Speaker Break-In - What Physically Changes During Break-In To Enable Better Sound?


All,

Have seen people and manufacturers mention that speakers need to be played for a while to break-in / open up.  Would like to know what physically happens to the speaker components to enable better sound during the break-in period.  Please share your wisdom on this.

Thanks!
michiganbuckeye
shadorne-Hmmm...now let me see..when watching a close-up video on YouTube of a mid-range driver excursion test the cone is constantly moving back and forth on a suspended surround. The constant back and forth motion is caused by a piston moving constantly in and out working just like a car piston which is why the inventor of this type of driver, Edgar Villchur, called it a piston driver in 1952. You really need to do your homework.
Speaker break in is correlated to how many hours you spend in the listening chair. As you sink in your chair over the hours waiting for the drivers to come of age, you will fall slightly below the initial elevation of listening axis. This is called SLOUCH EFFECT. Thus, as the speaker becomes relatively taller to your ears, you feel the sound improves. It’s properly known as SPEAKASS BREAK IN. So, in actuality, it’s your listening chair that breaks in, not the speakers. ;)
shadorne..I neglected to add that the God's were not with Edgar Villchur when he invented his piston driver, he experienced one of the greatest tragedies of all time in audio history and would have been the Bill Gate's of audio and the richest man in high end audio. In 1958 his patent was challenged in Federal Court in New York City and was denied by a federal judge. Since he lost his patent, it prevented him from licensing his patent all over the world to every speaker company and by the early 60's speaker companies everywhere grabbed his design and ran with it. He got so depressed he quit the speaker business in 1958 and made a bundle designing the best hearing aides in the country. His remaining partners that year started up another speaker company called KLH.