Sub half as loud in cold weather?

[MmatsDude 10+ year member]

what batts u have?

i bet some shitty ones lol

i could be wrong though

 

[Korn4Life 5,000+ posts]

Mine also does the same thing... I thought this is due to the fact that my windows are always up in the winter and that is why it is quieter.

 

[Death_by_Bass 10+ year member]

i say its your amp, even if its not you should still replace it

 

[microhaxo 10+ year member]

Its a "Worker"

here is picture...

http://img126.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1019gv7.jpg

Remember that im only working with 500 watts here, there should be NO NEED for multiple batteries.

 

[oldschool4me 10+ year member]

the voltage is dropping quick, i say battery issue. even with the voltage at 14v maybe the amperage isnt.

not always will a sub and or amp perform better when cold. also when it is cold it can sweat when it gets hot and cause a short. i have never had it happen to me but i have had friends that had it happen to them.

 

[microhaxo 10+ year member]

about the dimming issue: I believe it to be an amperage problem as well, the amp it self draws 80 amps max so, and i have a 130 amp alternator.

Anyway, what about the LOW bass at cold temperatures?

 

[96MaxGLE 10+ year member]

I've never heard of those batts b4...

 

[groundpound4200 5,000+ posts]

interesting... I was thinking mine wasnt as loud either. I know more **** rattles now that its cold and plastic panels are stiff. What part of MN you from?

 

[microhaxo 10+ year member]

The suburbs of minneapolis..

I did a google search and i found this post by someone, very interesting.. What do you guys think of it?

I'm an audio mastering engineer in Colorado where we often experience temps in the teens below zero (F). During the audio mastering process we play a test CD in a car stereo in addition to testing on a variety of home stereo receivers and speakers. What we have found is that temperature can drastically affect bass performance so we make it a point to never test in a car when the outdoor temps are below about 30 degrees F.
Those of you that live in similar environments have probably noticed that the seat cushions of your vehicle become quite stiff when temps drop into the single digits or colder. Just as the polymers in your seat cushions stiffen in cold, so do the materials used to manufacture the surrounds in audio speakers. The "surround" is that flexible ring that connects the speaker cone to the speaker basket. In one of our tests perfomed at 10 degrees F (w/o car heater), bass was reduced by 24 dB compared to tests done at 70 degrees F. Some speakers are more affected by cold than others depending on the speaker materials. Speaker surrounds can be made of butyl rubber, Santoprene, and several other polymers. Each material has its own characteristics when exposed to cold and therefore affects speaker performance to varying amounts. If the temperatures are cold enough its entirely possible that the materials will become brittle and break. I would expect that you don't have to worry about breakage if the speaker surround is made of butyl rubber as this same type of rubber is used in automobile tires.

In addition to the speaker surround, there are also speakers with "liquid cooled" voice coils. Oil is the liquid used in this application to prevent freezing, however even though the oil doesn't freeze in typical automobile applications, it does thicken and affects movement of the coil in the magnetic gap which in turn affects audio performance. To address the issue of damaging your amplifier, I would imagine that as the surround becomes stiff that the load on the amp in increased as is the chance of damaging the amp.

 

[oldschool4me 10+ year member]

about the dimming issue: I believe it to be an amperage problem as well, the amp it self draws 80 amps max so, and i have a 130 amp alternator.
Anyway, what about the LOW bass at cold temperatures?

once your equipment gets warm it should perform as normal. being cold the subwoofer will be a little stiff until it warms up. i would think it would be that dramatic of a loss though. it is cold here and i dont have that issue. but when the temperature is in the teens i can tell a little bit until the equipment warms up.

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

your voltage shouldn't be dropping that low with that little of power and a good size alt...something is up.

 

[Notloud00 10+ year member]

This is the second time this has happened. Last year i thought it happened because of a crap quality subwoofer but now this year my Phoenix Gold RSDC is about 2x quieter than in the summer. Its really annoying to play music and feel like you have a 10" running at 100 watts..

WHY is this happening?

The amp is cold too the touch after 25 min of playing at normal volume and the temperature is about 25 degrees right now, the colder it gets the quieter the bass.

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ALSO my lights keep dimming when the bass hits, even though i have done the big 3 mod, i have a 130 amp alternator and im giving 500w exactly to my sub.

Could all these problems be linked to my AMP?

SONY XM-2200GTX 1200w amp running at 500w RMS 4 ohms bridged.

mine is louder and peaks lower in the cold

 

[microhaxo 10+ year member]

I can tell you this for a FACT...

Last year when it was about 15 - 20 below zero when i would get into my car and play music, the first 4 min of the ride was ZERO bass, not a single sound and then GRADUALLY it slowly started to make noise but not even close to the output i had it set for, it really felt like i had a 10" subwoofer running on 80 watts or something. No bass at all..

So thats why i was like WTF and started this thread, i always thought it was because i had a Aluminum coned sub, but now with my phoenix gold it is starting to follow the same path. funny thing is though, my friends all say their bass is fine? one has type r's and other some REALLY OLD ass rockfords.

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

mine is louder and peaks lower in the cold

x2, colder air always = louder for me.

 

[oldschool4me 10+ year member]

The suburbs of minneapolis..
I did a google search and i found this post by someone, very interesting.. What do you guys think of it?

is what i was saying but more detailed. funny how you posted while i was typing mine lol. good find though.