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Speaker Breakin

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MarcelP

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Apr 28, 1996, 3:00:00 AM4/28/96
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Does anyone know of a good cd that has dynamic musical content that goes from 20hz to 20khz to breakin a speaker system.

John J. Stimson

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Apr 30, 1996, 3:00:00 AM4/30/96
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In article <4m3aoq$d...@agate.berkeley.edu>,

MarcelP <mar...@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>Does anyone know of a good cd that has dynamic musical content that
>goes from 20hz to 20khz to breakin a speaker system.

Lots, what are you looking for? Actually, the frequency range
shouldn't matter so long as all the drivers move. You're just
loosening the suspension, and the frequency shouldn't matter for that,
just the fact that the woofer moves back and forth a given distance a
given number of times...

Here's a few, in the order I thought of them (yeah, I mentioned a
few of these in my "great music/great sound" posting a month or two ago):

Caroline Lavelle (w/ William Orbit) - Spirit (female vocals over
bass-laden electronic & cello music)
William Orbit / Strange Cargo - Hinterland (instrumental electronic
trance/dance/techno/groove/ambient)
Mickey Hart - Planet Drum (Incredible all-percussion album with many
percussionists from other countries)
Nicky Skopelitis - Ekstasis (african & middle-eastern influenced
jazz/trance music)
Bruce Hornsby - Hot House / Harbor Lights (jazz piano & vocals with
Yellowjackets bassist Jimmy Haslip, and guests including Pat
Metheny, Branford Marsalis, Bela Fleck, & Jerry Garcia)
King Crimson - THRAK (hard rock from a 28 year old band that has
somehow managed to avoid becoming a "dinosaur", in parts
driving and dissonant, other parts melodic and mellow.)
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones - Three Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
(jazz with bluegrass and many other influences, played on
banjo, electric bass, and finger-triggered electronic drums,
guests include Branford Marsalis and Bruce Hornsby)
Loreena McKenitt - The Visit / The Mask & the Mirror (Celtic music
with wonderful female vocals and many non-Celtic influences
(Indian and easter European, I think).
Grateful Dead - Infrared Roses (all instrumental free improvisation,
with guests including Branford Marsalis and Bruce Hornsby
[sensing a pattern here? :-)] and a few incredible drum duets
that will give your woofers a workout)
Darryl Way - Under the Soft (electronic instrumentals with strong
classical leanings, based around solo violin & electric
guitar, with Stewart Copeland on drums - warning, the first
track is a shrillness detector...there is a synthesized note
which was painful on a system with Thiel CS1.2 and Sony
electronics, but just fine on CS2.2 and Krell/Levinson
electronics in the next room over)
Pat Metheny - Still Life (talking) / The Road To you (jazz fusion
guitarist, some think he plays lite muzak like Kenny G BUT
THEY'RE WRONG! (:-) just in case) former is a studio album,
latter is live)
Front 242 - Tyranny >For You< / Up Evil (heavy, dark, loud industrial
music; something I don't usually go in for, but these guys
have a real flair for it, and the sound quality is excellent.
You'll definitely hear the full frequency range on either of
these CDs)

Okay, that's a reasonably diverse sampling, plus my fingers are
getting tired from typing. Remember, if you really want to break in
your speakers the right way, PLAY IT LOUD!
John Stimson
http://harlie.ee.cornell.edu/~john

JohnAFR

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Apr 30, 1996, 3:00:00 AM4/30/96
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In article <4m3aoq$d...@agate.berkeley.edu>,
MarcelP <mar...@ix.netcom.com> writes:

>Does anyone know of a good cd that has dynamic musical content that
>goes from 20hz to 20khz to breakin a speaker system.

From some of the things I've read in the past on this newsgroup, you
don't want to break in a speaker using dynamic musical content. The
purpose of speaker break-in is to exercise the mechanical suspension
of the transducer so that it loosens up a bit and operates in a normal
manner. I'm certainly not an expert on the subject, but I remember
reading that it can be harmful to play dynamic transients at high power
into a new speaker because it can cause the suspension to form
unwanted resonance modes. I knew a speaker builder some years
ago that used low frequency sine waves to exercise the suspension
of his woofers before installing them into the cabinet. I think that just

playing normal music at normal listening levels for awhile might be as
good as anything for the average audiophile.

John Elison

Richard D Pierce

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Apr 30, 1996, 3:00:00 AM4/30/96
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In article <4m58jj$g...@tolstoy.lerc.nasa.gov>, JohnAFR
<joh...@aol.com> wrote:

>In article <4m3aoq$d...@agate.berkeley.edu>,
>MarcelP <mar...@ix.netcom.com> writes:
>
>>Does anyone know of a good cd that has dynamic musical content that
>>goes from 20hz to 20khz to breakin a speaker system.
>
From some of the things I've read in the past on this newsgroup, you
>don't want to break in a speaker using dynamic musical content. The
>purpose of speaker break-in is to exercise the mechanical suspension
>of the transducer so that it loosens up a bit and operates in a normal
>manner. I'm certainly not an expert on the subject, but I remember
>reading that it can be harmful to play dynamic transients at high power
>into a new speaker because it can cause the suspension to form
>unwanted resonance modes.

IN all the years I have been testing, designing and measuring drivers,
I have never encountered any deleterious effects from these "unwanted
resonance modes." Methinks there is something of a bit of fiction
here.

>I knew a speaker builder some years
>ago that used low frequency sine waves to exercise the suspension
>of his woofers before installing them into the cabinet.

Playing a low frequency sine wave has the singular advantage that IF
you know the frequency of maximum excursion, you simply place the
frequency of the sine wave there and get the maximum excursion for the
minimum input power. With sealed box enclosures, it's easy to find,
but with vented and other higher-order systems there are several
maxima and which is suitable is dependent upon the system alignment.

However, in the work that Ihave done, I have found that while it is
true that large excursions DO loosen up the suspension considerably,
within 1 minute of cessation of the excercising signal, about 95% of
what you have gained in compliance recovers, and almost all the
remainder disappears within about 5 minutes. The only time I have seen
permanent increase in suspension compliance and other such effects is
as the drivers themselves came off the production line in initial QC
test. If a speaker HAS to be "broken in" at home, it's a good
indicator that the speaker manufacturer simply has not tested your
speakers.

Otherwise, there is no evidence of any "magic" break-in that "magic"
CD's and the like can effect at home that cannot and has not already
been done at the factory. You'll find FAR higher variations in
peformance due to daily changes in relative humidity, for example,
then you will with break-in procedures which, as I said, are mostly
temporary in their effect.

Simply playing loud music through a speaker for a protracted length of
time WILL change the performance of the speaker substantially, but not
by "breaking" it in: Simply the rise in temperature of the voice
coil/magnet structure will have the effect of raising the Q of the
system somewhat, leading to s alsight but possibly noticeably change
in low frequency performance. Raising the temperature will also drive
water out of the system, which might change the physical parameters of
the system.

However, as soon as the system is left alone, both temperature and
moisture content will ronce again reach equilibrium with the
surrounding environment, and you're back to go again.

There does exist, however, interesting data to suggest that the
listener has a significant "break-in" period, a phenomenon that may be
important in and of itself, one which should not necessarily be
ignored.

--
| Dick Pierce |
| Loudspeaker and Software Consulting |
| 17 Sartelle Street Pepperell, MA 01463 |
| (508) 433-9183 (Voice and FAX) |


John Rocke/Audio Odyssey

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May 3, 1996, 3:00:00 AM5/3/96
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I was just wondering how test tones or pink noise might work to break
in speakers. My thought is that since they are "full-range" tones
that they might work well to break in a speaker.

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