I tested if speaker break in is real

[The other John Browne]

What's up everyone?
Merry Christmas! I've been talking about speaker break in ever since I released my 50+ V30 shootout more than half a year ago. I finally got it done. Enjoy!

 

[James Freeman]

Yes! Just in time.
Watching now.

Edit:
Done watching.
Very interesting indeed!

Spoiler: watch the video first (semi-spoiler)

Surprise surprise, the beat up paper does exactly what an audio engineer would expect from a lighter material, at least before it drops off.
Does that means the smoother 2001-2003 V30 are actually stiffer?...

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Wow, you really put a lot of effort into this. Thank you!

The results are very interesting and - as James already said - might change the perspective on those „magical“ early 2000s batches.

 

[Whizzinby]

Conventional wisdom: Speaker break in is massively important.

Reality: not really.



Its almost like guitar players are full of shit

Great video John.

 

[EOengineer]

Its almost like guitar players are full of shit

I’ll take things we didn’t need science to tell us for 1000, Alex.

 

[Stratzrus]

Conventional wisdom: Speaker break in is massively important.

Reality: not really.

I read a post by @jay mitchell where he said something to the effect that speaker break in could not be scientifically verified. I give his opinions, based on his extensive experience, a lot of credence.

Despite that, I've felt that I heard some improvement in speaker performance after use with some speakers but it could easily be attributed to me adjusting to how they sound more than anything else. Psychoacoustic phenomenon are real.

 

[JiveTurkey]

I'm not apologizing to Geln Frickler

 

[The other John Browne]

Thank you very much!

 

[the-trooper]

Its almost like guitar players are full of shit

 

[the-trooper]

Using digital interface!? And a solid state amp!?!?!
InVaLiD tEsT! nO wArM tUbEs! UsE a ReAl AmP!

 

[Baba]

Its almost like guitar players are full of shit

I’ve never cared about/tested, or heard this phenomenon, and I could have told you this from the start.

If you want to hear something, you’ll hear it. If you don’t, (like me), you won’t.

 

[DrewJD82]

I don’t doubt that a change occurs when a guitarists uses a new speaker/cab for an extended period of time, but it‘s not the speaker, it’s just the guitarist learning the speaker/cab and knowing what to expect after putting a mic on it and/or hearing it blaring for years.

 

[GreatGreen]

I don’t doubt that a change occurs when a guitarists uses a new speaker/cab for an extended period of time, but it‘s not the speaker, it’s just the guitarist learning the speaker/cab and knowing what to expect after putting a mic on it and/or hearing it blaring for years.

Except that the guy actually measured and compared multiple examples of V30 before and after tests while minimizing variables and the speakers literally measured differently after being run hard for long periods of time, so speaker change absolutely occurs.

Did you watch the video?

It's neat that the conventional wisdom of "speakers always darken with use over time" was the exact opposite of what happened in the tests, too.

 

[DrewJD82]

Except that the guy literally compared multiple instances of V30 in before and after tests while minimizing variables and the speakers literally measured differently after being run hard for long periods of time, so speaker change absolutely occurs.

Did you watch the video?

Nope!

And if I watched it and saw/heard it were making a clearly audible difference, I’d only cede that it’s a combination of what I wrote and the speaker changing over time.

 

[GreatGreen]

Nope!

And if I watched it and saw/heard it were making a clearly audible difference, I’d only cede that it’s a combination of what I wrote and the speaker changing over time.

 

[DrewJD82]

I’m not in disagreement it’s an aspect of how we perceive them over time if there’s facts backing it up.

 

[0XI0]

idk all i know is a barely played brand new car smell stock 1960 cab that sounded kind of spider-ish when first acquired, driven by 100 silicon watts of a mesa roadster full bass no distortion clean channel and a looper pedal of clean loud af palm mutes root-fifth where the walls start humming and let ring out, left to run for an hour and a half at ear bleeding volume in a practice space, everything that ever came out of that cab and the G12T-75s after that sounded like velvet

 

[2112]

Can't wait to watch this one @The other John Browne

 

[jay mitchell]

Except that the guy actually measured and compared multiple examples of V30 before and after tests while minimizing variables

There are some important variables he did not mention in the video. He may or may not have controlled them.

and the speakers literally measured differently after being run hard for long periods of time,

True. It's also true that the same brand-new speaker will measure and sound different after no more than ten minutes' hard use, if you don't wait for it to cool down to room temperature before you measure/listen.

so speaker change absolutely occurs.

See above.

It's neat that the conventional wisdom of "speakers always darken with use over time" was the exact opposite of what happened in the tests, too.

The phrase "conventional wisdom" is an oxymoron.

 

[GreatGreen]

There are some important variables he did not mention in the video. He may or may not have controlled them.

True. It's also true that the same brand-new speaker will measure and sound different after no more than ten minutes' hard use, if you don't wait for it to cool down to room temperature before you measure/listen.

See above.

The phrase "conventional wisdom" is an oxymoron.

Dang, I just got schooled by the man himself.

I still love my CLR's, btw. Merry Christmas!