Breaking in a speaker - Subway Blues content

[Zoner]

I got a new speak from Petaluma and now am wondering about "break-in". How do we do it? How long will it take? Is it like my old Triumph where you wanted to "break it in fast so it stays fast" or what is the deal, anyway? I'm tempted to run some tunes through the iPod and into the front of the Boogie - just let some Satch and Jimi play at 50% volume for a day or 2? It sounds fine, but is there any reason to avoid cranking the sucker and making the fresh speaker beg for its life right out of the box? Advise please. And thank you. Z

 

[camsna]

It'll take 50 hours. The BEST way is to play through it for 50 hours

You can play music into it, too. That should work as well! But don't beat it to death to begin with! Break it in gently

 

[Riff Blister]

I found this on the Celestion Speaker web site a while back.
I have seen others on this site post this also.
Good luck.

How do I break in my speakers?

Important Note! Before breaking it in it's advisable to "warm up" the speaker gently for a few minutes with low-level playing or background hum.

Break in a speaker with a fat, clean tone: turn up the power amp volume to full, and control the level with the preamp gain. Use a level that will be quite loud, but not painful in a normal size room.

Have the bass and mid up full, and the treble at least half. On your guitar, use the middle pick up position (if your guitar has more than one pick up) and play for 10-15 minutes using lots of open chords, and chunky percussive playing. This will get the cone moving, and should excite all the cone modes and get everything to settle in nicely. The speaker will continue to mature over the years, but this will get it 95% of the way to tonal perfection in the shortest time.

 

[Zoner]

I found this on the Celestion Speaker web site a while back.
I have seen others on this site post this also.
Good luck.

How do I break in my speakers?

Important Note! Before breaking it in it's advisable to "warm up" the speaker gently for a few minutes with low-level playing or background hum.

Break in a speaker with a fat, clean tone: turn up the power amp volume to full, and control the level with the preamp gain. Use a level that will be quite loud, but not painful in a normal size room.

Have the bass and mid up full, and the treble at least half. On your guitar, use the middle pick up position (if your guitar has more than one pick up) and play for 10-15 minutes using lots of open chords, and chunky percussive playing. This will get the cone moving, and should excite all the cone modes and get everything to settle in nicely. The speaker will continue to mature over the years, but this will get it 95% of the way to tonal perfection in the shortest time.

Thanks Mr Blister, that sounds doable and if it gets me 95% there I'm all over it. I'll open my windows wide, so see if you can hear me in St Paul (I'm in Shoreview :lol: ) Z

 

[Riff Blister]

That sounds good Z
I'll set up a lawn chair and a cooler in my front yard.
If you here here someone yelling "FREEBIRD" that'll be me.

 

[MesaDCLP]

May I quote myself? haha!!

Well, I tend to be a bit OC when it comes to technical things like this, so here's what I did:

I hung the speakers from cymbal stands (free air) and hooked both speakers up to my stereo. Then I played a steady sine wave through the speakers at the resonance frequency. 70hz is the RF for mine. Then I turned it up slowly until they buzzed just a bit, then backed the volume down a hair. I set the cd on repeat and played that for several days straight.

If that doesn't break them in, nothing will!!! :twisted:

After over 100 hrs I put them in the cab, and they haven't changed much since in the last 6 months.

8)

 

[carlosasi]

Now I feel like Charlie Brown hanging that ornament on the Christmas Tree. Ugh I've killed it. When I had a speaker re-coned I just plugged in and started playing. Fortunately my playing is in the form of a sine wave.