Question for the scientifically minded amongst you. How does burn-in actually change the sound of a speaker? I always thought that the concept of audio gear burn-in was more audiophile mumbo jumbo but a recent experience with new speakers has changed my mind. They’ve gone from overly bright ear drum scrapers to sounding great after burning in.
you know, this is absolutely testable
1: buy new speaker, set it up in a room you can lock down
2: set up measurement mic on a stand
3: very first sound coming out should be a REW sweep (measuring)
4: let it blast pink noise for a day or two with the room locked down, not too loud to wreck anything
5: do another REW sweep. make sure nothing else has changed in that room, including where you’re standing and wearing while the sweep runs
there, science
then everyone can stop posting this topic over and over again on every forum
i have personally swapped a dead driver with a brand new one and didn’t measure any meaningful difference between the new one and the one in the other half of the stereo pair.
Ok, so answering OP’s question, what is actually changing during burn-in in a speaker?
Yes, the effect is measurable, but I read the question as being “what’s changed in my speaker?”
From your final para, it sounds like it’s not the driver because putting a new one made no difference.