HOW TO
3 ways to run in your speakers
Now that you have your shiny new speakers all set up in the correct position and you’ve managed to wire them up using our wiring advice blog, let’s talk about running them in, otherwise referred to as breaking in or burning in.
Running in, Breaking In, Burn In, what is it and why do we do it?
While all our speakers are built to our Fyne exacting standards, much like when you buy a new car, the brakes and engine need some bedding in time to be at their best. Your speaker driver will have a degree of tension in the spider and the cone material and the surrounds for example will be a little stiffer. All of these parts will, over a fairly short period of time, loosen up and improve the overall sound quality. This usually takes around 24 to 36 hours of total play time. How you approach this breaking in period will probably vary from person to person, and you will probably find a multitude of options if you search the internet, but there are certain methods which we would recommend for achieving this.
A cuthrough of F700 Series IsoFlare driver
Recommended methods
1. Continuous play
One option would be to play your speakers continuously for 24 hours at a standard listening volume, for most people this isn’t practical and it’s unlikely to get you that invite to the neighbour’s annual BBQ!
2. Reversing Polarity
The second option is to set your speakers up as normal and then turn them in to face each other about 4 to 6 inches or so apart. Next, reverse the polarity on one speaker (this is a fancy way of saying switch the black and red speaker cables around on the back of the speaker terminals). This cancels bass frequencies so reduces annoyance. Doing this allows you to play slightly higher levels of sound without the bass being excessive. Don’t play it too loud though, you can still damage that new driver by over driving it. Don’t forget to swap your wires back after running in!
Swap the positive and negative cables around on one speaker to reverse the polarity and place your speakers 4 to 6 inches apart.
3. Kickback and listen
The third option, and least intrusive, just play your favourite tunes as you normally would and enjoy them. You can then hear them evolve with each listening session, with improvements taking place after a relatively short period of time. As we all have hectic lives and time is of the essence, this is what most people prefer to do.
Running in Music
You need to play something with a reasonable amount of bass to get the cones moving, this will help to reduce the stress in the materials. Alternatively, there are burn-in CD’s available that can be played on repeat. We would recommend the IsoTek System Enhancer CD (other burn-in CD’s are available).
So, there you have it. Not a difficult task or as complicated as you might have thought. Now you get to decide how much you love your neighbours, choose your favourite option and get those bad boys run in.
Happy listening!