As long as you do not immediately play a new subwoofer at loud levels first thing after taking it out of the box, since the physical moving parts of drivers require time to loosen up, there is no way to get it wrong per se
…which is decidedly not what the
instructions say:
A question that comes up regularly is “Do subwoofers require break-in and, if so, how do I do it properly?” Great question, for which the answer is an emphatic “yes”, RELs needing it more than relatively heavier-coned, slower subs that will eventually break-in on their own.
Not only do RELs need to be broken-in, they will in fact not break-in on their own like other subs will.
It is not necessarily a requirement to use our recommended break-in procedure in order to get excellent performance from a REL subwoofer
Well, the instructions don't really give the impression that there are many right ways to do this, only that there are many wrong ways:
Breaking Things in Properly: As with most things in life, there is a right way and a wrong way to break-in a sub. … two hours of aggressive break-in, before which even attempting to set-up and dial-in your sub is a waste of time
The right way, as we've discussed, will yield 4+2 dB extra performance, i.e. twice the output. The wrong way, one must assume, will yield nothing. Not doing it REL's way means that you won't be able to set up the sub properly.
loosening up the components of the subwoofer’s drivers (for example the rubber surround which is stiff out of the box but loosens up to allow for longer driver stroke) and for warming up the electrical components in a controlled manner
Loosening up the rubber surround would conceivably happen simply by playing music, and how much extra stroke are we talking about anyway? Surely not something that would yield semi-octaves and multiple dBs. That would be unheard of. Imagine a S/510 buyer failing to do the break-in correctly, being left with a -6 dB point at 30 Hz instead of 20 Hz, and the equivalent of a 400 Watt amp instead of a 500 watt one. I get selling ready-made food that needs heating before serving, but selling half-finished subs just sounds like a very bad idea. Finally, warming up the electrical components would have to be done every time you fire the box up, and wouldn't qualify as breaking-in.
I could go on, referring to what's in REL's own instructions, pointing out how the instructions claim that there is "a right way" to break in subs, and that it's "a waste of time" to make your REL sound good if you don't break it in. If you don't do it in this very specific manner, your REL will not be able to go "half an octave lower" and play 6 dB louder.
I'm sorry to be making a fuss about this, but I really can't see that the instructions are doing much except for adding hocus-pocus to something which is – in your own words – quite simple. Especially when REL claim that 4+2 dB extra output – twice the forking power – can be harvested by doing exactly what's in the instructions.
To be clear, are you with REL?
