Call me crazy if you must but I have come to the conclusion that this is true. For many years I have had several above par components, and I have come to the conclusion that after you have been playing them for an extended amount of time they will sound much better. Once they have "warmed up" so to speak. When I first get im my car I can crank up the volume and it will sound like absolute crap to my ears. Although there is very little distortion I am extremely picky when it comes to clarity. So.. I have to start out at a mid level and after several minutes of consecutive play I can slowly increase the gain. Depending on the ambient temp. I will eventually reach a point to where I can turn it almost all the way up with out the presence of any audible distortion. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

Never noticed it, even through cold Canada winters. Maybe you just get used to it?

 

Think about it, a speaker is nothing more then a motor, and like any motor it performs the best after it in "broken in" and just like a motor once broken in it still needs to be warmed up before you drive it too hard, and just like a motor that has been driven hard a little cooling down before turning it off will prolong the life of the motor, and insure peak performance. 94

 

This is precisely what I had envisioned, but everyone I talk to about it insists that "speakers should never need to warm up". I agree with you completely!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Madvillian45 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">This is precisely what I had envisioned, but everyone I talk to about it insists that "speakers should never need to warm up". I agree with you completely!</TD></TR></TABLE>

Because they dont. Its an electrical motor that has no physical touching parts.

A car motor has metal parts that expand when they get warm. Also a car motor is a heat pump. Changes thermal energy into kenetic energy. The larger the difference between the outside air and the motor the more power it will produce. Assuming its still functioning properly. Search the web for heat pump and car motors I am sure you can find something.

A speaker changes electrical energy into kinetic energy heat is a by-product. Heat is wasted energy.

You could argue the suspension "breaks in" but has nothing to do with warming up.


Modified by nsxxtreme at 3:23 PM 9/22/2006

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nsxxtreme &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Because they dont. Its an electrical motor that has no physical touching parts.

A car motor has metal parts that expand when they get warm. Also a car motor is a heat pump. Changes thermal energy into kenetic energy. The larger the difference between the outside air and the motor the more power it will produce. Assuming its still functioning properly. Search the web for heat pump and car motors I am sure you can find something.

A speaker changes electrical energy into kinetic energy heat is a by-product. Heat is wasted energy.

You could argue the suspension "breaks in" but has nothing to do with warming up.


Modified by nsxxtreme at 3:23 PM 9/22/2006</TD></TR></TABLE>Hmmm, so why is it necessary to brake in a speaker?
And no moving parts touching, maybe not, but there are a few moving parts touching non moving parts, also your not really saying that when I jump into my car in Winterpeg on a January morning when it's 45 below I can just crank up the tunes without any problems, [keep in mind I installed car audio in Winnipeg for 20+ years and I have seen what not "warming" up a speaker can do to it] 94

 

i had 4 orion xtr 10's back in the day. they had the ferro fluid cooled voice coils. i was recommended to allow them to warm up before beating on them, especially in the winter months. they said the ferro fluid would become thicker the colder it got. but yeah what your saying makes sense.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nsxxtreme &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Because they dont. Its an electrical motor that has no physical touching parts.</TD></TR></TABLE>

The electric motor part of the speaker may not need warming up, but the speaker's suspension does.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 02 accord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

The electric motor part of the speaker may not need warming up, but the speaker's suspension does.</TD></TR></TABLE> Ditto that. It's the VC, VC former, pole and even magnet that get hot, especially when driven hard, that's where the cool down comes in. 94

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fcm &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Ditto that. It's the VC, VC former, pole and even magnet that get hot, especially when driven hard, that's where the cool down comes in. 94</TD></TR></TABLE>

How does a speaker work?

What purpose does the magnet serve?

Does a magnets properties change with temperature? no

A speaker moves in the same way holding two magnets with the same poles repel each other. It uses magnetic force. This isn't arguably temperature dependent. So the "motor" doesn't need warming up the same way a car does.

As I stated before you could argue the "suspension" needs "broken-in" but not warmed up.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JSPECSIR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i had 4 orion xtr 10's back in the day. they had the ferro fluid cooled voice coils. i was recommended to allow them to warm up before beating on them, especially in the winter months. they said the ferro fluid would become thicker the colder it got. but yeah what your saying makes sense.</TD></TR></TABLE>
The fluid was used to help move the heat from the voice coil to the heat sink. It is temperature dependent so it makes sense to need warmed up.

 

I always break in subs. You don't want to crank subs to full volume when they're brand new. Just my .02c

 

while I have never seen any conclusive evidence to make me feel strongly towards either side of this arguement (which I have heard many times) I think I have to agree with NSXXTREME. The "motor" is simply a spring for all intents and purposes, the components around it are made to keep its temperature down, so why would you have to heat it up before playing it?
Sure you could attribute speaker failure to improper break in, however to actually have solid evidence that this is the case is improbable.

 

I would surmise that the glue that holds the VC to the former might be sensitive to very cold temps and or/very fast transitions from very cold to very hot temps. The other glues in subs may be sensitive to the cold as well.

Not saying if this is true or not, just throwing it out as a possibility.