One manufacturer's perspective. Although
Ben Milne of Elemental Designs
Audio (
www.edesignaudio.com) can't speak for all manufacturers, he certainly puts things in a revealing perspective. For Elemental, break-in recommendations are actually a tactic for protecting customers (and thus the company) from their own worst impulses.
"That [break-in recommendation] sheet is there flat out to scare people,"
Milne says. "Why scare people?"
Milne cites the customer service woes of dealing with buyers who grossly abuse new speakers straight out of the box and then blame the speakers, both in public and in calls to the company.
"It becomes obvious. Some people aren't respecting their equipment," he says. "Believe it or not, that little piece of paper makes people think ‘[it's] just a speaker, [it's] fragile if misused.' People think more. They spend more time doing the things they should—paying attention to gains, [frequency] crossovers, box sealing, etc.—than just screwing it in and seeing how loud it immediately gets."
Moreover,
Milne indicates, tender loving care can help prevent small problems from becoming big problems.If speakers, treated respectfully, don't sound quite right at first, the buyer tends to troubleshoot. If the buyer simply connects the speakers and right away cranks them to the max and they sound wrong, he might have already damaged them.
"Whether or not breaking in is really necessary, we can only speculate. I don't break in speakers, really, for any exacting amount of time, but I have undoubtedly heard speakers sound different over a period of time. We don't include that sheet because we truly believe a break-in period is 100% necessary. We include it so people respect their equipment and take more time installing it. And it's done wonders for us."
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