Alpine Break in

Thats what I think the problem is. Even though it has like 16 or so hours it has only been a few days. AlpineGuy said it wouldn't be up to its best for like a month so I'm tring my hardest to be patient. I would hate to blow the d*mn thing. The surround still feels pretty stiff. I don't know if it will change to a point the I can feel it by hand, but nonetheless it still feels stiff. I also hope I my expectations aren't too high. I didn't pay retail for it but a sub that retails at $449 it should make my ears bleed. D*mn, maybe I'm going deaf. Maybe it aint the amp or speaker. Maybe its my ears.

Breakin is def. not a myth.  If you notice when new subs are turned up too loud at first before they are broke in, they will pop.  I let mine play for like a week long. Just like 1-2 hours a day.  Let them warm up for a while and they'll be fine.01 extreme

Nope, I have to disagree... If "breaking in" a woofer were really doing something, the physical parameters of the driver would change, right? Well, I am here to tell you they DON'T CHANGE ENOUGH TO MAKE "BREAKING IN" WORTH ALL THE HUB-BUBB. I have NEVER broken a single driver in, and I am a fan of TREMENDOUS overpowering of a driver - read some of my previous posts. The Eclipse Ti 12 in my trunk right now has been run as loud as I could stand it since the day I installed it, and I am using the Eclipse DA7232 4000 watt amp to drive it - for almost two years now... Also, I have an engineer friend who works for Harmon in Northridge Ca, and he himself has NEVER been able to see a difference in physical parameters, even after YEARS of running a woofer. It's a waste of time... open that bad-boy UP!It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

I'm not an engineer but it seems obvious that the surround on at least this speaker needs to strech its legs a bit before being blasted. Both the design and the material (santoprene) offer room to strech. A foam surround probly doesn't need to be broken in as the foam will not change but santoprene will strech. Alpine also makes mention of the break in among the other things that they give no recomendations for and they do state that the given parameters are after break in. But like I said earlier in this post, I too have never broken in a sub before and have never blown a speaker unless I was just asking for it. But I have also never had a sub with a vulcanized rubber surround.