Breaking in.

[Roasted 10+ year member]

I'm putting the TypeR12s in within a week or so. It's been a long time since I bought a new sub, how long should I keep the tunes low to give the woofers time to heat up? I wasn't sure if it was like, 10 minutes, or 10 days.

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[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Just play them normally...the drivers will break in through normal use.

 

[Roasted 10+ year member]

Isn't it a bit safer to gradually do it, versus burping them @ double their RMS for the first time they ever light up?

 

[SSS 18734 5,000+ posts]

Isn't it a bit safer to gradually do it, versus burping them @ double their RMS for the first time they ever light up?

why would you ever want to do that anyway?

just play them normally, theyll be fine. your sub wont blow if you play it within its power handling capabilities.

 

[davidfre21 5,000+ posts]

mine break in from straight abuse out of the box //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[Roasted 10+ year member]

why would you ever want to do that anyway?
just play them normally, theyll be fine. your sub wont blow if you play it within its power handling capabilities.

It was just an extreme comparison.

I just always thought if you played the sub lower when it was in its first few days of life that it would be a bit better for it because the surround would grow softer.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Isn't it a bit safer to gradually do it, versus burping them @ double their RMS for the first time they ever light up?

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif Your "play them like normal" is burping them at twice their RMS?

As Jack said; Subs will break in on their own over time with regular, normal use. However, I would not consider burping them at twice their RMS either regular nor normal use.

If you plan on burping them @ double their RMS right away, then I presume you'd be doing it on a meter. In which case, it would be wise to consult someone like TommyK90 or Spkrman who have extensive time using them in an SPL application as some subs do better on the mic pre-break in. However, throwing them to Xmech right out of the box does pose some risk of mechanical damage (hell...it posses a problem any time)

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

It was just an extreme comparison.
I just always thought if you played the sub lower when it was in its first few days of life that it would be a bit better for it because the surround would grow softer.

Yes, the soft parts will loosen up. However, you don't need to do any sort of "break in period" for this to happen. It will happen over time with regular and normal use. And, frankly, if you were wanting to break in a sub, playing it at a low level would actually be counterproductive as the only way to loosen them up is to actually use them.

 

[Skip2MyLude 10+ year member]

i just got my type-r the other day and to tell you the truth, i was quite dissappointed since i once had a sealed IDMAX set up in comparsion. My new R is in a 1.8 net cubic feet box tuned to 33hz running off my HIfonic's bx1500d amp. I just got my new Alpine headunit too but it wasn't until i actually played around with the bass engine pro when the Type R really shined. i spent the whole day today looking thru the manual and tuning the sound. The type r sounds just as good as my previous sealed Idmax but it was LOUDER. I could crank it up for days and still hear no straining from the sub. My sealed idmax would've showed signs of stress at this point. Alpine did a great job on the new R. As for breaking it in, I've just playing it normally.

 

[Roasted 10+ year member]

In order for it to break in, the sub actually has to move a fair amount to stretch the mechanical suspension. Playing it at low volume will do very little (if anything) to break in the sub.
Either use the sub normally and the sub will gradually break in or run a low-power, low-frequency test tone through it in a vice clamp (no enclosure) over night ... Typically, it'll take ~50 hours of decent excursion to fully break in ... So, 1 hour a day of normal use will still take a month and a half to fully break in ...

Yeah, I guess I just wasn't too sure then. I just thought to START breaking it in is where you were recommended to take it easy. Meaning, I wasn't talking about fully breaking it in, just the start of it really... I somehow had 2 days stuck in the back of my head, for what it's worth.

 

[Roasted 10+ year member]

i just got my type-r the other day and to tell you the truth, i was quite dissappointed since i once had a sealed IDMAX set up in comparsion. My new R is in a 1.8 net cubic feet box tuned to 33hz running off my HIfonic's bx1500d amp. I just got my new Alpine headunit too but it wasn't until i actually played around with the bass engine pro when the Type R really shined. i spent the whole day today looking thru the manual and tuning the sound. The type r sounds just as good as my previous sealed Idmax but it was LOUDER. I could crank it up for days and still hear no straining from the sub. My sealed idmax would've showed signs of stress at this point. Alpine did a great job on the new R. As for breaking it in, I've just playing it normally.

I'm confused. Did you use this same Alpine head unit with the IDMAX? Why would that of changed anything? Sounds kind of stupid, like Alpine was blocking the sub output? *unsure*

 

[Roasted 10+ year member]

Just to give you an idea of what it takes to break a sub in, here's an example ...
http://www.vikash.info/audio/xls10/index.asp

Take a look at the video - http://www.vikash.info/audio/xls10/830452_run_in.avi

It took ~50 hours of that for it to fully break-in ... If the driver is only moving a couple mm each way, it's not going to do much to break it in ...

lmao.

Bottom line is, don't compete and burp a sub the second you get it, however breaking it in for daily driving is next to useless as long as you're reasonable with it (aka, no burping, competing, etc). Right?

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

Bottom line is, don't compete and burp a sub the second you get it,

Like I said.....depends on the sub. Some subs actually do higher numbers straight out of the box rather than being broken in, in which case that's exactly what someone would want to do.

Risk of mechanical failure? Yeah. But that's not something most competitors are worried about. And there is a large risk of failure anytime you do that with a sub.....so, it's not "much" different.

however breaking it in for daily driving is next to useless as long as you're reasonable with it (aka, no burping, competing, etc). Right?

Pretty much.

Not so much "useless" as just plain ole' unnecessary.

 

[OldManTod 10+ year member]

You break in my house, one of my four guns will be pointed dead on yo grill brah!!!

T

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

If the search function actually worked around here any more, Id be suggesting to use it. This is a very well discussed topic, which pretty much ends with the same conclusions each time it comes up.