Need to know how to break in a speaker?

Norrin Radd · Post by **Norrin Radd** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:17 am

I found the following on the Celestion web site and thought it might be helpful:

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."

smo · Post by **smo** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:26 am

Cool,
thanks - i'll be doing this myself very soon - by freak coincidence i was just wondering about this a few days ago.
Thanks

Knuckle Bones · Post by **Knuckle Bones** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:32 am

...hmmm...by freak coincidence I play that loud all the time...OK...maybe it's no coincidence...

Norrin Radd · Post by **Norrin Radd** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:45 am

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by smo
 Cool,
thanks - i'll be doing this myself very soon - by freak coincidence i was just wondering about this a few days ago.
Thanks
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Glad I could help.

It only took me 448 posts before I finally contributed something useful!

:D

kannibul · Post by **kannibul** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:57 am

My method is to put the cab in a closet, run the speaker cable under the door to your amp.

Crank up, and jam out for a while - play all over the place too. Clean is generally going to move the cones more, distorted tones are going to do more top-end...

irish_admiral · Post by **irish_admiral** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 10:17 am

Some speakers take longer to settle in that others. I just left a CD player running through mine for a good few hours. I'm also using the, "i'm just breaking in my speakers" explanation with my housemates to enable me to play loud!

ECWeagles · Post by **ECWeagles** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 1:45 pm

I heard about that Joe, they were most baffled at what you were doing!

irish_admiral · Post by **irish_admiral** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 2:41 pm

Means to an end...

Post by **bclaire** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:28 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Norrin Radd
 <blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by smo
 Cool,
thanks - i'll be doing this myself very soon - by freak coincidence i was just wondering about this a few days ago.
Thanks
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Glad I could help.

It only took me 448 posts before I finally contributed something useful!

:D
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

My first laugh of the day! This was good.

As far as breaking in speakers, I always thought it was a myth! Interesting to see that Celestion actually has advice about it...

irish_admiral · Post by **irish_admiral** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 4:21 pm

My Century Vintages sound a bit freer & less brittle now. I've been running them with either guitar or CD at loud volume for a couple of dozen hours at least though... I think Celestion are erring on the easy side with their, "give it some hum for 15 mins."

vinyl · Post by **vinyl** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 4:53 pm

Play it. I have been around many professional musicians that make a good living, they get amazing tone and none of them ever "break in" new cabinets. My technician said that the chances of the human ear detecting a differece between a played speaker and a new one at concert volumes is very unlikely. It is not as crucial as some people make it out to be.

irish_admiral · Post by **irish_admiral** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 5:48 pm

I think it is if you mic it up. I played a gig shortly after my new speakers were in, and they did sound brittle. A non-muso probably wouldn't think, "that speaker is new," they'd just hear that maybe the sound wasn't quite as good as it was on that other gig...

Besides, quite a few places that supply cabs now break in the speakers for you.

kannibul · Post by **kannibul** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 7:36 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by vinyl
 Play it. I have been around many professional musicians that make a good living, they get amazing tone and none of them ever "break in" new cabinets. My technician said that the chances of the human ear detecting a differece between a played speaker and a new one at concert volumes is very unlikely. It is not as crucial as some people make it out to be.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

How many of us are at concert volumes at any time, even in our professional careers? Most of us play the bar and club scene, and never get past that....

fiveightandten · Post by **fiveightandten** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 7:45 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by vinyl
 Play it. I have been around many professional musicians that make a good living, they get amazing tone and none of them ever "break in" new cabinets. My technician said that the chances of the human ear detecting a differece between a played speaker and a new one at concert volumes is very unlikely. It is not as crucial as some people make it out to be.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I'm not sure I agree with that. It obviously depends on the speaker...and the amp, and your playing style. But i've heard HUGE differences in speakers out of the box vs. being played for a while. V30's especially. My entire band hated the V30s I put in my Hiwatt cab when I first got them. Myself included. In fact, the only reason why I kept them was because of what I heard about them needing to be broken in.

They sound a LOT different now.

Other speakers have changes that aren't as profound. AlNiCo Blues, for example. You can definitely hear the speaker smooth out and loosen up. But it's not a night and day change like the V30's. Same thing with Greenbacks. They smooth out, warm up, and loosen up. Nothing huge. I can see how someone may not notice it if they don't know the amp real well.

Most of us are a little bit of player and a little bit of technician. Some sway more on one side than the other. That influences what we hear and what we want to hear (or what we think we should be hearing). As a technician, I can understand that you shouldn't hear a huge difference from the speaker being played for a while out of the box. But as a player, i've heard it with my own ears and I believe it!

-Nick

Andy H. · Post by **Andy H.** » Mon Jul 25, 2005 9:50 am

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">As far as breaking in speakers, I always thought it was a myth! Interesting to see that Celestion actually has advice about it...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">No its true enough. All speakers will break in to a greater or lesser degree. Hi fi speakers too. It seems from a lot of comments including Nicks that the V.30 is one of the drivers where it is most obvious. Others won't be nearly so dramatic. And while the basic overall tone doesn't normally change that much, its usually a case of the sound becoming a bit less tight generally and perhaps the treble in particular smoothing off a bit.
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">How many of us are at concert volumes at any time, even in our professional careers? Most of us play the bar and club scene, and never get past that....<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">And thats not the same as playing concerts?

I guess what you mean is that you don't play deafeningly stupid loud? Which I approve of. If I was playing far too loudly myself I'd just walk out...! [:0]

Andy.

Need to know how to break in a speaker?

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