "break-in"?
Sounds like audiophoolery. Do speakers need a break in period? I don't
believe so. Unless you're addressing a foamed surround in which case
the
break in period ends when the foam breaks down and they need to be
re-edged.
Partially kidding..
BH
-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:ARSCLIST@xxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tom Fine
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 9:14 AM
To: ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ARSCLIST] headphones "break-in"?
Hi All:
Do professional headphones work optimally if one allows a "break-in"
period or is this
audiophoolery? I don't know enough about headphone driver design to
know
if a new pair benefits from
playing relatively loud radio content or pink noise for a few hours to
loosen up the mechanics.
Based on the fact that I listen to headphones at ear-healthy low
levels,
this "break-in" would
probably be as much "exercise" as the drivers would get, but if they
are
indeed "stiff" when new, it
might be beneficial, too, for low-level listening (ie potential better
dynamics response, better
sensitivity for low-level bass, etc)??
-- Tom Fine