Sierra Break-in Period

[dmitchell]

Anyone have any idea on the recommended break-in period for the Sierras? I can't seem to find any definitive answers on this.

Thanks!

[Roger Weiner]

Can you also please describe the brake-in technique

[Galwin]

It's my personal view that the break in period is more a function of differences between the new equipment and the equipment that you have become accustomed to listening. To my ears, the Sierra's sounded great out of the box - no break in time needed.

[dmitchell]

I think you're pretty much bang on with that. Break in period is sometimes just more getting accustomed to the changes in sound that the near gear brings to the table.

But with speakers I believe there is something to be said for breaking in, especially since there are moving parts (ie: the drivers) which may loosen up over time.

[drewface]

Can you also please describe the brake-in techniquejust play something through the speakers... anything at all. it's the movement of the parts that "breaks them in." i have seen people talk about how they aim the speakers directly at each other in close proximity and let some music play for an extended period of time upon first purchasing speakers to help them break in faster, but like Galwin mentioned above, i personally believe speaker break in is more mental than physical, and any break in that may occur will happen within the first 10-15 minutes of playtime.

[davef]

The woofers and tweeters in the Sierra-1 do actually break-in. This is measurable when examining T/S parameters. However, whether or not these changes are audible is the subject of many heated debates and will never be proven one way or another.

That being said, based on customer feedback, 50-hours of usage seems to be the consensus.


have seen people talk about how they aim the speakers directly at each other in close proximity and let some music play for an extended period of time upon first purchasing speakers to help them break in faster

This does not help a speaker break-in faster. The reason for this method is to cancel the output from both speakers so that there is some peace and quiet in the room while the speakers are playing :). The key element to this is that you must wire one of the speakers out-of-phase.

[dmitchell]

Thanks for the reply David!

[drewface]

This does not help a speaker break-in faster. The reason for this method is to cancel the output from both speakers so that there is some peace and quiet in the room while the speakers are playing :). The key element to this is that you must wire one of the speakers out-of-phase.ohhhhhhh.... i must not have read that far into the posts where i saw people saying they did that. thanks for clearing this up!

[DougMac]

So I'm not crazy! I believe 340's and 170's have a break in period also. I thought is was just me, but my son heard the speakers right out of the box, then two weeks later. He remarked how the sound had "opened up". I attribute break in as one difference, but the speakers had been moved to the home theater by then. I'm sure different room acoustics was a big factor. I also firmly believe that there is an adjustment period.

I did nothing intentional to break them in, just enjoyed them. I watched movies and listened to music at all volume levels.

Doug