Suggestions for breaking in a new speaker? (1 Viewer)

[Robert George]

Well, I couldn't stand it any longer. My dealer agreeed to take back the B&W Nautilus HTM2 center channel speaker I bought last summer for an upgrade to the HTM1. Now Papa's got a brand new bag .
Problem is, as most experienced owners of B&W Nautilus speakers will tell you, this speaker needs some break-in time before it really begins to sing sweetly. The 804s and HTM2 I bought were floor models, so these were already broken in when I got them. The new HTM1 is right out of the box and the tonal variation between it and the 804s is rrather pronounced right now despite the fact that the driver complement is exactly the same.
I'm looking for suggestions for breaking in the new speaker, preferrably in the shortest possible time. For instance, does a particular type of program material "loosen" the drivers faster? Does the volume neeed to be high? Would setting the speaker size in the receiver to "large" work on the woofers faster? I plan on running the system while I'm at work each day for a while, but how long would some of you that own these speakers suggest I do this?
BTW, this is one beautiful speaker. I ordered the dark red cherry finish to match my 804s. I'm not usually one to get worked up over gear, but damn these things look good. Even my wife is pleased .

 

[Harry Lincoln]

I've heard a few people here reccomend pink noise (20hz - 20khz) at your normal listening level as being the best & quickest way to break in new speakers. The Utimate DVD platinum has this test signal, VE and AVIA probably have something similar.

Harry.

 

[Mike_Ch]

Robert,

That's a really fantastic setup you've got- congrats! I remember one dealer recommending setting your tuner to an untuned station, and playing this through the speaker i.e white noise. However, this may be a bad idea and cause premature tweeter burnout. Probably wiring the speaker out of phase, and playing it at normal volumes for hours in a sealed room is the best bet if you don't want to disturb anyone.

Harry,

Do you know where I can find more info on the Ultimate DVD. I really need a calibration disc for video and audio, but AVIA and VE are NTSC only. Your help would be much appreciated!

Cheers,

Mike

 

[Harry Lincoln]

Mike, I got the DVD from some small hi-fi store in melbourne, cant remember where though. I think I've seen it at this site:
http://www.ezydvd.com.au
Use the search function on the site.
The levels on the disc are all about the same as the AVIA disc accuracy wise, except for the sub level setting, which causes the sub to be around 3db hot. It is a two disc set with a demonstration disc and a setup disc. There are some handy video test patterns on the disc, it has test tones, sweeps, phase tests, noise floor tests etc for DD5.1,DD2.0, DTS, DPL, PCM. The demo disc has some audio tracks in DD, DTS, 24/96 PCM, some wierd video clips and Dolby and DTS trailers.
If you haven't already got a Radio Shack SPL meter, you can get one from Tandy for about $55.
Harry.