How long to run-in new speakers?

Catcat posted:

feeling_zen posted:

 

Odd that PMCs were mentioned. I felt like my Twenty5.23 easily took 300+ hours.

300 hours??  My Twenty5.23's arrived last Thursday so I'm only 10-12 hours in (family life getting in the way).  The dealer said 100hrs, which is still 2x PMC's guidance.  Are your ears just more finely tuned than the rest of us? What kind of differences do you notice in the sound after this period?

Is there any wisdom in running speakers out of phase and pointed at each other to accelerate the running-in process?

Without wishing to hijack Fernar's thread, interested to know whether anyone else's PMCs are the walnut finish and how they lighten over time.  Mine are much darker than the dealer's pair and any photos I've seen online.

In a nutshell, that was how long it took for them to be listenable (to me) with the grilles off. Before that they were too hot at top end. I had the same experience with the Twenty.23s I had also. 

As for running in tricks like setting up the speakers facing each other with one wired out of phase, I don't know. Never tried it. Even when I worked in the trade over 20 years ago), I just played music through them.

feeling_zen posted:

In a nutshell, that was how long it took for them to be listenable (to me) with the grilles off. Before that they were too hot at top end. I had the same experience with the Twenty.23s I had also. 

As for running in tricks like setting up the speakers facing each other with one wired out of phase, I don't know. Never tried it. Even when I worked in the trade over 20 years ago), I just played music through them.

Yep - happy to do the same.  Good excuse to work from home

You don't need to run speakers hard to run them in faster. As a matter of fact, some manufacturers recommend not running them hard for the first 100 - 150 hrs. Just play music and enjoy them, and if they are the right ones for you, in about 6 months they will be run in and perfect.

BB

One thing often not mentioned is the need to tighten the drive units after a couple months. Usually using a quarter turn. 

As the screws settle around the clamping on the MDF enclosure, they get looser after the initial factory build. Some manufacturers will make them loose from the start as it reduces the risk of cracking at high altitude when they are flown to dealers around the globe.

With the PMC, an eighth of a turn on just the bass units is all you need. I'd quizz your Sonus Faber dealer on the timing of when to do this. Dealers usually have good experience here that may be counter to the manufacturer's recommendation but I always go with the dealer recommendation.

Innocent Bystander posted:

Actual ‘running in’ applies mostly to the bass driver, because it is the mechanical compliance of the driver diaphragm (cone) suspension that loosens up as it gets used to moving, and the bass driver is where there is by far the most movement. I would expect very little if any change at the top end (ignoring possible degradation over decades).

I'd agree that running in of the speaker units probably has more to do with the drivers and their excursion than with the tweeters, but what about the crossovers? Do crossovers burn in?

Beyond that there's the physiological factor of listener acclimatization to be considered.

You can convince yourself of any explanation, but at some point you'll have to accept that your speakers are simply playing the way they sound.

I would keep it a simple.   If possible play or stream radio at low volume (so it doesn’t keep you awake at night!) and at other times play your own music as usual.  But over the first 3/6 months regularly return to say 3/4 favourite pieces and seek to identify any emerging changes.  But of course nothing is fully conclusive.  

Regards,

Lindsay

But then if the purchased speakers dont end up sounding like the demo pair of the same make/model then it would imply that there is no consistence by the speaker manufacturer... that would mean that each set of speakers were different and there would be no point to demo speakers...

While I agree there will be some minor differences due to manufacturing tolerances of the various components, the overall sound should be the same for a specific brand/model of a speaker....    

For my last pair I was told 200 hours of playing time. They did sound maybe a little tight out of the box but I didn't count the hours because they still sounded rather good. B&W 802D

My previous speakers seemed to work straight out of the box and didn't change much, if at all. Spendor S5e

The ones before that took about 20 hours and to my ears, went through a night to day change - for the better. Ruark Talisman.

My first pair of speakers never seemed to run it. Although the truth is more likely that they were rather boring, and no amount of waiting for them not to be made a jot of difference! B&W DM14.

Zu Audio has a 60-day return policy. They burn in their speakers for 600 hours before selling. That equals 25 days of continuous play. How'd you like to be the person in charge of that process? I wonder what they play through the speakers during that time. What amps do they use? What's their electric bill?