Break in takes months with normal listening. Assume you addressed placement, power and cables. The Dyn C4’s I had were very revealing of all changes....cables made or broke them. The balance of sound will change over time. If still not satisfactory after couple of months and nothing else seems problematic, could just not be your cup of tea. The Dyn’s always seemed to be musical to me but...hang in there! I’m breaking in my B&W 802D3’s and after a month they are just starting to settle in...of course new cables and amp also needed running in!
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.
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Coming back to this thread with my conclusions a couple months on if this is helpful for anyone. The Contour 60i’s have been sold and replaced with Harbeth 40.2, and the Bryston amps are still here but I also have an ARC Ref 150 in the house for amplification duty. I thought the Dyns had smoothed out, but it was just some tracks that sounded okay. My conclusions: Harbeth 40.2 are superior in the mids and highs. I never gave the Dyn’s full break in, but they were just never going to be as good. The Dyns have superior bass, tight and almost subwoofer like. My room does suck and it matters, exacerbating my issues with the Dyns. With the wrong track (particularly rock with high pitched electric guitar sounds) my system is a little screachy....even with Harbeth + ARC tube amp + ARC tube preamp. Unfortunately, it is not a dedicated audio room, and my wife will not allow me to put whatever I want on the walls and over the damned uncovered GLASS windows and door, so I need to figure a plan there. The Bryston SS amps (7BSST2) are not materially harder or more grainy than the ARC tube amp, and they are slightly more precise. But on whole the REF 150 sounds superior to me - bigger sound stage, bigger & more "live," dense and real sound overall. I am likely a tube convert now...unless somebody wants to lend me their D’Agostinos! So that’s where I am. I am happy with the Harbeths and ARC 150 addition, and the system sounds quite good with many tracks. (I am using all digital front end, and vinyl would probably help, but I am not going to deal with tubes AND vinyl!) An REL subwoofer or two may be in the future to fill out the bottom end, and I need to figure how I can improve the room and keep the peace at home. Thanks for all the help from you more experienced fellows! Repo |
Coming back to this thread with my conclusions a couple months on if this is helpful for anyone. The Contour 60i’s have been sold and replaced with Harbeth 40.2, and the Bryston amps are still here but I also have an ARC Ref 150 in the house for amplification duty. I thought the Dyns had smoothed out, but it was only some tracks that sounded okay. Conclusions: Harbeth 40.2 are superior in the mids and highs. I never gave the Dyn’s full break in, but they were just never going to be as good. The Dyns have superior bass, tight and almost subwoofer like. My room does suck and it matters, exacerbating my issues with the Dyns. With the wrong track (particularly rock with high pitched electric guitar sounds) my system is still a little screachy....even with Harbeth + ARC tube amp + ARC tube preamp. I suspect vinyl would help (I am running all digital front end), but I’m not going to deal with tubes AND vinyl rituals. Unfortunately, it is not a dedicated audio room, and my wife will not allow me to put whatever I want on the walls and over the damned uncovered GLASS windows and door, so I need to figure a plan there. The Bryston SS amps (7BSST2) are not materially harder or more grainy than the ARC tube amp, and they are a bit more precise. But on whole the REF 150 sounds superior to me - bigger sound stage, bigger & more live, dense and real sound overall. I am likely a tube convert now...unless somebody wants to lend me their D’Agostinos! So that’s where I am. I am happy with the Harbeths and ARC 150 addition, and the system sounds quite good with many tracks. An REL subwoofer or two may be in the future to fill out the bottom end, and I need to figure how I can improve the room acoustics while keeping the peace at home. Thanks for all the help from you more experienced fellows! |
I have the same speakers, about 2 years old. I am still not happy with them and don't suspect it will change. My equipment, like yours is very good, with a MC preamp (C2500) and both a Classe and Balanced Audio Technology tube amp. I've been looking at an MC302 or 312 amp and will likely try that before selling the speakers.If that doesn't work, on to Lyric HiFi for a few hours to find the magic that I haven't been able to find. |
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