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Breaking-In Headphones?

So after my last pair of 7506s got crushed in my luggage, I went out on bought some replacements. Now I have never broken in ANY on my headphones. This will be my 3rd pair on sonys (first was v700, then my 7507s), and all of them sounded just fine throughout their life. My 700s still sound as good as they ever did.

But with a brand new set of cans, I'm wondering if i sould break them in first. I never mix at high volume at home, only when I'm playing a club. Since I dont have any gigs coming up anytime soon, I'm thinking my normal bedroom mixing will be just fine. I also read on article on SOS about how rapid break-in can acutally do more harm than good.

So do i really need to break em in?

When I read about breaking headphones in, I was under the impression that there was no particular method in which it was done, it was simply the period of time it takes for the headphone drivers to loosen up a bit and get to their full sound quality.


When I first got my V6's the left ear was a lot quieter than the right, and seeing as I bought them from the US I though I'd be fucked if I'd got a dodgy pair. But luckily enough, after about 20 hours use the drivers loosened up a bit and are still perfect to this day.

[/queer story]

let your headphones break in on their own

let the drivers do what they need to do, pushing them beyond their boundries before they're able to can do them harm

if you want your headphones to break in a bit faster, leave them going with music at about normal volume, so you're not working the drivers too hard, for about 8-10 hours at a time
then give them a chance to relax for a few before hitting them again

think of running a race without stretching vs running after stretching

http://www.rock-grotto.co.uk/Headphonebreakin.htm

quote:

Originally posted by Tony Morello let your headphones break in on their own let the drivers do what they need to do, pushing them beyond their boundries before they're able to can do them harm if you want your headphones to break in a bit faster, leave them going with music at about normal volume, so you're not working the drivers too hard, for about 8-10 hours at a time then give them a chance to relax for a few before hitting them again think of running a race without stretching vs running after stretching

Wouldn't agree completely with this.

Yes i'd run speakers in, but whether you run them in for 40 hours or for 8-10 hours then give them a break then run them in again, makes no difference in my eyes.

Speakers are made a certain way, whether they're played continuously (at a good leveled volume) for 100hrs, or 10 hours then a break then 10 hours again. Makes no difference.

It's what they're there to do. Play music, as long as you're not playing them at loud volumes (eg, distortion or close to levels) Then they should play perfectly, forever. (obviously not forever but you know what i mean..)

nelly

what are you saying n3lly?

That breaking in speakers is a bogus idea?

quote:

Play music, as long as you're not playing them at loud volumes

so this means that eather one way or the other both work..

For stereo speakers it is recommended that you break them in for 40 hours before playing them at high volume. I imagine that the time is similar for headphones. I broke mine in by letting them play a long CD at medium-low volume for a couple days. They were set after that.

quote:

Originally posted by jdat what are you saying n3lly? That breaking in speakers is a bogus idea?

He is saying that giving the cans a break during break-in makes no difference than just running them straight for 100 hours.

quote:

Originally posted by Zild He is saying that giving the cans a break during break-in makes no difference than just running them straight for 100 hours.

That's correct.. Obviously speakers need to be broken in. Well they don't NEED! to, but they perform better once they have.

You'll notice this especially with subwoofers. (car audio enthusiasts will tell you more then anyone how much their subs improve after installing them initially and letting them break in)

White noise is often also used to break speakers in but it doesn't really matter what you play as long as the speaker's suspension is getting a work out.

Anyway..
nelly

Hey Vero hows it goin this is Joel. We were chattin it up at GTR Center the other day.

As for your problem with your headphones I wouldn't worry about breaking them in. With large a large cabnet speakers I dont worry to much about breaking them in. They will do that on their own in time. One thing that is good to do with speakers youve been pushing rather hard is, rather than turn them right off after your done bumpin, play some music thru them at a low level to let the vice coils cool. If your going to be hittin those kind of levels in your head phones thou I would be more concerned about my hearing.

quote:

Originally posted by simplexdb One thing that is good to do with speakers youve been pushing rather hard is, rather than turn them right off after your done bumpin, play some music thru them at a low level to let the vice coils cool. If your going to be hittin those kind of levels in your head phones thou I would be more concerned about my hearing.

that's what i was aiming for when i mentioned you should allow them to rest, he just worded it better

you want to let your voice coils cool properly after pushing hard

quote:

Originally posted by Tony Morello that's what i was aiming for when i mentioned you should allow them to rest, he just worded it better you want to let your voice coils cool properly after pushing hard

Yea, I definitely let my new monitor "cool" down after thumping it... play a few tracks while I am chillin to let her relax, then turn her off...

lol. you guys can't be serious with this shit?

the speakers need to relax before i turn them off. wtf is that about?! don't the coils cool when the speaker is turned off? guess not then. it's a speaker ffs, not a living creature.

quote:

Originally posted by skip lol. you guys can't be serious with this shit? the speakers need to relax before i turn them off. wtf is that about?! don't the coils cool when the speaker is turned off? guess not then. it's a speaker ffs, not a living creature.

I love my girls... gotta treat them right!

quote:

Originally posted by skip lol. you guys can't be serious with this shit? the speakers need to relax before i turn them off. wtf is that about?! don't the coils cool when the speaker is turned off? guess not then. it's a speaker ffs, not a living creature.

I agree with the above..

Voice coils will never reach a high enough temperature unless your absolutely BLASTING them..

In car audio, if you run your music normally or loudly you'd be fine.

However running an SPL install is a completely different thing, as you're stressing your speakers quite a bit, bringing them to their max etc.

What you're saying is, well it's not true. Your speakers will cool whether you play music through them quietly or just turn off whatever source is being put through them.

Seriously. Speakers are intended to play music/noise, just like a bike's wheel is suppose to go round and round. It's what they do.

nelly

quote:

Originally posted by n3lly I agree with the above.. Voice coils will never reach a high enough temperature unless your absolutely BLASTING them.. In car audio, if you run your music normally or loudly you'd be fine. However running an SPL install is a completely different thing, as you're stressing your speakers quite a bit, bringing them to their max etc. What you're saying is, well it's not true. Your speakers will cool whether you play music through them quietly or just turn off whatever source is being put through them. Seriously. Speakers are intended to play music/noise, just like a bike's wheel is suppose to go round and round. It's what they do. nelly

What I said about the voice coils heating up is only a problem if your hitting levels above 100dB and really only applys to subs and club size systems. The vioce coil will heat up due to friction. If you just shut a system like that off after bumpin hard, you could cause the voice coil to seze up. Playing alittle music for 5-10 mins at low volume after your done, will let it cool and keep from sezing up.

Anyways, dont worry about all this in reguards to your headphones and dont worry about breaking them in, they will do that on their own.

i just wore mine to bed for the first week.

seemed to work just fine after that.

quote:

Originally posted by Floorwhore i just wore mine to bed for the first week. seemed to work just fine after that.

lol... i like it!

The only time I've heard about 'breaking-in' speakers was if you have a sub-woofer in your car and you have to let it warm up a bit in the winter to prevent it cracking due to the cold.

I've purchased new cans and used them in a club right out of the package without any issue.

First thing I've always done with speakers is pump through bass tests and see what they can do for volume. Never heard anything about breaking them in. They're speakers, not shoes.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Allen The only time I've heard about 'breaking-in' speakers was if you have a sub-woofer in your car and you have to let it warm up a bit in the winter to prevent it cracking due to the cold. I've purchased new cans and used them in a club right out of the package without any issue. First thing I've always done with speakers is pump through bass tests and see what they can do for volume. Never heard anything about breaking them in. They're speakers, not shoes.

same,

i hook it up, and see what it can handle.

The only thing is, i do wonder if that's bad for them. Maybe they need to loosen up a bit. Being too tight and overcranked my cause them to tear or something.... lol... i dunno...

I just got my pair of V6s today and the high ends sounds very crap, almost distorted.
To speed up the process im going to generate some pink noise and let it play over night.
I hope these just need breaking in, was a similar case with my last headphones, I just dont remember them sounding this bad.

I'm a member on another car audio forum which has quite a few knowledgable guys on there. And i asked them the question we were discussing here..


http://www.talkaudio.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?t=175066

That's the answer i got from them.. There's a bit of waffle half way through the thread but towards the end there's quite a bit of useful info, the lad EF MAX, knows his stuff really well.

and another thread on coils seizing up..

http://www.talkaudio.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?t=175209

This is probably more appropriate to subs rather then ear phones.

Either way, playing pink noise (white noise) is a common way of letting your speakers wear in Should work a treat.

Also try using a few different sources Although i'm sure the equipment you're using is of a high standard so that point probably wont affect the result.. Just trying to help though.

nelly

quote:

Originally posted by skip it's a speaker ffs, not a living creature.

YOU TAKE THAT BACK!

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