Official Car Audio Thread

[Ponch]

Break in for subs

The break in period does two things:

1) it loosens the suspension (the spider and the surround) so that it moves more freely WITHOUT tearing. It's like the first few days of wearing new shoes. They are tight at first, then they get comfortable.

2) it heats and cools the voice coil in cycles so that the resin or varnish on the coil wires gas off slowly so that there is no expansion or boiling. This is the important part. If you heat the coil too fast for too long when it's new, you will overheat the varnish causing it to boil and expand, thus causing rubbing and bubbles. This is why so many people blow new subs when they get them. If allowed to break in over a few days, they will last nearly forever.

To properly break a sub in you need to give it short bursts (5 minutes or so) of HEAVY bass. Then play mild bass at medium to low volumes to allow the coil to cool slowly for 20 minutes or so.

You will do this cycle for a total of about 10 hours of play time. Then you should be good to go full bore.







Sound about right?