Do Eminence 15A Alpha's require burn-in?

[Brisso57]

Can anyone advise whether 15 Alphas need a period of burn-in before they produce to their nominated performance?

cheers

Doug

[holdent]

I have 6 Alpha 15As and haven't noticed a difference after extended use. However I don't have a woofer tester so I could perform any pre- and post- measurements to verify this. I'm not sure that I would notice a difference because I've generally used them at frequencies under 300 Hz.

In contrast I did notice differences in all the Fostex drivers I have; the FE103E, FE126E, and the FE167E. The most dramatic differences I noticed was with the sound of the FE103Es and FE126Es - both seemed to smoothen out. I'm not entirely sure that it was a real case of performance changing after lengthy use or me just getting used to them.

[fergs1]

Greetings Doug, as the suspension softens up you may get a little lower extension, given they are pa speakers designed to have heaps of power dumped on them and almost indestructable design, in domestic use you would hardly get them loud enuff to loosen up the suspension before the cops come. Have you decided what you are going to do with them yet?
cheers fergs

[Brisso57]

Originally Posted by fergs1

Greetings Doug, as the suspension softens up you may get a little lower extension, given they are pa speakers designed to have heaps of power dumped on them and almost indestructable design, in domestic use you would hardly get them loud enuff to loosen up the suspension before the cops come. Have you decided what you are going to do with them yet?
cheers fergs

Hi Fergs

I have the first "MJK OB" off the rank. The second will hopefully follow this weekend. I have used one of my pairs of Coral holey baskets (beige, Sanyo branded) as the FR's.
The pair I've chosen appear to have what Dave D calls "stiff surround syndrome", I think. The high treble is muted. No matter, I'll try another pair!

cheers

Doug

PS When they're "prettied up", I'll post a picture.

[Keriwena]

I've only worked with the Deltas, but they have a similar cloth surround. 20 to 50 hours of break-in makes a real difference to the bass, though fergs might be right about the power levels (I practice my guitar "quietly" at about 106dB, but with a band, things get louder ).

AC hum (an AC wall wart) or Saint-Saëns on repeat works well. Do it in open air so the bass waves cancel to maintain domestic harmony.

[Godzilla]

>>> in domestic use you would hardly get them loud enuff to loosen up the suspension before the cops come.

LOL... true enough. I have Alpha 15s in H-frames and love the way they sound... and i am a critical listener. They barely move, really just vibrate and fill my room with rich sounding bass. I was playing the Happy Feet soundtrack for my kids and some of the music got so loud they ran from the room. The Alpha 15 may not be the best Pro driver for dj's or musicians playing at stadium levels but for home use they are probably overkill in many ways. I would imagine they have some break in time even when just vibrating. The cloth surround seems stiff. But boy, do these things boogie when pushed.

[doug20]

They barely move, really just vibrate and fill my room with rich sounding bass.

pretty funny you post that because last night I was doing some serious listening and tweaking and the one thing I noticed that even during loud peaks my 12" woofers didnt move much at all. I did once put ear plugs in and tested my TD12Ms to the xmax.....

[Brisso57]

Thanks to all for the advice.
I'll just concentrate my efforts in getting the right FR and sorting the XO.

cheers

Doug

PS
Thinking about other options for the FR, I know both the FE103e and the FF85K have been used with success, but what else works?

I'm considering the Mark Audio Alpair 5 or the MA J6T (which has a little higher sensitivity.) A comment from anyone who has tried these?

[KP11520]

When it comes to their electric guitar speakers, they do take quite a while to break in and the difference is quite noticable (from bleeding ears to Big Smiles )

Whether that applies to their Bass line and PA bottoms, I don't have experience but I DO like Eminence and would say... I can't wait to hear 'em (if that was possible)

Good luck!