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Okay, How Important Is Speaker Break In? (Dynaudio Contour 60i)

I have been running 25+ year old B&W Matrix 803 S2 speakers in my 2-channel system for about 15 years, and I finally treated myself to new speakers.  Mock me for buying based on research alone, but I got a really good deal and just unpacked my beautiful Dynaudio Contour 60i's.  The Dyn's are not broken in, just starting to play around with different songs, but I am expecting an improvement out of the box, and not getting it.  They are no more revealing, and slightly harder and more jangley in the mids and highs.  The bass is of course much better with the big Dyns, but the B&Ws with the Dyn Sub6 subwoofer I was running were better.  I have very good equipment so it is not a matter of driving bigger speakers (ARC Ref preamp and Bryston 7bSST2 monoblocks).  Unless speakers get A LOT better with break in, I thinking these Dyns may be converted back into cash.   Thoughts? Thanks.
mathiasmingus
three_easy_payments's avatar
three_easy_payments
2,097 posts
 
so apparently speakers don't need to be sent back immediately if they don't sound perfect straight out of the box?  Shocker!  Someone better let Einstein in on this audio secret.
missioncoonery
1,208 posts
 
Yea,don't listen to millercarbon..hes a schill for Tekton and its now really obvious he hasnt a clue..maybe Tekton sound the same from start to finsh( could be the fact they use guitar amp speakers ie,eminence )but any quality speaker ive ever purchased sounded totally different after a correct breakin period.
paradisecom
283 posts
 
In my opinion, you're just used to the way your B&W's sounded to you, for 15 years of use.  You're ears and brain may adjust over some time to accept the new speakers. 

I've tested identical speakers, one set new out of the boxes and the other with 2+ years of use on them and found no difference in sound signature. 

Overall, if you're not happy with the sound of the new speakers, you may never be.  At least you're in a good position with them so you wouldn't take a beating if you were to re-home them. 

Maybe a newer set of B&W's would benefit you.  (??)
russ69's avatar
russ69
3,360 posts
 
I had an interesting experience with a pair of Klipsch RF-25s. I plugged them in and I thought, these really could be refence loudspeakers. Two days later they had lost their edge and now sounded like a very average speaker. So in this case the break-in made them sound worse. I was a dramatic change, never experienced anything like it before or after. 
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
The normal progression is for cold and new to be harsh and grainy, with most of the dynamics and extension but little of the body and harmonic fullness. This fills in over time, and usually with varying amounts of improved extension at both ends, with the result being both fuller and warmer as well as more detailed, extended and dynamic. Sounds like your Klipsch did indeed go through this normal progression. Its just that in your case you actually prefer the harsh edgy grainy cold sound. Which is cool. You can leave all your gear off all the time. Edgy and grainy it will be, at least until it warms up.
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