# SVS S-Series Speakers



## j.heiser (Apr 28, 2010)

Hello,

My SVS S-series speakers are finally coming today! I have 12awg monoprice wire ran throughout the walls and wall plates installed for all five speakers. Therefore, mounting the speakers and having them up and running should be rather simple. I've read somewhere that you have to "break-in" your speakers. Is this true? If so, how do I do so? Also, any recommendations on where I should place my subwoofer? I was thinking just outside my front right speaker.


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2010)

Most people just play music at moderate levels for a long period of time to break speakers in. Not everyone believes it to be necessary, but I personally think things smooth out a little after playing any new device.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Good choice in speakers, you will be pleased.

Breaking in is one of those things that some say is less an issue than others. My personal take on it is that there is some break-in involved but on those speakers you probably wont notice much difference over time. The one that will "loosen up" will be the sub. Generally just playing movies and music at different volume levels is all you need to do and stay away from clipping the speakers or the amp. I would say that less than 2 months of normal listening will be more than enough time to accomplish this.

As far as the placement of the sub is concerned, thats going to have to be tested by you. The best way to do this is to place the sub where you will be sitting and do the crawl test around the outside of the room and where it sounds best that is where you should place the sub.
Enjoy!


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## eugovector (Sep 4, 2006)

Science tends to support break-in as a myth, though a lot of people, myself included, can "hear" differences in their speakers over time. Whether it's all in our heads or not, I'd just run your speakers at moderate levels for the first 50-100 hours. You're first instinct is going to be to want to run them full blast just to see if you can blow the walls down, but I'd resist that temptation for a week or so just to be on the safe side.


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## j.heiser (Apr 28, 2010)

Thanks for the quick replies. 

Tony- I've read a lot on clipping the speakers and amp and understand the concept but how can I prevent that? Thanks for the sub recommendation. I am going to try that as soon as I hook the system up.

Eugovector- Yea it's going to be hard to not try and blow my walls apart but I will definately resist that temptation! lol .. Thanks for the advice.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

j.heiser said:


> Thanks for the quick replies.
> 
> Tony- I've read a lot on clipping the speakers and amp and understand the concept but how can I prevent that? Thanks for the sub recommendation. I am going to try that as soon as I hook the system up.


Its always better to have too much power than not enough, that said clipping can be caused by driving an amp to hard and it runs out of power. This usually first starts with distortion and you can hear that and once you push it harder it will clip usually resulting in a sharp snap from the speakers. Clipping the speakers is basically over driving the speaker beyond its power rating also slamming the driver against the stops of the basket or blowing the crossover or tweeter. Just dont expect an amp with a rating of 90watts to be able to drive speakers that handle 200wats to their optimum level this is a recipe for distortion.


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## j.heiser (Apr 28, 2010)

Thanks Tony, that clarifies a lot for me. I'm going to be driving the speakers with an Onkyo 876 so I think that should help me prevent this problem.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Yes, the 876 is a power house for sure. You will have very little if any issues.


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

Don't worry too much about break-in. The major advantage of break-in is loosening up the physical components of the speaker (surround and spider). But modern polymers and factory testing make this less and less of an issue. They will probably sound a bit different after 100 hours, but unless you are super critical, you may not even notice at all!

Enjoy the new toys!


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## Rusty Shackelford (Jan 22, 2010)

Anthony said:


> Don't worry too much about break-in. The major advantage of break-in is loosening up the physical components of the speaker (surround and spider). But modern polymers and factory testing make this less and less of an issue. They will probably sound a bit different after 100 hours, but unless you are super critical, you may not even notice at all!
> 
> Enjoy the new toys!



Good info..thanks


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## pongaselo (Apr 7, 2009)

Oddly enough the better the speaker, the longer the breakin period can be. Stiffer compliances break in more slowly. Take it easy on them initially and venture into higher volumes slowly. Conventional wisdom on subwoofer placement is that since we don't relate to location of low frequency sound, location is not critical, but the best setup that I have tried was behind the TV and center when the system was located in a corner. Invisible and it seemed to contribute to better imaging as well. Play with the location while listening to the same piece of music and your ears may let you know what you want. As far as movie audio is concerned, you are really looking for a different effect entirely and for that placement, the rear of the seating area has worked well.


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## nerk (Sep 3, 2010)

lots of good info here, thanks, i appreciate it. definitely going to try placing my sub in different areas and see what kind of environment i can create


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