Speaker Burn In?


Many components including speakers are said to require burn in of some period of time before they will reach their peak performance. Speakers like Magnepan are notorious for long burn in periods. Even cables are said to require burn in. Now I an faced with a set of speakers that need upwards of 240 hours burn in before they will 'open up' and play their best.

When faced with a required burn in how to yo do that burn it? Do you simply let it run it's course of time during your normal playback schedule or do you run the system 24/7 until the required time has been met? Are there other methods that can be used? Is their an accepted preferred method? And does the volume being played for burn in have an impact? Do higher volumes 'drive' the component harder and therefore provide a better burn in or to moderate or low volumes achieve the same goal?

In the past I have simply ignored the burn in as an effort and allowed the time to occur 'naturally' during my normal playback times. But with my last several components I have been more mindful of burn in and the recommended hours to optimum performance. Right now I am burning in a pair of speakers. I am about 40 hours in on non-stop playback. My normal listening level is from 72 to 81 on my system. When I leave the house or go to bed I drop the volume to 60 to 63. It is audible and in fact at this early time (3:40 AM) locally it even seems a little loud. How do you deal with this process?

Important process or waste of time thinking about it?
mwheelerk

Showing 2 responses by zmanastronomy

It 's up to what you want. Do you want the fastest burn-in to get the chore behind you? Or do you want to have the experience of hearing the change and enjoying the speakers at the same time.
If you want the fast way, take them to the garage or shed, hook them to a receiver , face them togetherand put one speaker out of phase. Throw a blanket over them, give them a watt or two and in 10 days hook them back in your main system.
Or.... just hook them up and forget about them and enjoy.
The speaker needs to be driven to break in. White noise is ok for caps and cables, but for speakers you need to drive them to break them in.