i kinda "broke in" my little subs when I got them, ran them off the HU for a little while, until i got the amp, then..I've cranked them pretty hard since then
After a while of playing, sure, they will get louder. But as far as damaging the sub, it wont happen. Think of it this way, a quality product should work right out of the box without having to worry about the product breaking by doing what it is made to do, otherwise it isn't quality.
My take on it: I've never seen a sub damaged because it wasn't broken in. IMO that is BS. I've seen plenty of subs change sound a little bit after the suspension was broken in.
It all depends on the situation. If it is a low budget sub then let it rip. If it is a good quality-built sub then it depends on the these three things, 1.) Stiffness of suspension 2.)Amount of available power 3.) Ambient temperature. The more strain placed on an electrical motor will result in a higher heat yield. If there is a lot of available power then these heat gains will result quicker and do more damage. If the ambient temperature is high it will be harder for the sub to disipate heat resulting in a type of heat saturation possibly damaging the sub. There are a lot of variables but it all depends on the amount of heat. Large magnetic structures alowed to heat up in the summer sun in an enclsoure or not are very prone to damage because they are hot before you even applied power, blew my SSX the first week I had it this way and took me a long time to fix it. Polo..
"Whats the worst that can happen if you take it easy on your subs for a week or so. nothing"
The worst that could happen? You would consider yourself an idiot for beliveing that they have to be broken in. And you have to live with the thing in your car at low volume. No way in he11 I could do that for some BS reason.
lol, i will try, but ill have to keep ogle away from the volume knob, he keeps tryin to talk me into slammin them hard instantly, what a nice guy,...caring about other peoples equipment they paid for....
"The worst that could happen? You would consider yourself an idiot for beliveing that they have to be broken in. And you have to live with the thing in your car at low volume. No way in he11 I could do that for some BS reason."
Coming from a Newbie, and yes Nick you are a newb. It isn't the fact of breaking things in but in all actuality it is mainly to loosen up the spider(s). If you cannot see the strain that shi can put on the motor assembly then hey, do what you want because you probably ain't running enough power as it is... Polo..
im hearing to many "yes"'s and "no"'s i will just play them half way, and i will be using a bxi2006, so about 800w rms apiece, hopefully thats enough. sorry ogle, lol, looks like u will just have to wait...
I want to see a link from any sub manufacturer claiming a "break in" period is required or damage will result. I'm not challenging ANYONE, I just want to see/read one. Has anyone seen such a warning from their subs? Such an issue should have been addressed by now if one really exists.
breaking in subs makes them more musical, depending on where u get your subs u might have to break it in or not....if you buy used subs more then likly you dont have to, buying SQ or SQL drivers new... you want to break them in IMO but SPL drivers dont really need it i dont think since they are meant to have the stiffer suspension.
from another guy like you whos not exactly a guru at it:
this is asked alot, i started the same type of forum when i first got mine. and it seems 50/50 to me. a dealer and person who installs subs will tell you to play them at half or so to let them break in. i was told 4-5 days. other people think 2 weeks.
to be on the safe side, since it is your money, play them at half of their RMS for a couple hours so they at least get used to bouncing around, i mean they sat on the shelf without moving for how long right? its hard to wait but i think instead of playing them loud off the bat with reduced sound quality and ppossibly breaking them that its worth it to wait 5 or 6 hours before you crank them right?
i will supply full power to them, im just gonna keep the volume down for a lil, I havnt had much experience with subs, but these new ssd's seem to be fairly tight, so ill wait to slam them.
Gut response is that it's BS. Yes things will loosen up over time/useage. If any company won't warrant their product straight out of the box to perform as spec'd then walk away. Right?
Still waiting on any break in period specified from any sub company.
Due to the design of the Rockford Fosgate P3 Shallow subwoofers, a 24-48 hour "break-in" period is required to allow for maximum excursion and low frequency extension. The shallow woofers suspension is intentionally designed to optimize once the internal components are excercised under normal music listening conditions. Rockford Fosgate bass is now available in a much smaller space!!
To "break-in" your woofers, operate your system at normal listening levels so the total listening time is between 24 to 48 hours. Refrain from operating the system at high volumes (don't "bump it") yet until the woofer's suspension has reached it's normal relaxed state."
I looked there first because when I bought my Punch HE's a few years ago, there was a warning on the box about not "flooring" them the first time you use them.
We recommend breaking them in with a good week or so at 3/4 volume. There is a huge thing going around with opinions on each side about "break in", either being a myth or being necessity. Without a break in time, there is a better chance stood of possibly separating a glue joint where a broken in subwoofer will not even have 1/3 the stress at that joint at the same excursion per given frequency. When the spiders are new and at maximum rigidity, you put more stress on the former/spider glue joint as well as the landing/spider glue joint. The higher the frequency, at the same excursion level, naturally the higher the stress at those joints. This is why we recommend breaking them in on a fairly low frequency at medium excursion. The "other side" of the argument is that to break them in you just bang them. The only reason for those folks saying that is that they are lucky enough to be the ones that have not broken something before doing that exact thing. They are probably DD customers! We do everything we can to prevent damage from happening even under the stress of maximum excursion blasts on brand new subs and have not had a problem yet. This does not mean that we do not still recommend the break in period. Aside from the argument, during the subs' break in.....which can take the average consumer up to 6 MONTHS to accomplish.....they get louder and louder.
Mam on your subs it wont matter all, however they will get louder after about a week/2 weeks. Breaking in subs the proper way takes a lot of effort and time. my suggestion is play them at half for the first couple hours then gradualy turn it up....u should have no troubles..
I think that SQ and SQL subs need to be broke in but we actually tell guys who run our SHW subs for SPL only to just screw them in make sure they are wired correctly then hit them with what they have in the lane. Strictly SPL subwoofers are designed to play 45 Hz + so the more you loosen the subwoofer the worse score you get at least with our subwoofer. It is only a small difference but for guy who struggles to add.1 or .2 db it is a big deal. We put 3-6 spiders on the SHW to ensure they stay stiff. For SQ or SQL breaking them in will help with the response. Our SQ and SQL subwoofers need a few days of break in if possible then after that more break in will do nothing because they are then were they are going to stay. Our spiders are a poly/cotton with resign they keep their integrity and don't stretch. Some subwoofers have spiders that will stretch resulting in the subwoofer sitting lower than before resulting in a loss of performance.
"Some subwoofers have spiders that will stretch resulting in the subwoofer sitting lower than before resulting in a loss of performance."
Some sub companies account for this and build an offset so when it does stretch/break-in it is as close to true as possible resulting in better performance, after the fact... Polo..
We have offset also on our drivers. What I was saying is there are spiders that actually just keep stretching and result in the subwoofer sitting lower and losing performance. We tested a lot of different spiders before going with the progressive roll with the resign. What we did to test this is building the subwoofers and setting them out free air with 20 Hz tones for long periods of time them testing for t/s and repeating that a few times then testing t/s again and at the end we will install them and listen. Believe me when I say many spiders do not stand up to abuse over time. We had them stretch and even rip. We actually have some spiders in R&D that are linear we are trying to develop one that will allow 4" of excursion for our new Basket that is coming shortly.
Many pro-sound driver manufacturers such as JBL, Gauss, EV, and McCauley put all of their drivers through brutal full power tests that last up to 100 hours. So when they leave the factory they are broken in and certified to do rated power. I am surprised more car audio companies don't take this approach although it would add considerable time (and in turn, $$$) to their operations.
I have always allowed an hour or so break-in period at a medium level for the drivers I have installed and/or bought for personal use if only to allow the resonant frequency to settle into place so that I can accurately assess the driver-to-box matching. Other than that, like Steve and others have said, mostly what loosens up is the spider... and it also allows the surround to seat and work in a bit before it is driven at full excursion. Any coil-based driver will sound better after about several weeks of use, including headphones.
Lol Polo. One of the things I said was that I never read anything to confirm nor deny the famous break in period debate. (Your commentary not included.) I wanted a manufacturer's response. This issue, to me, seems only related to those looking for high output from their sub "out of the box" and one can only assume from the result of this thread that doing so CAN (not will) end with ill result. I will always be curious as to what a manufacturer's stance would be to a warranty claim involving damage to one of their drivers in a properly installed system during the infamous break in period.
Thread mission accomplished. It's just better to be safe than sorry.
Polo..
