Running speakers.

[Jota180]

I'm not sure of this burning in stuff at all. If anything I'm with the Harbeth owner who says it should only be an issue for the first few minutes. What I do believe is that there is a much bigger difference between different speakers than different CD players, amps or any other part. It can take some time to get used to the new speakers.

 

[Jota180]

Unlike a lot of Hifi old wives tales, at least running-in speakers could have a grain of sense underlying it. I can just about imagine that the compliance of the elastomer cone surround and spider on high-excursion (bass) drivers might change over time with usage.

I can't imagine however that it will be a large change, or that there will be a 'night and day' difference. I have searched the web and I can't find a single frequency response test comparing speakers out of the box, with the same speaker after a period of use.

Back in the day when I used to do this sort of thing for a living, we never worried about 'running speakers in', nor did anyone I know refer to it.

I would really like to see some real data on this (it wouldn't be hard to test), but my best guess is that if there is any effect that it will be small and probably not audible.

I agree Andy, and some drivers seem to change more than others. For example, some of the new car stereo drivers have become smoother and more extended less distorted bass after a few hours of heavy use, whereas the ATC drivers don't appear to have changed at all. FWIW Ben Lilly of ATC doesn't think they're is any driver burn in that alters the sound. Maybe some (cheaper?) drivers might undergo bigger changes in mechanical properties than better designed and manufactured drivers.

On a slightly different topic, I'm not entirely convinced that our auditory memory is that poor. As an example we're able to recognise voices that we've not heard for several years, and probably can't them out in a crowd of other voices. Similarly, we're able to memorise harmony and pitch pretty well too, I don't have to think too hard when I pick the guitar up and improvise, though in that instance there is a strong visual guide so perhaps not a great example.

On major differences like people's voices, yeah it's easy to recognise different people but, for example, changing a pair of cables on a set of speakers or changing two amps isn't going to have the same profound differences and our brains are wired to detect differences.

It's also much easier to pick out differences in audio if you have an A/B switch which works almost instantaneously than if you have to take a minute to switch back and forward between the two things you are trying to compare. Which is an excellent example of the limitations of auditory memory.