How long do tweeters take to run in?

[Steph Dale]

Evenin' all,

This evening I swapped out the tweeters in my Ruark Equinox and lobbed in a pair of replacements, after one failed last week. The first few minutes the speakers were sounding awful, so I did my dinner. They're now much better - something like 3.5hrs running.

At what point would you expect them to be 'run in' and worth doing some critical listening?

Cheers,

Steph

[Macca]

Right away. I'm surprised that they were not fine right away, I've never had that experience when putting a brand new tweeter in.

I'm guessing they're the exact same model and spec as those they replaced?

[Steph Dale]

Not exactly the same, sadly, as the original Scanspeak D2905/9000 isn't produced any more, so I did some research and checked some specs and have fitted D2905/930000, which are very close. I remain a realist, however, and am aware there could be some change to the sound. I still consider this is probably a better option than changing my speakers as the Equinox are such a good match to the amp/room, etc.

They were sounding good later this evening, so I'm content to say they're on the way to running in, if not already working to their optimum. I'll try and see if I can hear any difference with some selective track listening tomorrow evening.

Thanks for your help/thoughts,

Steph

[Lawrence001]

I recently put back my old speakers to sell (a high end pair) and after listening for a few hours my big Tannoys sounded all wrong afterwards (like I couldn't listen to them again). A couple of days later and my Tannoys are sounding great again. So it's possible what you're hearing is getting used to a very different presentation or frequency response.

[hifi_dave]

I recently put back my old speakers to sell (a high end pair) and after listening for a few hours my big Tannoys sounded all wrong afterwards (like I couldn't listen to them again). A couple of days later and my Tannoys are sounding great again. So it's possible what you're hearing is getting used to a very different presentation or frequency response.

That and they are warming up. I've rarely heard new tweeters running in with the thousands of speakers I have used but I have definitely heard them warming up especially with the weather we currently have.

[Steph Dale]

Dave,

Warming up makes a great deal of sense to me, thanks for the observation.

Steph

[Steph Dale]

Sooo, we're now a little over a week since I swapped the tweeters over. All is definitely well, I'm pondering that the original tweeters may have been a little tired for a while as the new ones are definitely adding something. Oddly, it seems that the bass has cleaned up and I'm now running without a sub; I've also had to reposition the speakers slightly to get a coherent image, but that image is now much bigger than I can ever recall it being.

So, cautiously, well worth the effort to keep the Equinox running in the system.

Steph

[grog]

if they have ferrofluid, then temperature will certainly have quite an effect, if they are a say 12 degrees, they will be several dB different at their low end..
I've had problems measuring tweeters when they are not at room temp, that's part of the reason i try to avoid ferrofluid if i can.

[Steph Dale]

That's also insightful. I'm stuck with ferrofluid in my chosen tweeters, and have noticed that the system sounds 'better' when it's been running at moderate volume for an hour or so before 'critical' listening. That would seem to bear out your observations.

Steph