Any music with good full range and dynamic range is good for breakin. I try not to thrash them early on, but honestly, I don't actively set out to "break in" the Orcas before I listen to them critically. I have the luxury of knowledge of what their final character is and so I can enjoy the process of getting there. Its like the way that a road trip seems shorter on the way back, because you already know what your destination looks like.
Mr. Teramoto called the sound of a brand new set of Feastrex drivers "the crying of a baby." I feel that it is a really apt analogy. Feeling like a proud new father of the Orcas every time that I fire a new set up, I couldn't imagine cringing at the sound of my own baby's cry.
With the Orcas (and for most speakers), generally, its good to start them out a little soft for the first 10-20 minutes, gradually upping the volume over the first few hours until you are at a normal listening level. The Orcas' enclosures, driver to cabinet front tuning and etc. are designed with their final,
broken in Fs and dynamic behavior in mind. They still do not need stuffing or damping, filtration, eq, or BSC to sound right. This aspect of their not needing any handicaps took quite a while to design. Once the final breakin character is reached, the benefits of their "lack of handicaps" are impossible to ignore.
However, the fact that their tuning keeps in mind their eventual sound does make them sound rather "small" and a little funny, slightly pinched (but not shouty) for the first several hours. Stretch their legs and patiently wait for them to open up, and they will keep stretching your mind to keep up with their calm, surprisingly large, yet fast sound.
The FE83En is a very stout driver, easy to listen to, however you can be rough on them if you need to, even bottom the cone out against the magnet occasionally (within reason). I've still yet to fry a pair.
With the Orcas, you are getting more than just a good driver or a good box - you are getting an entire speaker that works together as a cohesive design. The kinks have long since been weeded out, and even as much as we strongly believe in the kind of performance that the Orcas offer, we still offer a return policy that we actually honor. No matter how nice a sound is, no speakers' sound is for everybody, so our mission is to give everybody the chance to patiently break them in and try them out with open lines of direct communication with us along the way on how to optimize their Orca setups to their rooms and associated equipment.
Joel - Nice wax job, man! It makes me proud that you've treated them like a Sunday hot rod! I can try wax, but on a few conditions - no petroleum distillates (tolulene). Its probably cool for you a finish with volitile organic compounds (VOCs) occationally, but I just can't afford to get exposed to it every day. Late in life, Terry Cain urged me to stay away from any toxics as he thought them to be the root of his Lou Gherigs disease - spending 30+ years applying off the shelf finish products with petroleum distilates, even with adequate ventillation. The problem is, they accumulate in your body over time without your knowledge and probably never leave until they've already done too much damage to the central nervous system (or whatever your genetic "weak spot" may be).
Also, the application has got to be easy breezy. There are so many hours that get put into the Orcas already, it would be impossible for us to not raise the price substantially
for a "looks only" option. Generally, we consider ourselves to be a "sound only" company. Even the differences between bamboo colors are for sonic reasons primarily
http://www.blumensteinaudio.com/faq/bamboo/natural-vs-caramelized.html. We'd offer other kinds of bamboo like the stranded if they worked well sonically, but we feel that the Natural and caramelized are the best tradeoffs.
The buffed linseed oil is the best finish - for the strength and the minimal weight on the wood - that we know of. Also, it is pretty unique in the audio world for us to be able to offer a truly non toxic finish (and glue, and wood filler, and inner plywood glue). You can touch them safely, even when brand new and enjoy the fragrance of the linseed oil/varnish instead of something like a "new car" smell that you get from most speakers when they are freshly unboxed. Last spring there was a cancer patient who purchased our speakers for music therapy purposes for instance. He purchased them in order to outperform his old pair of Micropure Kotaros (a $3500 pair of bookshelves designed and marketed before the recession began). And outperform they did.
Ok, well, that's it for now.
Take your Orcas outdoors and enjoy the summer!
(We're making alotsa sawdust, many orders shipping soon!)
-Clark
P.S. - Pics -
- "The Chair" Nearfield listening setup
- Chad W/new setup. Note the new sub amplifier, Matching Bottlehead Stereomour chassis and new sub driver. This setup had REALLY nice dynamics. This day in particular I was surprised at the Stereomour's power versus my Paramour setup.
