Question for Polk and related experience

housej55

Hello,
About 2 months ago I purchased 2 RT55i's off of an individual used. They were only about 6months old when I go them. These speakers were just amazing and I was totally satisfied. However, last month I got such a good deal on a new set that I couldn't pass it up. Decided to get rid of the older ones and then plugged in the new ones. Whole time I'm doing this I"m thinking " ahh ,, brand spanking new speakers" . When I got them hooked up I noticed something right away. It just didn't seem like these speakers had as much bass as the other ones. There has been nothing changed on the receiver which is only running in 2 channel mode. Is there anything I can do to make them sound like the other set i had ? The speakers don't sound blown by any means , but they just don't sound as heavy on the low end. Was there a crossover change in the last 6 monts or something ? These speakers have been know to suprisingly put out some bass, but I'm trying not to adopt the " not every speaker is the same from one to the next " scenario for Polks. I know that there has to be a decent QA testing beforehand ?? ?

Thanks in advance,

Jeff

juice21

your new speakers probably just need some 'break-in' time. try to play them as much as possible in the next week or two. even if it's just ambient sound 10+ hours a day. once broken in, you should get back to the bass results you were seeing in your older pair. also, double check your wiring, just to be sure, a serious lack in bass could be the result on incorrectly wired speakers...

housej55

Oh really ? Break in time huh ? I take because of the speaker being new and stiff probably ? Has anyone else experienced this before ?? ?

Jeff

jcaut

It makes sense that the suspension would loosen up a little with use. I personally haven't been able to hear the effect, but I don't doubt that it exists. Switching, as you did, from a used to new set of the same speakers, would allow you to hear the full effect of break-in. It would be much more difficult to detect a change in the sound of a set over time.

And I agree with juice; If you switched them and noticed a dramatic change, double-check your wiring/polarity.

Jason

Billm57

does this applay to any type speaker? I have neevr heard of a break in period for speakers

housej55

I can see this will probably be a long post, but am curious as to what others think about the breakin period of a new speaker.



Jeff

TrappedUnder Ice

speaker break-in is normal for any speaker...any brand... just play your 55's and give them some time..

RuSsMaN

...over and over, some will say it is not needed. In EVERY new speaker I have owned, there has been a DRAMATIC difference in performance after break in. A tweeter that may seem harsh at first could mellow out a bit, bass can suddenly 'appear', especially in a bookshelf model, midrange can become more apparent, and smooth after 40+ hr break in time. The main components affected are the suspension and voice coil.

I have always done this, always will. I actually have an old Sherwood receiver and sony cd setup in a room, just for this purpose. I usually set it around 85db ambient, with 90-92 db peaks, playing something like Prodigy's 'Fat of the Land', and let em run all day long while I'm at work.

I can honestly say, when I sold my RT800's and CS300, they had just really 'settled' in, and sounded better than they ever had. And that was probably after 300+ hours total use....

If you can break them in, I say do it, if not, be patient, with regular use, it will happen anyway.

Cheers,
Russ

and yes on the polarity issue, if wired incorrect, you should notice a substantial drop in bass performance

gidrah

I know the hi-fi store near me runs their new speakers after it closes. The guy makes his rounds and turns off what was on and on what was off.

Stan Nuremburg

A tip for new speaker break-in:

Wire the speakers OUT of phase, place them facing each other (nose to nose) and THEN play pink noise (if you have it) or FM hiss (white noise) - when you do it this way, the out-of-phase sound cancels out acoustically, so you don't have to actually LISTEN to the noise signal, no matter how loud it is. Pink noise or FM hiss (white noise) is good for breaking in speakers because each frequency has a random, equal distribution, so that ALL the sounds in the audio spectrum get "equal time".

If tha't too much trouble, just use music, but the back-to-back thing definitely works.

Remember to wire your speakers back correctly when you are thru! Out of phase speakers lose their bass and solid center image.

Another interesting use for FM hiss (white noise): After speakers are broken-in, put your FM tuner in mono, turn off any mute or similar, tune in "between" stations - you WANT the hiss, which is "white noise" (equal energy per frequency). When you play white noise (put your FM tuner in mono), the white noise itself should present the illusion of a "column" or "vertical line" of sound, the narrower the better. This is an EXCELLENT way to determine a good distance between speakers, or at least achieve a good "first approximation" and it works on ANY system, regardless of quality. Paradoxically, the secret to good STEREO is good MONO (as in video, the secret to a good color picture is a good b/w picture.)

goingganzo

when i first got my velodyne it sounced weak very weak but after a while i had to turn down the gain on the sub a few times and i also noticed when i got my seccond set of fx 500 i also had to turn down the gain on my suround amp in the same manner

cimmy

There is a definate difernce in the sound after break in I bought some R 40's about a month ago and they have run amost the entire month and the bass has goten muchmore pronounced but has also tightened up a bit an the high end is much cleaner that it was the mid is about the same but now you can really tell if you have got a good quality CD or an older copy from the early eighties. Almost all of the coloration that I heard in the first few hours is gone but alittle is to be expected they are still basicly new and are not top of the line.

trubluluc

As Russ said,
this debate goes round and round.

I'll simply speak for the incredulous.
Everything new...becomes less so with time.
We're talking synthetic material here folks,
it's not like they're building muscle.

I'm willing to buy new jeans and wear them into comfortable. Some people feel the need to tie them to the back of their truck and drag them through organic sagebrush.

whatever lubes your cannon.
you'll hear what you want to hear.

Use common sense. Take it easy on them for a week or so, vary your listening volumes, after that they will be ready to play harder.
To me it's more important that speakers are warmed up at low volumes, before putting in a DVD that demands full performance, or cranking up Blue Oyster cult, the moment you step through the door,
just because you had a hard day.

-luc


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