Breaking in subs

Do breaking in subs really make a difference? Whats the fastest way to break them in? I'm geting 2 brand new L7's from kicker and they said to play it at half volume for 16 hours.. Does it really make a difference?

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I guess that guy has subs.

some people say it does some say it dosent,   some people say to play at half vol for a few hours, I have also read of a way called setting the coils    supposed to be for SPL use.      you crank the subs till warm then shut off till cool and repeat 3 or 4 times    dont blame me i never tried it and not planning on it

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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place

Personally, I didn't on my sub, but then again, I didn't know it was suggested. But no, you don't need to "break in" a speaker. Before the company shipps out their speakers, they hook them up and test them. Or at least GOOD company's do. Any "break-in" that is required, happens right there. The only reason for break in is because the driver is a mechanical, moving part, and needs to be seated/tested/whatever before play.

Now, if it's cold outside, I would let it warm up a little, and that could kinda be called break-in.

Paul

If you have a test CD of recorded frequencies, one being your sub's resonant freq (Fs)...then do it.  It's fun to watch and takes only 10 minutes.  The sub is connected outside of the enclosure, hanging or laying in free air.  Play the freq ( mine was 22 Hz ) and keep the power very low.  Watch the excursion, and turn the volume up a little until you can see about how far the excursion measures.  My Xmax is 17mm, or 2/3 inch, so full excursion is 1 1/3 inches.  Turn the volume up until your sub gets close to the full excursion but doesn't exceed it.  But you'll note the volume is still much lower than you would normally play your music at.

It sounds like a whiiiirrrrrr, sorta like a fan.  And it's definitely cool to watch.  Ten minutes is break-in.  At least, that's the way, or close to it, that you would break in a speaker required by the manufacturer to be broken in...in some home audio gear.  Car speakers don't have that requirement, except for the "take it easy for awhile" disclaimer.

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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.

Crutchfield recommends breaking the sub in for 20 hours at low volume. But I think they are being overly cautious.

We actually had an interesting discussion on this topic recently at our forum.  Here's a link for those who are interested: https://acoustic-visions.com/forums/index.php?s=73262b6f3645d4ea3595327b399716f6&showtopic=1941

Steven Kephart

Adire Audio

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Top Urban Myth: The Burn In/ Break In Myth

This is from a home audio forum that I frequent. The same applies to car audio.

Paul

installer: you can break in subs and play them as loud and long as possible as you want to. PROVIDING that there is absolutely no distortion coming from the sub.

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xTimx

Here's a link to a home audio speaker manufacturer, Ohm, that talks about break-in periods in everything they say.  They want 30 days, typically, of normal playing.  I have a old pair of Ohm speakers from about 1976 and still use them...I believe they're broken in by now...

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Build the box so that it performs well in the worst case scenario and, in return, it will reward you at all times.