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In Reply to: RE: is speaker break-in real? posted by volunteer on June 19, 2017 at 06:42:46
Tests were made by Paul Barton (PSB Speaker) a while back and reported on soundstagelive but the link fails now. Here is a quote from it:"Finally, and perhaps most controversially, Barton talks about the supposed break-in effect of components that has become so popular in audio today. Break-in refers to running components for a long time (sometimes hundreds of hours) to the point where their components "settle" into their proper operating mode. Barton doesn't doubt that some components do change subtly, but he thinks that the major improvements people think they're hearing aren't in the components at all. Barton doesn't doubt that people are hearing these changes, but thinks that what they're hearing is actually brain
break-in.Barton has examined his own speakers to test this. He has taken a Stratus Gold loudspeaker, built and measured some ten years ago, and re-measured it today. The deviation is slight, perhaps 1/4dB at most. Although that deviation can possibly be heard, it is certainly not a huge difference that one may attest to hearing. Instead, Barton surmises that the difference in sound that people are hearing over time is conditioning of the brain. He cites experiments done with sight that indicate the brain can accommodate for enormous changes fairly quickly and certainly within the hundreds of hours that audiophiles claim changes occur in. Could this apply to hearing, too? Barton thinks that more often than not, what happens is that the changes in perceived sound that are attributed to component break-in are simply the brain becoming accustomed to the sound. He warns listeners not to fool themselves."
Edits: 06/19/17Follow Ups:
Thanks for this helpful info. Given the way break-in is routinely alluded to in equipment reviews, you would think there would be more interest in measuring the phenomenon. One gets the impression that talk about break-in is just intended as an inoculation against any perceived failings. While objective measurement cannot determine the quality of a speaker, or determine whether two speakers will sound the same, it would be, as I said, surprising if break-in effects were large but never measurable.
The brain break-in is obvious in that when you first listen to a speaker you notice what is different about it but after you have owned it for a year it sounds unremarkable.
It's never too late to turn back the clock.
"The brain break-in is obvious in that when you first listen to a speaker you notice what is different about it but after you have owned it for a year it sounds unremarkable."
And why it's good to have more than one pair/type of speaker. In some systems I have planar drivers, another horns, and another conventional dynamic drivers. Each setup has its own presentation, with the horns they are here, with the planar you are there. One system accuracy, another it's boogie time, so yes you can have it all.
I never fail to find my music remarkable, each time I listen to one system I think "this is the best I've ever heard", then I listen to another of my systems lol.
Martin
Who can remember what a speaker sounded like 500 hours ago? Nonsense - break in is over once you play a well known cut and hear better imaging, soundstage or whatever over the prior speaker/component. That may happen immediately or take a long time, depends on how much better the new piece is over what it replaces.
As I stated above 100 hours for my Lowthers. Could not listen to them at all before 40 hours because they were so super brite. I do not think that most other equipment breaks in. If they do it is very slight
Alan
Huh.
I had already heard fully broken in Lowthers which sounded sensational and the distributor had told me that they would sound like crap until at least 40 hours.
Alan
Whatever :-) I've experienced it and I neither hold to Break in in electronics nor Iffy wire claims. Having Never experienced such in ~50 years of 'this' hobby.
Al Bundy audio salesmens' claims aside :-)
Engine break in even with Nikasil bores IS real though.
Been there.. ruined a couple by believing it wasn't.
An expensive lesson not easily forgotten.
But Hey! we are(?) adults.. Follow your own dogma.
Edits: 06/20/17
"Barton surmises that the difference in sound that people are hearing over time is conditioning of the brain."
NO WAY!
Hahahahaha!
So TWO of us have figured that out.
;)
Its about time truth comes out.
"Barton thinks that more often than not, what happens is that the
changes in perceived sound that are attributed to component break-in are
simply the brain becoming accustomed to the sound. He warns listeners not
to fool themselves."
-Wendell
I'm often amused that, when a person is excited about a purchase, after a "break-in" period it always sounds even better - not worse.
:)
And how does one know that break-in is not just the initial phase of a slower deterioration? ;-)
Edits: 06/20/17
I guess one could also say the years from birth to adulthood are also just the beginnings of dieing, but it seems sort of ludicrous doesn't it?
Martin
That is exactly what is happening. From the time you are born you begin aging or dying, nothing ludicrous about it.
Following that track then I guess death would begin with conception, as I said, "ludicrous" lol.
And as our parents were also "dieing" at conception then I guess following that train death began with the creation of thought trillions of yrs before the universe began.
Ludicrous
Martin
Yes that is correct, at conception. Yes our parents were also dying at conception.
"Creation of thought trillions of years before the universe began" - that's ludicrous. LOL
The concept is not ludicrous but your obsession with it is.
Pessimistic, perhaps, but not ludicrous
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