Is break in quicker with Planars and Stats?

Plausible works. Don't want to be too scientific, it spoils the discussion.

Jim

You know what they say about opinions. Musicnoise made perfectly good sense to me and we could argue this forever.
I have bought several "new" speakers and they still sound the same weeks later and I think it's all in your head.

I design loudspeakers. I find most every type of driver needs break in, some more than others, capacitors also need break in. True ribbons need little break in. Thus I run in loudspeakers so customers dont hear this break in. I would think the folks saying no break in needed dont feel the same about shoes- cars etc. Drivers + loudspeakers do have moving parts to break in heat friction and current changes other parts to some degree;) drivers dont always have the same performance as new they wear like everything. So drivers + loudspeakers are always in a state of change. The good ones just do it slower.

Norton,

It is possible that you and Musicnoise buy your speakers from a builder/manufacturer like Johnk who puts hours of run in on their speakers before selling. Truly great high end service!

I have to shop at the value end of the scale where Maggies perform very well vs. cost although it takes a little time from new (maybe 100 hours) for them to come into their own.

Respectfully,
Jim S.

Perhaps it depends on the design. An Electrostatic with high step up transformers + high voltage capacitors is more likely to change over time than a sealed box speaker with a compliant woofer. In the case of a sealed box speaker single woofer the air suspension and driver back emf will probably dominate after five minutes of break in (five minutes loud is probably enough to make the surround and spider compliant). An array speaker with 8 cones that barely move might also be a different matter - it is conceivable that some drivers may not break in as quickly as others - leading to a long break in time. Designs with weak motors and light weight cones in an under damped box where mechanical suspension dominates may change response every time you play them as the surround is known to become stiff after a day without uses and takes a few seconds to become compliant.

So I guess it "depends" - it is certainly possible to design speakers that will not need breaking in after a mere few minutes or that will not change with age. The trick is to make the mechanical compliance a very small factor compared to everything else that it becomes irrelevant. This suggests a design with big motor and beefy amplifiers that control excursion and an acoustic damped suspension will need less break-in or next to no break-in, IMHO.