Hoping someone can give me a reality check... I want to do some speaker & cab comparisons. The only drivers & cabs I've got two of are 2x Emi CRex & 2x Montage 1x12 cabs. So I was hoping I could accurately compare either two different drivers in identical cabs. Or two different cabs each loaded with identical speakers. So, just to check I was on solid ground, I loaded the 2x CRex into the 2x Montage 1x12 expecting them to sound identical when A/B'd. Sounds plausible, doesn't it?
But no! They sound different. One more open/forward, the other more subdued. They are both directly on the floor. I've tried swapping their positions. I've tried them close to a wall & away from the wall. And I can always identify which one's which.
Anybody else tried a similar experiment? Any else had this experience?
Comments
That's at least one advantage the hi-fi people have with foam/rubber edge surrounds and (relatively) stiffer cones, they don't really have a significant break-in in the same way as doped paper/cloth surrounds and 'ribbed' cones do.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
This idea that seems to go around that (for example) V30s suck very hard unless they've been played at 130dB for 20000 hours is - to me - voodoo.
Anyway, I'd expect two speakers of the same type to be different enough for me to tell that there is a difference some of the time, but a lot more of that will in any given situation be to do with where they are in the room and where I am standing than the speakers themselves.
- both CRex are only 3-4 years old, bought less than a year apart.
- none of my speakers has received anything close to a thrashing
- I'm methodical with breaking in - they get 9vac for 48hrs - & there's a minor but perceptible mellowing afterwards.
Of course, it's impossible to do a true A/B before & after break in. Now I think on it, the difference I'm hearing now between the two is perhaps similar to the difference pre- & post- break in.
I think I'm going to have to run with the idea that no two speakers are ever made quite identical.
Fit two ‘identical’ new speakers into matching cabs, and record them or just listen to them. There may be a difference, but you can use each as a reference for the other. Then break one in but not the other, by whatever means you want. Then listen/record them again, and you will be able to tell if/how the broken-in one has changed relative to the unused one. (And if you want to, then break in the second one and see if it follows the first.)
This has been done, and break-in is an absolutely real and provable process. It does depend on the type of speakers, but both the result and the physical reasons for it are legitimate and not ‘confirmation bias’. It’s mostly due to the stiff, doped edge surround on guitar-type speakers softening when flexed, but the cone itself is affected a bit as well.
Hi-fi speakers don’t use that type of construction any more, the goal is a speaker cone which moves as a single unit without any resistance, so they’ve gone to much stiffer cones with much softer surrounds, using materials which don’t change with use in the same way.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein