Do you believe that guitar speakers break-in?

[Jp77]

Paying someone to break In your speakers is like paying someone to break in your ole lady

[i386]

Once a new speaker is driven hard enough and long enough, physical changes are going to happen to the cone and spider. Those changes ARE going to make the speaker sound different. It could be subtle or very noticeable. Do the speakers sound better? That's up to you. No magic or mojo here.

[primeholy]

I cant believe how the fuck this is a question.

[SexWithRobots]

I do believe they break whether thats a benefit or not is up to personal preference.

[solitaire]

Just bought a pair of Eminence Deltas and had them broken in using an old stereo. These are 400W worth of speakers and sounded really stiff and rough at first. 20h or so later amongst the best speakers I've ever owned.

I cant believe how the fuck this is a question.

Actually there are some that denies this to be true. But then there are folks denying earth to be round too.

[Cirrus]

I think the people that deny it hear the ridiculous snake oil myths like $500 cables, tone beads that sit on your amp and align the harmonics, straps that give your guitar more sustain etc and lump speaker break in along with those crazy things. Then they come into threads like this and feel very clever that they know it's just a myth while all these idiot musicians believe in voodoo and witchcraft.

Only problem is, speaker break in makes sense and has a sound physical basis, as well as being obvious in most cases.

[nakedzen]

A part of the equation of how some people say there's a huge difference and some that not a big difference, is probably the amp they're using.

If a speaker "smooths out in the top end" ie. puts out less highs when it's broken in, someone with a dark sounding amp won't hear much of a difference, but someone with a bright sounding amp will.

[Dickarms]

everything breaks in. everything.

[100 watt]

I play bass thru new guitar speakers to break them in. Sometimes I put fabric softener mixed with h2o on them.

helps.

[Cirrus]

everything breaks in. everything.

That's why women so often get traded in for a younger model.

[100 watt]

Just bought a pair of Eminence Deltas and had them broken in using an old stereo. These are 400W worth of speakers and sounded really stiff and rough at first. 20h or so later amongst the best speakers I've ever owned.

I cant believe how the fuck this is a question.

Actually there are some that denies this to be true. But then there are folks denying earth to be round too.

You'll like them once you get em broke in good. What amp are you using them with?

I have a couple of Delta 12 B's I use with a 100 watt Plexi

[solitaire]

Just bought a pair of Eminence Deltas and had them broken in using an old stereo. These are 400W worth of speakers and sounded really stiff and rough at first. 20h or so later amongst the best speakers I've ever owned.

I cant believe how the fuck this is a question.

Actually there are some that denies this to be true. But then there are folks denying earth to be round too.

You'll like them once you get em broke in good. What amp are you using them with?

I have a couple of Delta 12 B's I use with a 100 watt Plexi

I did consider the B version at one stage, it being smoother in the mids, but I figured I needed them to be 8 ohms so the A it was.

Wish I could make it easy for you and say they're to be used with this or that brand and model of amp, but think of it as a Fender blackface Twin context. They're to be used with my rack system, in this case an Egnater M4 w. a Twin module, running into a Mesa Fifty/ Fifty feeding a Marshall 1966 converted to 1/3 open.

There's something acting up with the Mesa though, so thus far I've run them using my Marshall 9100 that may just be a bit too dynamic for them, making the mids quite pungent at around 2kHz. Or if that's the Sylvania-style Ruby 6L6s in the amp - I figure the TAD 6L6WGC in the Mesa would be a better match for my purposes, both dynamically and EQ-wise. As it is I would consider using a compressor.

And as an attempt to extend the highs a bit I'll probably replace the dustcaps with something harder than the stock felt ones. I just played through one sans dust cap.

Sorry for the lengthy reply. Don't want to hijack the thread any further but I'd be glad to hear your view on the Deltas too. I bought mine mostly on chance, having viewed the specs and the mentioning of it on various places as a woodier EV-style. Needed something in the JBL-EV camp for cleans and most other options seemed to jagged in the mids for my liking.

[Bob Savage]

Seriously?

[Bob Savage]

everything breaks in. everything.

That's why women so often get traded in for a younger model.

As do men.

[GAS KING]

you could do the TGP thing.......spray/rub your speaker with fabric softener to expedite the break in process.

[Bob Savage]

you could do the TGP thing.......spray/rub your speaker with fabric softener to expedite the break in process.

Or just play it and let it break in naturally.

[GAS KING]

you could do the TGP thing.......spray/rub your speaker with fabric softener to expedite the break in process.

Or just play it and let it break in naturally.

I hadn't heard of the softener method until coming across it on TGP.

I couldn't imagine spraying anything on my speakers.

Had a set of 4 V30s for a long time now, and I got them used!

[100 watt]

Just bought a pair of Eminence Deltas and had them broken in using an old stereo. These are 400W worth of speakers and sounded really stiff and rough at first. 20h or so later amongst the best speakers I've ever owned.

I cant believe how the fuck this is a question.

Actually there are some that denies this to be true. But then there are folks denying earth to be round too.

You'll like them once you get em broke in good. What amp are you using them with?

I have a couple of Delta 12 B's I use with a 100 watt Plexi

I did consider the B version at one stage, it being smoother in the mids, but I figured I needed them to be 8 ohms so the A it was.

Wish I could make it easy for you and say they're to be used with this or that brand and model of amp, but think of it as a Fender blackface Twin context. They're to be used with my rack system, in this case an Egnater M4 w. a Twin module, running into a Mesa Fifty/ Fifty feeding a Marshall 1966 converted to 1/3 open.

There's something acting up with the Mesa though, so thus far I've run them using my Marshall 9100 that may just be a bit too dynamic for them, making the mids quite pungent at around 2kHz. Or if that's the Sylvania-style Ruby 6L6s in the amp - I figure the TAD 6L6WGC in the Mesa would be a better match for my purposes, both dynamically and EQ-wise. As it is I would consider using a compressor.

And as an attempt to extend the highs a bit I'll probably replace the dustcaps with something harder than the stock felt ones. I just played through one sans dust cap.

Sorry for the lengthy reply. Don't want to hijack the thread any further but I'd be glad to hear your view on the Deltas too. I bought mine mostly on chance, having viewed the specs and the mentioning of it on various places as a woodier EV-style. Needed something in the JBL-EV camp for cleans and most other options seemed to jagged in the mids for my liking.

I like Deltas ALOT. The Delta B's can be a bit dark on their own, but I like them mixed with an Eminence Lynch Super V. A godsend for a bright hot rodded Marshall. With the Deltas, I can actually turn my presence up.

I just prefer darker, punchy speakers with my set up.

Looking to try them cocktailed with some WGS BL80's, if I can find some in 8 ohm cheap enough. That'd be the best of both worlds, IMO

[Bob Savage]

I hadn't heard of the softener method until coming across it on TGP.

I couldn't imagine spraying anything on my speakers.

Had a set of 4 V30s for a long time now, and I got them used!

Same here, wouldn't do it personally. I've heard a number of methods, including running music through it, but I just stick to letting them break in naturally with the frequency range the cabinet is made for (i.e. guitar). Another method is to record a guitar clip and loop it... still, I stick with playing it.

[RaceU4her]

A part of the equation of how some people say there's a huge difference and some that not a big difference, is probably the amp they're using.

If a speaker "smooths out in the top end" ie. puts out less highs when it's broken in, someone with a dark sounding amp won't hear much of a difference, but someone with a bright sounding amp will.

when i put new strings on my guitar, im always surprised how much brighter everything is. after a few days of jamming and wearing the strings down, the high end seems to "smooth out" the same way people describe a speaker breaking in. i know when i get a new amp or cab the first thing i usually do is put new strings on, so i tend to think im hearing my strings dull out more than the speaker actually changing after a few days

[Bob Savage]

when i put new strings on my guitar, im always surprised how much brighter everything is. after a few days of jamming and wearing the strings down, the high end seems to "smooth out" the same way people describe a speaker breaking in. i know when i get a new amp or cab the first thing i usually do is put new strings on, so i tend to think im hearing my strings dull out more than the speaker actually changing after a few days

Speaker break in is a slow process. There may be some initial quick break in that happens but it takes months to really hear a difference and the problem is that if you're the one playing the cab, you won't really notice it as much as if you had heard it brand new and then immediately afterwards, broken in because it's gradual.

And then the speakers continue to change over years as a result of use which is even less obvious.

[gainfreak]

I spoke to one of celestions techs years ago about speaker break in. The person who I spoke to had more then 20 years experience at the time and he told me that there is a break in period for speakers but it does not take as long as people think.
He told me that once you get the speaker up to volume where the cone is moving, the break in period is pretty quick.
So in essence, you could break in a speaker very fast by pinning it with some volume and it wont take long.

With that said, he did say that most people confuse speaker break in with speaker aging. He said that even though the speaker break in process is really quick a speaker will change as it ages and that is a slow process. He also said that how it will change depends on the environment it's in. (smoky bars vs studio/controlled environment etc etc)
The magnet strength on the speaker will also change as it ages.

That's my useless 0.02

Only relaying what I was told.

all the best!

~R~

[Bob Savage]

With that said, he did say that most people confuse speaker break in with speaker aging. He said that even though the speaker break in process is really quick a speaker will change as it ages and that is a slow process. He also said that how it will change depends on the environment it's in. (smoky bars vs studio/controlled environment etc etc)

That's an interesting distinction because over the period of a year, assuming the speakers are used for at least a few hours a week, the sound of the speaker definitely mellows out and harsh high end artifacts tend to roll off. So they're calling that aging, not break in which makes some sense because at what point do you say the speaker is broken in? On the other hand, after the harshness (G12Hs suffer horribly from this IMO) subsides the changes from "aging" are far more minimal over the years, albeit a 25 year old speaker is going to sound much different than a 1 year old speaker.

[Whatnow2012]

guitar speake break is bad because if you breAK THE GUITAR SPEAKER IT sounds bad like if it gets holes in it

[Dave]

guitar speake break is bad because if you breAK THE GUITAR SPEAKER IT sounds bad like if it gets holes in it

this for sure