winter bad for subs?

[YeahToast 10+ year member]

so where i live it gets pretty cold in the winter and i've heard the cold weather isn't very good for your subs. is this true? should i keep the volume low when it gets cold or is it ok to play it loud?

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[emilimo701 10+ year member]

so where i live it gets pretty cold in the winter and i've heard the cold weather isn't very good for your subs. is this true? should i keep the volume low when it gets cold or is it ok to play it loud?

from who???

play loud, play proud. one of the biggest bottlenecks to subwoofer performance is heat. if you have a sub that reaches its thermal limits before mechanical, you could probably give it even more power than it would normally be able to handle. i haven't tried this in practice, nor would i want to, but you should be fine. however one time i was arguing practically this same argument about computers... turns out the cold affects more parts of the computer than the CPU... and sometimes quite negatively //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif so i could be wrong.... guys??

 

[SRim23 5,000+ posts]

Ive given this some thought and I gotta figure the cold has to have some effect. how much effect I dont know, but a little. I mean I gotta assume that maybe the parts could become a little brittle from extreme cold. I know the HU's Ive had that had motorized faceplates moved super slow on startup until they warmed up.

 

[YeahToast 10+ year member]

i don't remember where i heard it i think someone was talking about it at the local shop? yeah idk computers are weird. i don't see how the cold would affect them considering people cool the processors with liquid nitrogen when overclocking.

 

[UMWDawg92 10+ year member]

my guess would be that it would be similar to a car, your car doesn't like cold till it gets warmed up but than it actually runs more efficiantly after its warmed up due to getting constant cold air to keep the heat down... so I'd guess subs would be the same way in the cold, after they warm up a little they may run better because heat would stay down, but I'm not sure on that so don't go test it out it's just a guess

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

I've never noticed an issue with speakers functioning differently. If you're like me they warm up pretty quick anyway.

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

subs are louder when the air is cold...//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[sobe3yourself. 10+ year member]

^^^hot air rises and the opposite for cold air. sound waves tend to "bend" in the direction of colder air. the colder the ground temperature, the more waves are bent towards your ears. if its hot, the ground heats up and the waves bend up and away from you.

 

[dennit469 10+ year member]

subs are louder when the air is cold...//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

i second this

 

[Jakey253 10+ year member]

you'll be good. it's ALWAYS cold here and i have no problems

 

[AQHDC3 10+ year member]

Heat = resistance

 

[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

subs are louder when the air is cold...//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

Wrong. Cold air is more dense and therefore it is more difficult for sound to travel. Any car I have been in has been louder on warm days. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

On the other hand, the constant cold will keep the voice coil(s) cool, so in theory, they should be able to take more power.

 

[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

Ive given this some thought and I gotta figure the cold has to have some effect. how much effect I dont know, but a little. I mean I gotta assume that maybe the parts could become a little brittle from extreme cold. I know the HU's Ive had that had motorized faceplates moved super slow on startup until they warmed up.

And HU's with LED screens will have the display lag.

 

[UMWDawg92 10+ year member]

Wrong. Cold air is more dense and therefore it is more difficult for sound to travel. Any car I have been in has been louder on warm days. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif
On the other hand, the constant cold will keep the voice coil(s) cool, so in theory, they should be able to take more power.

thats what I was thinking... cold air is much more dense hence why heat rises... but to be honest I've never really noticed much of a difference either and it's about 100 here in the summer and -30 or so during the winter...

 

[hatedonmostly 5,000+ posts]

thats what I was thinking... cold air is much more dense hence why heat rises... but to be honest I've never really noticed much of a difference either and it's about 100 here in the summer and -30 or so during the winter...

I've always noticed a huge difference in loudness with different temperatures