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Focal Diablo / Utopia III breakin really long?

I've purchased a new pair of Focal Diablos. When the speakers were first installed for a day or so they were good though the midland and up had a pretty coherent image. After the first few days they really lost some life, weird. I was warned that this would occur and the magic would reappear after break in but I didnt really expect this. This pair now has around 300 hrs on them. I don't know how many music hours it will take for them to break in and open up. Any Diablo or other Utopia series III owners out there that have experienced this?
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tom6897's avatar
tom6897
1,484 posts
 
Glad to know you have the experience.

As a general rule when buying new I like to make a deal on the demo equipment at the dealer. This ensures that you do not overpay and the unit in question will have several hundred hours on it before you get it home.

Let us know what happens in the next two weeks of listening.
jafant's avatar
jafant
19,901 posts
 
Yes. 500+ hours.
mceljo
1,357 posts
 
Why would it matter if the speakers are in our out of phase? Why would the direction they are facing matter? I would assume the blanket is just to muffle the sound which makes sense to avoid driving people crazy, but the other advice seems to be void of any logical explanation.

Does you advice change in the northern vs. the souther hemisphere? Toilets swirl the opposite direction to I am sure audio is similarly effected.

I am honest curious about the whys behind you advice...
bo1972's avatar
bo1972
2,789 posts
 
How loud do you play during breaking in? Also Avalon can have an extreme brake in. In owned a Meridian 800. The first one I bought needed 6 weeks of breaking in 24 hours a day. The sound was harsh and it needed 6 weeks before it was gone. I also thought it would not go away anymore. At the end it all solved. Good luck and give it some time. Sometimes we used some other amps and sources to make sure it was the speaker.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,254 posts
 
Placing them face to face with one speaker hooked up in reverse polarity will result in the acoustic cancellation of most of the sound. The blanket just takes it a step further. When implemented you can turn the volume up real loud, have the drivers pumping and have very little acoustic output. A tried and true way to break-in a pair of loudspeakers.
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