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Cold tempretures and speakers


m00n

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  • 1 year later...

m00n: I have to agree with John Warren and Ear; I think if you play the speakers prior to a thorough warm-up period, you may damage their surrounds. However, I might be more concerned about the electronics components such as your receiver, DVD player and projector and NOT because of the cold so much as due to moisture caused from condensation during the room warm-up process. The equipment could "sweat" internally as the cold steel and plastic warms up. The moisture caused by this may effect the systems more sensitive sections such as the FM tuner, and also, switch contacts may oxidize and corrode. Auto electronics components are designed to handle this scenario through the use of sealed micro-devices, while home components are not.

In evidence of this, I have a system out in our garage. This garage is not heated most of the time. The only time it is is when I need to fix one of our vehicles during our cold and snowy Michigan Winters. When that happens, I kick on the kerosene heater.

The garage system is comprised of an old Pioneer SX-838 Receiver, a Sony Carousel-type 5-CD player, and currently, a pair of Radio Shack speakers. The system has sat in the garage about 5 years and is exposed to more than 95 degrees (F) in the Summer and as low as -20 degrees (F) in the Winter.

Two things have occured with the system:

The audio of the receiver now cuts out every once in a while. It just stops, sometimes within a mintue of switching it on. Sometimes it comes back on, sometimes it does not. Nothing I do (clicking switches, spinning knobs) seems to rectify this problem.

The rubber surrounds of the woofers have turned to powder and have disintegrated. Not a good thing!

However, I have a pair of.....DARE I SAY THIS? BOSE outdoor speakers that are abour 8 years old which hang outside beneatht the garage's front gable during the summer and sit idle (not used) on a shelf beneath the workbench during the winter, and the surrounds on those speakers are fine. But these were designed for temparature extremes and the others were not.

All said, I think I might recommend you consider setting the heat in your out-building to at least 55 (or 60) during the winter, just to keep the extreme cold and moisture from destroying your valuable equipment. This is a VERY good question and post m00n. Thanks for posting it! Best of luck!

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I would worry about THERNAL SHOCK...

That is...you have cold voice coil and then crank it up...and it gets warm very quickly...What would happen...I dunno....

but think of car speakers.....they get very cold in them northern climates....and then peeps crank em up....and you do not hear much about peeps hurting them.....or I don't at least....

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One thing that hits me is perhaps the cabinets and any trim that may work loose through changing temps.

I have a pair of deck speakers that I drag in and out of the house. They are Polk RTi-80's I think. They have a plastic trim piece (kinda like tape) that is starting to seperate due to climate change.

You probabaly have a more stable environment than what I am using them for though. A typical day could be jamming while doing yard work or even sitting around the chiminea in the winter.

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  • Klipsch Employees

All of our speakers and all their parts are built for temps from 150F to -30F.

That is not to say that you can crank on a speaker and its temp at -30F. But who would watch a movie in thoes temps.

M00N, for you look at it like this. If it, if the temp is high enough for you to be in there and watch a movie, the speakers are ok.

If you are not playing the speakers, they can take the cold.

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Aside from the rubber surrounds (IF ANY) stiffening in colder temperatures, I would be more worried about the electronics as being more at risk as it will heat up from whatever coldest temp to around 70+ degrees...

This fairly rapid change in operating temperature will stress the components and definitely shorten the lifespan of the electronics in question.

DM2.gif

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----------------

On 10/14/2004 9:44:57 AM ygmn wrote:

but think of car speakers.....they get very cold in them northern climates....and then peeps crank em up....and you do not hear much about peeps hurting them.....or I don't at least....

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I have a surplus home 12" woofer in my car... which is never garaged. So it sees -30C here in Canada (-25F?). I also don't wait for the car to "warm up" before leaving, but that doesn't stop me from listening to some tunes when going to work

I CAN say that its response does change when it's cold... basically there is less bass probably from the stiffer suspension which will reduce it's efficiency (ie: it's over damped). I've never really tested it to know exactly what's happening.

My power steering and shifter are also much stiffer. 2.gif

The sub has been in there for about 3years... and it hasn't failed yet. It is safe to guess that its' lifespan will be reduced, as it is being exposed to greater stresses than in room temperatures... but to what extent is unknown.

Rob

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