I do know that at least onespider designer has said that he has designed spiders with the intent that they will take 1500 hrs to break-in.
On more than one occasion i have been able to litening to erstwhile identical speakers, one set freshly minted, vrs one with hundtreds of hours. Break in is real.
dave
On more than one occasion i have been able to litening to erstwhile identical speakers, one set freshly minted, vrs one with hundtreds of hours. Break in is real.
dave
Ok Cal 
Depending on what volatile chemicals the driver is exposed to and the distance from the moon your house is and the amount of time the drivers are exposed to UV light, the surround may become more or less supple over the life of the driver. (In the case of the specific drivers you mentioned, They will loosen up over time unless you use them around high concentrations of paint thinner or some other plastic/rubber-softener robbing VOC.)
Depending on what volatile chemicals the driver is exposed to and the distance from the moon your house is and the amount of time the drivers are exposed to UV light, the surround may become more or less supple over the life of the driver. (In the case of the specific drivers you mentioned, They will loosen up over time unless you use them around high concentrations of paint thinner or some other plastic/rubber-softener robbing VOC.)
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Huh?
Come now....have countless speaker books written by Hartley, Briggs, Rudy Bozak et al, some by WE engineers, some of the minds at Siemens Klangfilm, Tannoy, Goodmans and the Philips Special Products Division and dozens more. Nary a syllable, never mind a complete sentence regarding speaker burn in...especially at these kind of insane numbers (hrs)..is this what modern engineering, design and improved manufacturing process and material leads to? I note, to your credit Dave, that you don't explicitly say whether you believed this designer or not, but your last statement "break in is real" seems to indicate you didn't find the claim to be preposterous.
What next...speaker break-in time dependent upon one's proximity to the earth's magnetic pole?
IMO if I'm buying drivers and anyone tells me that I shouldn't expect measured the measured performance until I have countless hours of so called "break-in" "burn-in" or other form of "voltage/current conditioning" then I've been on the receiving end of a huge load of hokum
...In a recent thread the proponents of modern drivers and manufacturing technology went at the vintage driver crowd pretty hard
claiming the old stuff just was never up to today's standards and isn't currently up to snuff (the effects of time, sonic degradation, primitive grasp of engineering, manufacturing, etc.)...But none of the pioneers would ever have had the unmitigated gall to design anything that wasn't good-to-go after a hour...and usually much less...
For a more intelligent answer than my first post, see:
"Speaker Break In: Fact or Fiction?"
Speaker Break In: Fact or Fiction? — Reviews and News from Audioholics
"Speaker Break In: Fact or Fiction?"
Speaker Break In: Fact or Fiction? — Reviews and News from Audioholics
Sooo....I should place my speakers in a glass bubble, apply vacuum....and play them in the dark?
(Don't hit me)
And you say you are a noob? By Jove you've got it....
PS. I have a specific speaker break-in concoction that I am about to market for a modest cost....as a special to all DIY Audio members. I am prepared to offer it at cost.
Simply follow directions.....apply liberally in equal doses of external application to the loudspeaker of your choice followed by internal application for yourself..and repeat..and repeat again!
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Interesting link. He didn't attempt to measure, but if you accept the constraints of his case (5% change in compliance) it is very interesting to me how the effect of the enclosure predominate especially in a small sealed system. Especially as I'm about to test 4 new speakers in small sealed boxes.
And it does make some sense that the initial stretching of the spider would occur pretty quickly, as he put it, 10s of seconds if using a sine near resonance to approach x-max w/o damage or overheating.
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The 2 are independent.
1500 hrs seems a lot to me, but i have seen some comments by some of extended break-in (sceptical at the time) of some of the designer's drivers, so i won't discard the possibility out of hand.
I break-in drivers slowly, with music.
dave
Yes, that clears that up for me Dave.
I'm a reactionary
when it comes to outlandish claims but your general break-in modus-operandi seems spot on and pretty quibble-proof as one would expect.
I probably shouldn't have been so inclined to take the bait and let my own bias run amok
...my apologies to DIYAmpNoob...I just didn't want you to sweat the small, inconsequential stuff! Grab those drivers, play 'em, experiment and let your ears guide you!
Leon
I guess this subject brings out the BEST in all of us! LOL No harm, no foul! I will....Tinker with the drivers. Burn them in slowly with good music, and see/hear what may come. I just wanted a nice sounding set of speakers to use away from home, and I wanted to make sure I did things right. Looks like "RIGHT" can mean a lot of things. Sorry if I roused a few feathers. I do appreciate all the help. Still learning so much, so quickly. It might just start oozing out my head soon. I'm sure I'll have more questions for you guys in the near future. Some may even spark some great banter. All in good fun learning I say! Thanks!! 
Very easy to ruffle feathers here..but this wasn't even a minor kerfuffle...we all have a particular bias or viewpoint here and hairsplitting is often a pursuit of and amongst itself.
The Mods are generally the go to guys for narrowing widely divergent viewpoints based on lots of experience and ensuring newcomers or noobs aren't put off by an aroma of superiority, uppity-ness or snarkiness sometimes expressed here.
Luckily there are countless members who show genuine patience and great energy is assisting their fellow members. Even though I've asked a number of real rookie questions, most responses have been kind enough to forego pointing out that my understanding in some spheres is wanting. I've learned much as a result and expect to keep on learning. I'm sure you'll experience the same. Leon
The Mods are generally the go to guys for narrowing widely divergent viewpoints based on lots of experience and ensuring newcomers or noobs aren't put off by an aroma of superiority, uppity-ness or snarkiness sometimes expressed here.
Luckily there are countless members who show genuine patience and great energy is assisting their fellow members. Even though I've asked a number of real rookie questions, most responses have been kind enough to forego pointing out that my understanding in some spheres is wanting. I've learned much as a result and expect to keep on learning. I'm sure you'll experience the same. Leon
Ok Cal
Don't forget the tides and how close you are to the ocean in this equation. Oh and then there's the magnetosphere...
And the sense in that is? If you like the sound right away are you going to be disappointed in 1500 hours? Conversely are you willing to wait 1500 hours for them to go from OK to good? 1500 hours is an entire year at 4 hours a day.
Dave, are you pulling leg here?
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