" Broken In??"

Message

T_Gowan · #1 Post by **T_Gowan** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 11:53 am

Hi

I see this term used on occasion. Is there a proper procedure to break in a new sparker before putting it towork for real?
Thanks

TomG

Sydney · #2 Post by **Sydney** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:19 pm

Is there a proper procedure to break in a new sparker

If a "sparker" is a speaker then:
Proper way? - No
Mostly variations of the same idea: feed the speaker with a signal, usually low frequency, around 30Hz at low to moderate power - NOT HIGH.
Feed with a recorded cd signal or tone generator ( I used the inter-station noise from an FM receiver before CD were invented so just about any signal/noise works)
My measurements on T18/T24 showed most effects ( loosening ) will occur after 24 hrs, and stable after 200 hrs ( a couple of months in my case )

T_Gowan · #3 Post by **T_Gowan** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:33 pm

Thats my Canadian spelling ( or lack of spell check)

Does it harm the speaker in any way not “breaking it in”?

What do your neighbours think of this process?

Again Thanks
TomG

Sydney · #4 Post by **Sydney** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 2:06 pm

Does it harm the speaker in any way not “breaking it in”

No - As a matter of fact, some don't do it at all, and install fresh.
I do it for several reasons:
Most manufactured products have an initial failure rate or defective rate ( some are defective from the start or fail shortly during the 1st 100 hours ).
If it's it bad, I find it soon and get it rectified from the vendor under warranty before I put it in a box and have to remove it.
Secondly it gets the driver towards it's ultimate design parameters ( a new driver usually has a slightly higher resonance, fresh, and drops several cycles after break in ) In simple terms a driver broken in, when installed will sound like it's going to sound - a fresh driver will break-in in the cab and may not sound, like it's going to sound, until it has some run-in time.
As for neighbors ( US spelling

) - I live surrounded by a few hundred acres of woods and my nearest "victim" is 1/2 mile away - but break-in doesn't have to be loud, and you can always isolate the driver in a closet or unused room.

T_Gowan · #5 Post by **T_Gowan** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 3:11 pm

Most people don't know there is a difference between US and Canadian English spelling in a lot of words.

Now back to serious matters. When you say "before" you put in box, do you do this breakin free air?

TG

bgavin · #6 Post by **bgavin** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 3:13 pm

If you do the break in with the driver sitting in free air on the desk, it doesn't make any noise. 10v at 30 Hz will do a good job over 24 hours.

Strapping Young Stu · Fri Sep 14, 2007 6:00 pm

Just take a hammer and bash it

Harley · #8 Post by **Harley** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 5:37 am

Strapping Young Stu wrote:Just take a hammer and bash it

You're a worry!

Scott Brochu · #9 Post by **Scott Brochu** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 11:17 pm

So just any song through the system and lower the crossover setting to 30hz and play for a few hrs? Is this right?

DJPhatman · #10 Post by **DJPhatman** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 1:06 am

See here for what you need.

DAVID_L_PERRY · #11 Post by **DAVID_L_PERRY** » Fri Nov 23, 2007 4:20 am

BBDrums wrote:So just any song through the system and lower the crossover setting to 30hz and play for a few hrs? Is this right?

No, the whole purpose of this is to allow the speaker to flex its muscles, bed the driver in & effectively you are softening the speaker surround and spider to what will become its normal running, and the 31.5hz test tone makes the speaker move a lot more than a higher freq tone. A low freq test tone makes a speaker cone move a lot more.

Have the speaker driver out of the box, connected upto a power amp and play a 30hz (or closest) test tone through the speaker between 10-12 volts. No crossover required at all.

You need a CD player, a mixer, a power amp and a simple mulitmeter- I just used my normal PA desk and power amp...

download this full CD or just the specific tone:-
http://binkster.net/extras.shtml#cd
(Its great CD for checking your system out so I would download the full version)

Sit the speaker on some carpet or foam (cone facing up)
Connect your power amp to the speaker (keep the gain control of your amp all the way down for the moment and amp off)

Start playing the CD using the 31.5hz test tone with the Cd player set on 'repeat track'

What we now need to do is measure the output of the power amp.

Turn the power amp on (keep the gain control at minimum)

Push the sliders up on the desk so that you can see a good output level on the desk output meters.

With your multimeter connected across the speaker terminals, slowly turn up the gain control on the power amp. As you start to crank up the amp you should be ably to measure the voltage output on the meter, at the same time the speaker will start to play the 31.5hz test tone. Once you are reading 10-12 volts on the meter leave it playing - (if the speaker starts to bottom out before you reach the 10-12volts point back off until it does not) With the speaker out of the box, it will make very little noise, if you try and do this with the driver loaded in the box it will make a lot of noise......

I tend to leave it running during the day, and turn it off at night, then restart it the next day. You could leave it running if you wish. You roughly want to try and get it running for anything upto 24 hours.

Dave