Alpine subwoofer "break in" period..

[Why So Cereal? 5,000+ posts]

i honestly dont see a type e needing much break in at all. The spiders arent all that stiff to begin with. The small break in he has done should be fine. I say make sure those gains are right and beat em like Ike beat Tina.

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

i honestly dont see a type e needing much break in at all. The spiders arent all that stiff to begin with. The small break in he has done should be fine. I say make sure those gains are right and beat em like Ike beat Tina.

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[Why So Cereal? 5,000+ posts]

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[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Well........not entirely true. I look at it like breaking in a new/rebuilt engine. Some people beat on them right away, while others baby the engine for the first 500-1000 miles, change oil twice during break-in, and have it last much longer.
Most production/mainstream subwoofers don't even go through a live test, past QA. As long as they pass visual inspection and an electrical load test, they are considered good.

Personally, I would run them at least 5-10 hours at moderate power level (like you have done) before bashing away at full RMS power. This gives the suspension time to loosen up before you go tearing away. The spider and triple-joint take the most abuse along with the surround itself. After these have had a chance to stretch a little, there is little chance of the triple-joint breaking or the coil walking around in the gap.

I hear the engine analogy a lot. This is a misnomer. Engines (usually) require a break-in period because the rings need time to seat properly. There are no compression rings on a subwoofer that need to wear in to the cylinder walls.

We've discussed the break-in period topic a few times, in great detail, in the past few weeks here, so I'll stop short of repeating all that information again, and simply say that a break-in period is not a requirement on a speaker, unless you are taking measurements for verifying t/s specs or doing a critical listening review.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I still can't wrap my head around the logic of "breaking in" speakers avoiding some kind of failure that would result from playing them at full power right out of the box. Do whatever makes you feel good, if you're not abusing the woofer it'll have no bearing on how long it lasts, and as someone else mentioned you may actually be better off figuring out if it has manufacturing defects sooner rather than later.

 

[zako 10+ year member]

I don't believe in 20-40hour break-in that's required to get the most SQ. What I do for new sealed box subs is play a 20Hz sine wave tone at a moderate volume level for about 2-3 hours with car engine on (with engine off, the battery may die and/or amp may not be able to get the best cooling). I aim for one way excursion of around 10mm. I like 20Hz because this frequency is inaudible to humans and this will exercise the sub a lot more than numerous hours of music playback. This method may not necessarily work for ported subs because my understanding some will not play this low. After that I start tuning and listen to sub critically. Of course, SQ/SPL may improve with further break-in, but I don't believe it will be significant improvement.

 

[VWBobby 10+ year member]

Yeah sure, not a significant improvement.... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crazy.gif.c13912c32de98515d3142759a824dae7.gif

Actual measured t/s data of pre and post break-in of the Audax AP100Z0 loudspeaker drivers. Shown over 0, 30, 50 and 70 hours. Up to 24% change depending on the T/S parameter...

I can show lots of similar test on other types/models of speakers.

ME150H detailed Information

Driver burn in "facts" http://www.gr-research.com/burnin.htm

Do searches for "T/S parameters after break in" and you'll find 100's of tests people have conducted. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

While it might not prove that breaking in a speaker properly will improve its lifespan/prevent damage, it does prove that speakers change characteristics drastically and usually play louder once they're broken in properly.

20hz tone is cycling the sub 20 times a second, a 60hz tone would make it work 3 times harder and break-in 3 times faster while also subjecting the sub to more mechanical stress from the faster 60hz tone. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

According to: http://www.ht-audio.com/pages/WooferTester2.html

"By their nature, some speaker drivers are not very linear. The best ones are reasonably linear over the widest possible range of excursion but as the excursion increases and the suspension is stretched, the compliance (Cms) of nearly all drivers will change and this also changes their resonance (Fs). "

"When most speaker drivers come off the assembly line, their suspension is usually a little stiff. Before the T-S parameters are measured, it is best to exercise the driver to "break in" its suspension. "

 

[SourDeez 10+ year member]

I think breaking in is pretty important.

Maybe not on a cheaper, rubber surrounded sub (type r) but when you have a fatty foam surround (**** is hard..foam rips..) and stiff spiders yes you run the risk of straight tearing them, never had stuff like this happen to me though.

I can physically feel the difference of stiff sub versus broken in.. I test it all the time. So no one can say that it does nothing.. because you can feel the difference after a sub is broken in.. it moves both directions easier with less force used to move it