Build Your Own Clone Message Board

What is your guys opinions? Voodoo or something to this?

Of course if you practice voodoo then you won't know what I mean

Yes, I am a big supporter of breaking in speakers. I really can here a different after 20 or 25 hours of good use. About 100 hours and they have hit their full break in my opinion. Alot of times I dont even like brand new speakers, they sound harsh and thin until broken iin.

They seal the speaker with "doping" this is what has to get loosened up. I would suggest (for 12in or larger speakers) making a cable that will go from dvd/cd to the speaker, place the speaker on its face (so some of the volume gets attenuated) and blast Snoop Dogg's "DoggyStyle" for 20 hours. That should do it nicely.

Breaking in definitely helps loosen it up. Weber will do it for free if you ask them to when you order. I read something about breaking them in using a 12 volt transformer and tried it once a few years ago. Only time I've ever blown a speaker. I obviously had no idea what I was doing. "Hey, it's a 50 watt speaker, 12 volts can't hurt it right?"

I think I read somewhere on TGP that speakers sound better when you blast Tupac through them for 20 hours, as opposed to Snoop Dogg. Is that just voodoo?

Snoop is alive and Tupac is dead, so I'm going with Snoop

I just had a momentary flashback while reading this that Ppopguy did this recently? Right Eric?

Ok then. I ask as my new Weber DT10 sounds "stiff" for lack of a better word.

Morgan, I did not know Weber will do that but I sure will check it out next one I buy.

Yup, breaking in is needed. I typically will run mine loud (like volume up around 7-8) for 30 minutes at a time, as often as I can. But yes, a broken in speaker will sound much more 'relaxed' and just feel better. Figure 20-40 hours of hard playing.
-P

Speaker break in DOES make a significant difference. Just a sideline, I read several years ago that EVH used to have a dedicated warehouse where he would take his new speakers/cabs and let them feedback for 24 hours to break them in and also to weed out any which would otherwise blow on tour.

If you bump Biggie your speaker has more mojo...

What I did is I played chords & licks into a looper pedal and let that run through the cabs for about 5 hours at a stretch with some heavy blankets over them.. it was super annoying because I stayed in the house, but I did that for a few days..

Just to throw this out there...

couldn't one just practice for 20-40+ hours on a speaker and just as effectively break in the speaker?

Yes. But it it needs to be pretty loud practice. Playing at bedroom levels is never going to loosen that bad boy up.
-P

Ah, I see.

Geek, you mean this right, and not his debut album

I don't know about my speakers but that could be some break in for my TV

I suggested DoggyStyle for the "Bottom End"...I see the vid has that covered as well.

For. The. Win.

I've got an old Variac transformer that takes 120V/60Hz from the wall and puts out whatever AC voltage you want at 60Hz. Maybe that'd be a good tool? Just have to do the math to determine how many watts would be dissipated at what voltage and speaker impedance to make sure I stay within specs. 60Hz is certainly enough bottom end... although perhaps not as much as that video.

awesome Snoop post, BTW

edit:
some quick maths (ignoring the hard stuff like complex Z of the speaker at chosen frequency) suggests that putting 30VAC into my 8ohm speaker with the variac should produce a current of 3.75 amps, and hence a power dissipation of 30 watts. I'll have to do the REAL math and take some careful readings of my variac, too... but I think I might be on to something here.

I heard pushing on the edge of the paper softly help break it in, just dont punch your finger through

The best way is to run your mp3 player through your amp and just listen to the theme to shaft at a loud level. Just be careful, rumor has it that it will make your hair fro a lil after an hour or so.

You've got half of that right. 30VAC into 8R will give you 3.75 amps. That's more like 112 watts (30V * 3.75 amps). You need something more like 15.5 volts to get 30 watts into 8R. As a CYA, I'd probably run it under it's max power if you intend to run this for hours. This will give you some room for error if your assumptions are wrong (Z at chosen frequency isn't 8R), or duty cycle rating isn't 100% continuous.

P = (V^2) / R

30 = (V^2) / 8

240 = V^2

SQRT(240) = V

15.49 = V

Or you can cheat (this is what I do): http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-ohm.htm

(this is not related directly to Phreek's Shaft comment, I'm just trying to wrap my head around how to get an audio source through my speaker that isn't a looping pedal into my amp, as I don't own a looping pedal...)

Without an AUX input like modern day modeling amps have for playing along to your favorite tunes, how does one safely do this? I hate impedance stuff as I don't get it, but I have come to understand that plugging the headphone output of an mp3 player/iphone/ipod etc, directly into the instrument in of an amp, can be potentially lethal for the device and that a transformer of some type is required in between the two.

I know, providing again the stereo's output impedance is safe with the speaker's impedance, you can plug the output of a home stereo (which likely has an aux in that you could plug your mp3 player into), directly to the speaker itself as in speaker wire +/- directly onto the tabs on the speaker.

And if what's left of my hair fro'd a little, I fear anyone that has to witness that

I'm with you dude. Scared to do anything I don't understand here. I don't have a looper pedal built yet. I have the Paramix board but not built. Don't own an MP3 player.

John,
I'm sure if you were clever (and you are) you could fashion something along these lines with appropriate mini plug..mono is fine.