it seems very likely that they might undergo a certain degree of mechanical change during the first hours of use, not unlike a new pair of shoes break-in.

The first loud listening session, some low 90dBC in the seat, with the fresh out of the box Heresy IIIs presented us with some warm smells from the speaker fronts. Much like glue curing, warm paper, MDF, and grill cloth. Things smelled fresh and warm. After being ‘beat upon’ the speakers now sounded like the demo models at the showroom and lost their bass-shy nature and the glare in the mids and highs.

That listening session was well within the speakers limits/capabilities so no damage should’ve occurred.

Years later I learned voice coils may hit 200C in normal operation. How much of that heat makes it to the spiders and cones I have no idea but I better understand why we smelled warm smells after the high SPL session of an hour or so. The guts of the speakers become right warm when run hard.

So I’ve taken to thinking of speakers more like a new leather belt, stiff until some movement happens and then it settles down to a certain level of flexibility for the majority of its lifespan. Only at the end does it get extra floppy and feels ‘worn out.’ One would assume materials engineers for speakers have a firm and vast knowledge of this phenomena and this was taken into account during the design process, with the goal of quickly arriving at the ‘sweet spot’ for long term satisfaction of the end user.