Monitor Audio Detox CD

BJB

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I take delivery of the MA Silver RX6 theater package on Thursday. I noticed the detox cd on the MA web site. Apparently it is able to run in speakers far quicker than through conventional use. Can anybody recommend the cd and will it detox all speakers, or just the front left and right channels? Thanks for your assistance.
 
The disc is a waste of money.

First and foremost, one hour is not enough to break in your speakers.

Second, it seems to be a series of frequency sweeps. One for the amp and cable (ha-ha), and another for the speaker. Again, pure bull.

Third, some recommend complex 'break in' routines, like wiring the speakers out of phase and placing them face-to-face and play music for hours on end.

Forget all that, hook your speakers up normally and enjoy them. Eventually from normal use they will gradually mellow to their final sound quality.

Lastly, the break in period varies, with some claims ranging from 20 hours to 100 hours. Don't worry about it. Use the speakers, and in time, as I said, they will mellow and smooth out.

If you are in a hurry to break them in, leave the radio playing while you are away at work; at modest volume levels of course. You could even put the radio, assuming you have one, on an AM or FM station that is all static. Between station static is a complex range of frequencies and volume levels referred to as white noise. As I said, it has a complex and wide frequency range, and your neighbour would probably not notice it at all since there would be no rhythmic bumping bass.
 
If you still want to run in your speakers, here are some sources for Audio Test Tones. I've got the details on the internet, so please read carefully & go ahead only if you're confident.

For all these assorted test tones, save them on your computer, then burn them on to an audio CD; one separate CD for each group of test tones. You should have no trouble playing them in any standard CD or DVD player.

You can get test tones from RealTraps.com

These are slow 100 second sweeps of 10hz each from 10hz up to 300hz. Good for testing bass and subs. Because the sweeps are 100 second in a range of 10hz, 1hz equal 10 seconds. So, your CD player should be giving you a time count on its front panel. As an example, starting from 30hz at 0 seconds, when you reach 10 seconds you are at 31hz, 20 seconds 32hz, 30 seconds 33hz, ...at 100 seconds, just before the track ends, you are at 39.9hz. The next track then starts at 40hz. Also, includes a 15 second of Pink Noise track.

Next, 20hz to 20,000hz in individual 10 second files. These are spaced at 1/3 octaves, so the whole range is in 31 individual files.

Free audio test tones

Files are in ZIP format, so you shouldn't have any trouble unzipping them into the WAV files.

So, 20hz to 20,000 hz in 31 ten second steps.

For more precise measurements, here is roughly the same thing in 1/6 octave steps for a total of 63 test tones covering the range of 20hz to 22,000hz.

Audio test CD

If you scroll down on the page link to just above, you will see a track list that you can print out and have as a reference. One large file is in .7Z compressed format. But there is a link to the Free compression tool 7-zip which can be used to uncompress and extract the individual test tone files.

Again, burn these on to a CD and play them back in your CD player, DVD player, or directly from your computer.

Before using these Test Tone CDs, put in a regular music CD, and set the volume to a modest comfortable listening level; roughly 1/3 volume. Then place the Test Tone CD in and step though the frequencies. Once the volume is set, leave it there.

Resist the urge to turn the volume up! Yes, you will be able to hear tones that you couldn't hear at lower levels, but you will also but a lot of unnecessary strain on your equipment.

Also, take short break of at least a few seconds between tracks to give the speakers time to cool down.

You can trust your ears, but a much better test is to use a SPL or Sound Pressure Level Meter, or simply Sound Level Meter. These typically run £50 or less for consumer SPL Meters.

With an SPL meter you can actually measure the loudness level of each tone, plot them out on a graph and see how good your speaker response truly is.

You can also use the SPL Meter to search out dead spots in your rooms, or try to improve the sound level at your favorite listening spot.

One small problem with consumer SPL Meters, they tend to have two scales; the 'A' scale which is 500hz to 10,000hz (sometimes 8,000hz on the high end) and the 'C' scale which is from 30hz to 10,000hz. Above, 10,000hz the accuracy of the measurements are reduced. But, it is still a good tool to have. Unfortunately, professional SPL meters with a wider frequency range are substantially more expensive.

However, with some time and effort, and of course, some money, you can find software to not only generate the tones from your computer, but also measure the Sound Level, records it, and display it on a nice graph for you.

Safe use of these files, that is, safe for your ears and safe for your speakers, depends on you setting a modest listening level before playing them. Roughly equal to casual music listening. Again, 1/3 volume should be more than enough, but NEVER more than 50% volume.

Also, again, a short pause between playing tracks of a few seconds will give the speaker time to cool down. Sustained tones like these generate more heat than dynamic music. For the short tones, just the track change time is probably enough. In this case, pause 5 to 10 seconds, between every five tracks. With the 100 second RealTraps test tones, a pause of 5 to 10 second between very couple of test tracks should be fine.
 

BJB

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Thanks bigboss. I am indebted for your comprehensive answer. I will probably leave the radio on as originally recommended. By the way, did you have any problems setting up your harmony one remote? My wife and I cannot seem to create a new account. We have tried calling Logitech on a few occassions, but to no avail.
 

The_Lhc

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bigboss:Third, some recommend complex 'break in' routines, like wiring the speakers out of phase and placing them face-to-face and play music for hours on end.

There's nothing complex about that, the only reason for the out of phase wiring and placing the speakers facing each other is to allow you to turn the volume up louder without annoying the neighbours (as the out of pahse causes some cancellation of frequencies).
 

Gerrardasnails

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BJB:
I take delivery of the MA Silver RX6 theater package on Thursday. I noticed the detox cd on the MA web site. Apparently it is able to run in speakers far quicker than through conventional use. Can anybody recommend the cd and will it detox all speakers, or just the front left and right channels? Thanks for your assistance.

I just put on MTV Base and left it on all day (turned my screen off) while I was at work and all night (low volume) for about a week. That was when I only had to run in my RS6s, you could use the same method but, as Frank says, use a surround format.
 
BJB:Thanks bigboss. I am indebted for your comprehensive answer. I will probably leave the radio on as originally recommended. By the way, did you have any problems setting up your harmony one remote? My wife and I cannot seem to create a new account. We have tried calling Logitech on a few occassions, but to no avail.

No, I did not have any problems while setting up my remote. Why are you not able to create an account? It's usually quite straightforward. Logitech are usually good with their customer support. You can even send them an email. They usually respond within 1-2 days.
 

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