What's the best way to break-in a new speaker?

[Creamy]

I am expecting a 12F150 in the mail any day now. What is the process for breaking it in, if any?

 

[mad dog]

I broke in my 12F150 just by regular playing. But I did make an effort to play lots of chords low down. In other words, not just melody lines, trying to give the speaker a work out. Took a few hours in my BFDR. Sounded boxy as hell for a while. That typical "what have I done?" feeling. Play through it and your's will open up like mine did. Very fine speaker!

 

[Creamy]

Thanks for the reply mad dog. How many hours of break-in time did it need?

 

[dk123123dk]

Play it till it feels right. There is no right or wrong answer.

dk

 

[jackaroo]

I own a looper pedal, I set up a beefy low riff on my guitar and leave the house all day-

 

[mad dog]

Creamy:

I started to hear a difference after a couple hours. A few loud jams then helped it along further. Somewhere between 5 and 10 hours of loud use is when it fell into the sweet spot and stayed there. The difference from start to finish was quite noticeable.

 

[Lonely Raven]

I'm not sure if Ted still does it, but if you ask, he will break in the speakers for you.

You can also break in a speaker quickly with a variac:

http://www.unclespot.com/speakerbreakin.html

I like the looping idea mentioned above as it's super easy if you have a loop pedal, but I'm sure it drives the neighbors nucking futs.

What I did for my last pair of speakers, is bolt them face to face, then I wired them up out of phase to a variac (use the link above for info) and had them push/pull eachother. I just tossed them into the back of a closet and checked on them every few hours to make sure a cat wasn't sitting on them or they didn't burst into flames or anything weird.

I have some blue dogs that when from good to HOLY CRIPES in just one day with a good workout. I have a set of WGS Green Berets I need to do this to next.

On a simliar but slightly off topic note, I just received some WGS Veteran 30's that were well broken in by the previous owner. WOW! They sound so warm and woody after being broken in...*way* better then a fresh pair. you can hear the stiffness has just been worn away!

Also, IIRC, I think Scumback speakers are broken in on a variac. Jim will correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[willhutch]

I have broken in speakers by connecting them to my stereo. I just threaded the bare wires of the speaker cables around/through the guitar speaker terminals, cranked the radio and went to work. Did this for a couple of days.

Worked fine.

 

[twangbanger]

ran my i-pod thru my practice amp and into the new speakers w/ the bass up alittle and put some moving blankets over the cab let them burn in for about ten hours, then i did the rest w/ the guitar!

 

[Iceman8.6]

I'm not sure if Ted still does it, but if you ask, he will break in the speakers for you.

You can also break in a speaker quickly with a variac:

http://www.unclespot.com/speakerbreakin.html

I like the looping idea mentioned above as it's super easy if you have a loop pedal, but I'm sure it drives the neighbors nucking futs.

What I did for my last pair of speakers, is bolt them face to face, then I wired them up out of phase to a variac (use the link above for info) and had them push/pull eachother. I just tossed them into the back of a closet and checked on them every few hours to make sure a cat wasn't sitting on them or they didn't burst into flames or anything weird.

I have some blue dogs that when from good to HOLY CRIPES in just one day with a good workout. I have a set of WGS Green Berets I need to do this to next.

On a simliar but slightly off topic note, I just received some WGS Veteran 30's that were well broken in by the previous owner. WOW! They sound so warm and woody after being broken in...*way* better then a fresh pair. you can hear the stiffness has just been worn away!

Also, IIRC, I think Scumback speakers are broken in on a variac. Jim will correct me if I'm wrong.

Where can you get a variac at?

 

[soldano16]

I just did it this week with my new Celestion Gold. It made a big difference.

Just used the headphone out on my Edirol recorder into an amp.

 

[goodsal]

How loud do you need to play through the speaker to break it in? I have a looper, but what volume should I set my Clark Beaufort to break in my Weber 12A125? There are limits to what my family can tolerate.

I was told to just get the cone moving, but I can't see it move no matter how loud I play it.

 

[bilbal]

I have broken in speakers by connecting them to my stereo. I just threaded the bare wires of the speaker cables around/through the guitar speaker terminals, cranked the radio and went to work. Did this for a couple of days.

Worked fine.

+1 - I have heard this method more than a few times!!

b

 

[blackba]

The best way to break in speakers is just to play through them. Any other method is just a short cut to get there faster.

For me I don't worry about it that much as I buy alot of used speakers. When I do get a new one I just play through it and try to reserve too much judgement for the first month or two....

 

[Bo Faulkner]

I just play mine .. with time they sound better. Some speakers take longer than others but my new Scumbacks sound great out of the box

 

[mprvise]

I can play as much as I want on new speakers at home, but until my cabs or new speakers have at least a few good loud gigs on them they just don't sound fully broken in to me.

May have to try to drive the neighbors nuts using the looper method on the next new cab.

 

[EADGBE]

Guitar > metal zone > amp. This is the way I did it. I played at home at low volume. The cab sounds wonderful now.

 

[GuitarsFromMars]

Scumbacks are not broken in.It takes anywhere from 30-50 hours of playing time for adequate break-in.At that point,no return,Dorothy...

 

[gkoelling]

I am expecting a 12F150 in the mail any day now. What is the process for breaking it in, if any?

I had a 12F150 in a DRRI and it took about 8 hours of playing to break it in.

Nice speaker.....have fun!

 

[Creamy]

Great ideas here ont the methods. What I had read from Dave Hunter book was that you need to be sure that that speaker is broken in at low volume with different frequencies before driving is hard.