I listened to older speakers with some "mileage" on them. Very high-end speakers are all break-in subjects. Even the owners manual will say, "sonic abberations are apparent during break-in". Speakers are just electro-mechanical devices that are NOT "like new" forever (thank heavens). They reach a mechanical equalibrium over a time and then settle down. Once broken-in good speakers can run for decades and sound good (I have some 30+ year old B&W 801's still going!).
So when you get ANY good speaker home, don't be too harsh on judgement till they play a hundred hours or more. Bass, midrange, and treble all change. Some speakers are weird in different areas (drivers use various technologies) as they break-in. This is no big deal as they reach the design intent in time. True, the electronic X-overs break-in, too, but compared to the mechanical drivers they aren't nearly the limiting factor from good sound.
So, you can't get around the break-in unless you buy used speakers (not a bad thing if you can audition them prior to purchase...or listen to a pair somewhere).
So when you get ANY good speaker home, don't be too harsh on judgement till they play a hundred hours or more. Bass, midrange, and treble all change. Some speakers are weird in different areas (drivers use various technologies) as they break-in. This is no big deal as they reach the design intent in time. True, the electronic X-overs break-in, too, but compared to the mechanical drivers they aren't nearly the limiting factor from good sound.
So, you can't get around the break-in unless you buy used speakers (not a bad thing if you can audition them prior to purchase...or listen to a pair somewhere).