Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

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Scumback Speakers
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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by Scumback Speakers »

Thanks for that link, Jered. I thought Mr. Paulsen was out of the business after he closed his previous company, but I guess he's back with this new venture. Here are some other links you should click on regarding the owner of that site. I don't know the authors, but there's certainly a theme to them.

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index. ... t-21449609

https://www.gearslutz.com/board/moan-zo ... s-com.html

http://www.rig-talk.com/forum/viewtopic ... &start=100

http://www.thegearpage.net/board/index. ... e.1674241/

http://www.edenampsforum.com/index.php?topic=18707.0
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JMFahey
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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by JMFahey »

bluesfendermanblues wrote:I think the voltage/wattage conversion of respectively 9 and 12 volts are a bit too high.
........................
into a fixed 8 ohm (dummy) resistor. However, a real "8" ohm speaker usually has a lower ohm reading.

If you put 9 V ac into a Greenback (http://celestion.com/product/24/heritage_series_g12m/) clone which measures 6.57Ω across its poles, applying ohm law, you get:

U=R x I => 9 = 6.57Ω x I => 9 / 6.57Ω = I => I =1.37

If this calculation is correct 9 volts ac translated to
Watt (VA)= I x U => 1.37 x 9 = 12.3 watts


and 12 volts into a 12G65 ( http://celestion.com/product/26/heritage_series_g1265/) converts to

U=R x I => 9 = 6.9Ω x I => 9 / 6.9Ω = I => I =1.3

1.3 x 12 = 15.7 watts

Am I correct. If so those wattage numbers makes more sence to me in regards to the 20watt speaker, M75.
Dear "bluesfendermanblues" , the speakers you mention show those values only at DC ... yet the testing is made with AC , a BIG difference.

Speakers are only close to nominal impedance at the "critical frequency" , usually somewhere between 200 and 300 Hz, and most (all?) typical speakers show a higher impedance at 60 Hz, which is the frequency used if you simply connect them to a transformer.

Here's a Tonkerlite which shows some 10 ohms at 60 Hz, while DC resistance is below 6 ohms (and nominal impedance is neither of them: 8 ohms)

[img::]http://www.usspeaker.com/images/tonkerl ... ize495.gif[/img]

Your Math is fine, but feel free to use values read from the proper chart, it varies from speaker to speaker.

And the curve itself varies after the workout.
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Guy77
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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by Guy77 »

Sorry to wake up an old thread here but I just wanted to thank Jim for recommending his method of breaking in a new speaker.
I did this today with my fresh out of the box G12-65 Heritage speaker .

All I can say is wow! This made a huge improvement in the tone of my speaker, it became so much warmer sounding!

I ran it at 11 volts AC with my variac for just 6 hrs . I may do another 10 hrs tomorrow to get to the recommended 16 hrs .

I did it in the house first and it was too loud at 11 volts to leave it runny all day, the girlfriend would have sent me packing lol. So I set it up in the garage. I had a large tool box, I placed the speaker in the toolbox and ran the wires out to the variac and I closed the toolbox lid just leaving room for wires to come out.When the doors were closed you could barely hear anything outside the garage.
When I did it in the house I could feel the magnet getting a little warm after 15 minutes but outside in the garage were it was -2 Celsius (28F) it never got warm even after 6 hours.

Cheers
Guy
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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by Scumback Speakers »

Guy77 wrote: Sun Mar 03, 2019 1:05 am Sorry to wake up an old thread here but I just wanted to thank Jim for recommending his method of breaking in a new speaker.
I did this today with my fresh out of the box G12-65 Heritage speaker.
Cheers
Guy
Guy, glad to hear that worked out for you. Having used the Weber/Uncle Spot/whoever link to running them at 16-24 volts and having them fry the voice coil, I decided to test the limits to destruction several years back. At 11 volts you're putting around 30-35w of power through the speaker which is more than enough to get all the parts moving and breaking in.

Not going to get into the possibilities of running higher voltage safely, it's not worth the risk of ruining the speaker. Please allow my previous failures to keep everyone from making one, OK?

Jim
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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by norburybrook »

Jim,

I'm picking up a brand new Celestion Classic lead 80 on Thursday. I don't have a variac but someone mentioned earlier in this thread about using 6v AC heater voltage.

I imagine 6v is perfectly safe to let it run for a good number of hours, but will it be sufficient to break the 80w speaker in?



M
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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by Scumback Speakers »

norburybrook wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 9:25 pm Jim,

I'm picking up a brand new Celestion Classic lead 80 on Thursday. I don't have a variac but someone mentioned earlier in this thread about using 6v AC heater voltage.

I imagine 6v is perfectly safe to let it run for a good number of hours, but will it be sufficient to break the 80w speaker in?



M
You can run it at 6v, but you'll be doing it for days. Figure at least 2-3 days since the signal isn't making an 80w speaker stress out much with movement.
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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by norburybrook »

Scumback Speakers wrote: Wed Mar 06, 2019 2:26 pm
norburybrook wrote: Tue Mar 05, 2019 9:25 pm Jim,

I'm picking up a brand new Celestion Classic lead 80 on Thursday. I don't have a variac but someone mentioned earlier in this thread about using 6v AC heater voltage.

I imagine 6v is perfectly safe to let it run for a good number of hours, but will it be sufficient to break the 80w speaker in?



M
You can run it at 6v, but you'll be doing it for days. Figure at least 2-3 days since the signal isn't making an 80w speaker stress out much with movement.
thanks Jim, I'll have to think about how to get a higher AC voltage to it then perhaps :D or leave the looper on from the Dumble really loud in the studio :D

also begs the question , why don't manufacturers break them in?

M
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norburybrook
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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by norburybrook »

actually, I put a new 8 ohm Classic lead 80 in today and it sounded better than the older (1 year) one!!! go figure.




M
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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by Scumback Speakers »

norburybrook: I really don't know why they don't break them in, except for the time and trouble it is to do so. I don't think any other speaker maker does it but me. But the improvement in the tone is worth it, and it also weeds out any bad parts. I rarely have one go south during the break in service, but about every 2-3 months one doesn't pass.

I'd rather ship a speaker that passes break in for 20-24 hours, than ship them and have the customer find out. It's just good business, IMO.
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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by norburybrook »

Scumback Speakers wrote: Fri Mar 08, 2019 4:49 pm norburybrook: I really don't know why they don't break them in, except for the time and trouble it is to do so. I don't think any other speaker maker does it but me. But the improvement in the tone is worth it, and it also weeds out any bad parts. I rarely have one go south during the break in service, but about every 2-3 months one doesn't pass.

I'd rather ship a speaker that passes break in for 20-24 hours, than ship them and have the customer find out. It's just good business, IMO.
Kudos to you Jim.

I don't think you're well represented here in the UK though as I hadn't come across your speakers until joining TAG.

keep up the good work.


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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by Scumback Speakers »

I'm the dirty secret of the speaker business, but that's ok. LOL
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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by Colossal »

Small plug for Jim's speakers and Jim. I have a pair of 65W M75-PVCs 75Hz and a pair of 65W H75-PVCs. Great sounding speakers that are remarkably close to their vintage counterparts. The FBI (factory breakin) is a great practice for the reasons mentioned: you get a killer sounding speaker right out of the box and the QA/QC is better. Jim, I need to try some of your 20 watters. I have a love affair with the G12M Heritages and they just recently making those.
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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by Scumback Speakers »

Colossal wrote: Thu Jul 04, 2019 4:04 pm Small plug for Jim's speakers and Jim. I have a pair of 65W M75-PVCs 75Hz and a pair of 65W H75-PVCs. Great sounding speakers that are remarkably close to their vintage counterparts. The FBI (factory breakin) is a great practice for the reasons mentioned: you get a killer sounding speaker right out of the box and the QA/QC is better. Jim, I need to try some of your 20 watters. I have a love affair with the G12M Heritages and they just recently making those.
Thanks Colossal. I'm confused about one thing. Did Celestion cancel the G12M Heritage 20w models?

Don't get me wrong, I recone a lot of them (just shipped two out on Tuesday) to 65w specs after they get fried. I still see them on their site, but hey, I know how long it takes to get changes made to your site descriptions when your web guy doesn't proof read what you send him! LOL
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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by Colossal »

Scumback Speakers wrote: Fri Jul 05, 2019 9:18 pm Thanks Colossal. I'm confused about one thing. Did Celestion cancel the G12M Heritage 20w models?

Don't get me wrong, I recone a lot of them (just shipped two out on Tuesday) to 65w specs after they get fried. I still see them on their site, but hey, I know how long it takes to get changes made to your site descriptions when your web guy doesn't proof read what you send him! LOL
Yes, they did. It happened probably six months ago. I went shopping and they had disappeared quietly. I emailed Celestion about it and they confirmed both the Heritage 20 and 30 went away. I said that sucks and they said, sorry, low demand. They said if I didn't mind different clothes, the EVH signature 20 is the same as the Heritage. Apparently Ipswich will make them on special order.
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Re: Speaker Break In and How to Do It Yourself

Post by Scumback Speakers »

Huh. Well it makes sense. They put those hook speaker wire connectors on them, that was a mistake. And hardly anyone orders a speaker in the sub 65w power handling arena unless they're doing a full stack. It does come down to demand. That's why I don't make 10" speakers anymore.
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