How to "break-in" new speakers??


A number of posts regarding the so-called "break-in-time" (or is it "burn-in-time) for new speakers have muddied the waters for me. If I recall correctly, some posts recommend that new speaker "break-in" could run anywhere from several hours to 175 hours, or more (good grief!), depending on the speaker manufacturer and model/type in question. In my case they would be the Rega RS-1 bookshelves. On other posts I have read that burning-in is a red-herring and should be ignored. I have also read that a proper burn-in should be done at a high volume, but not so high as to damage the speakers (an unnecessary caution), while simultaneously running the speakers non-stop for the necessary burn-in period. I find myself especially resistant to the last half of these recommendations, if only because I would like to think it possible to get a good nights sleep while simultaneously doing right by my speakers. I can only hope that however many responses I receive will not further muddy the already dark waters.
georgester
With my Focals I noticed the tweeter was a bit harsh right out of the box and sounded better within a couple of weeks of listening. The bass extension improved over a period of months, but I'd just suggest leaving the system running at a moderate volume when you're gone during the day. You can choose music that has highs and lows to physically work the drivers. With speakers it's a mostly about the material in the drivers getting some work. If you're worried about them not sounding great now and therefore want to break them in you'll never like them. Also, I don't think any particular break in is required to avoid damage.
Put your speaker about 2 feet or less apart and facing each other, on one speaker only put the red to the black connector and the red to the black connector. put on cd to repeat. Set the volume at about 11:00, they will cancel each other out and the sound will be minimum. Do this each day as you go to work for about a week.
Do you have run them non-stop? Only if you are impatient like me ;) The distributor told me that. My Dyn C1 sounded great out of the box but between 100 - 200 hrs they sounded horrible. Honky - dull even a little smeared. That lasted for about 50 hrs before they started to come back (I wasn't happy with the finish on my first pair and by the time they were broken in my replacement arrived - Now to do it all over again). When I upgraded to the C1 signatures I switched to my son's system (not as resolving) so I didn't really hear that 'horrible' time.

That being said I haven't heard of any other speaker manufacturer that goes through that. The Originals really took between 350 - 400 hrs to finally sound great. The distributor also mentioned the C1's take the longest of the entire line up. As for the signature/MKII I e-mailed a couple of other owners and they said at about 25 hrs they went downhill and about 50 hrs they were great.

That is my experience with new C1 speakers.