speaker "break-in"?

it may just be me, but i just put 4 new speakers in my 07 double cab, for a total of 10 speakers (didn't take the old ones out) and i am almost positive that the speakers sound better now than when i first installed them two months ago. so do speakers actually "break in" or am i jsut crazy?

 

Yes - at least some do ...

If you browse around the hardcore audio forums (e.g., DIYMobileAudio) you'll find frequent references to break-in periods and / or how long to give such-and-such speakers before finally judging their performance in the new setting ...

 

thank you, it's good to know i'm not going crazy

 

Yes speakers do sound better after some break in and as Enola mentioned you'll find lots of debates regarding how long it takes over at DIYMA. In my experience I have found it would be extremely difficult to positively say I still hear improvement after several hours of moderate play and in any case human hearing memory is so short I seriously doubt you could tell a difference 2 months later so I'm gonna have to say you are going

BTW, just out of curiosity are all of those speakers connected and if so why?

 

well, right after i installed them, i remember running them through the volume range, and i remember that around level 40, i could start to hear some distortion, adn full volume got kinda fuzzy. i tried it again a few days ago, adn 40 sounded great, and i only got noticalblt distortion about 5 away from full volume.

and yes, all of the speakers are connected...i wired each new speaker directly into a different one of the existing speakers. while the bass, volume, etc. was not improved, instead of having a regular old stereo sound, it resembles more of a surround-sound feel since there are now 4 extra locations that sound is coming out of. i installed a switch so that i can turn the new speakers on or off whenever i want, and just flicking it back and forth, is like holding a set of earbuds next to your ears and putting them in your ears. the sound quality in the back seat is also improved since the new speakers have a tweeter, so there is now a better range of sound in the back.

 

Quite honestly I can't even imagine what that sounds like with all the phase issues introduced when you turn on the second set of speakers but all that matters is that you like it!

 

sure... speakers will loosen up and take less power to run efficiently.... i doubt you would notice on midrange speakers.... as with subwoofers its hard to tell a difference with the human ear but the more you use the subs the higher numbers you will put up on the spl meter... like i said proble wont be able to "hear"

as far as all of those speakers....omg talk about phase issues.... i hope you are running some of them to an amplifier at a safe impedance.... and not all to your head unit

 

i'm more of a mechanical person rather than electrical, so i have to ask, what is a "phase issue"?

 

Don't consider me authoritative on the issue, but here's how I think of it in layman's terms:


Adding more speakers simply gives you a larger amount of noise. It's not necessarily good because it doesn't add to the quality and can actually be a detriment by confusing your ears. It's like being in a room with 5 people singing at you, each person at different distances, positions, height, and different voices. They are all singing the same song, but you hear it differently (and in some cases, at a slightly different time).

Putting things in the correct phase involves mounting only the necessary (and correct type) speakers in the proper positions, then tuning them so the sound hits your ears at the proper time. Think of how an orchestra or a choir gets arranged. They put the baritones in a certain spot, altos somewhere else, etc. That way, you achieve clarity.

The idea isn't to try to force you stereo into 'surround sound', but to provide simplicity and positioning.

 

dear god

 

Phase has to do with the arrival times of sound waves. When you have numerous speakers in numerous different locations playing the same signal you have the same sound arriving at your ears numerous different times leading to "incoherent" sound. Also, some may confuse "phase" with "polarity". Polarity would be the relationship of the wires to the terminals on the speakers. Having the wires connected positive to positive and negative to negative does not necessarily mean the speakers are "in phase".

 

I missed this one but that is actually a pretty good analogy!

 

x2 i would have to agree....

in most cases out of phase speakers will cancel sound from others

 

Phasing would matter to someone listening to music. If someone is listening to BOOM BOOM CLAP with enough bass to shake the paint off the vehicle it won't matter a bit.

(not saying you're doing that colinb17 )

 

no not true!.... subs out of phase will cancel eachother almost 100%

 

LOL probably true! But they do it anyways and it makes the windows in my house shake when they slide by!

 

haha, while i am 19, i'm not really into the "BOOM BOOM CLAP"...but i do enjoy a nice loud country song (some of which have a fair amount of bass)... but even still, with the speet that sound travels at, and the speakers being so close to you and each other, i doubt that my ears will ever be able to bick up the difference in arival time of the sound from each speaker....the new ones are literally right next to the old ones.

 

in a house you may not notice as much.... but in a car there is a night and day difference..... they will still thump but will not carry out the notes...

 

My point exactly. I listen to stuff where I can tell if one speaker is six inches further away than the others. But that boom boom noise kids listen to nowadays (again not you colinb17) is so full of mud to begin with they're not gonna notice any phasing errors!

But what I really meant was those boom boomers rattle my house windows when THEY drive by.

 

yeah, i can't stand when people do that either. i may turn my music up at times, but i still like to be able to tell what i'm listening to....as well as be able to hear when i get out of the car.

and thanks for the help...i know a lot about sound from the numerous physics courses i have taken/am taking, but i am not as knowledgable about the technical terms when specifically reffering to speakers.