Cold Weather, Clearer sound?

CorporateMustache · #1 (**permalink**) 12-10-2005, 10:56 PM

Just wondering, It seems like when it is winter time and I get in my car, the highs are so much clearer on my stereo. Is this because the air is thinner? Even shitty sounding cds and radio stations seem to get brighter in sound. Am I smoking crack? please talk amongst yourselves>>>>>

brandondrury · #2 (**permalink**) 12-11-2005, 12:08 AM

Snoopy would know more about this than I, but I've noticed less bass in the winter time. I think it has something to do with the mechanics of the subwoofer itself.

I've noticed a tremendous difference in the sound of my car stereo when the windows are up verse down. I like the sound of the windows down much better. In the winter, the idea of rolling my windows down doesn't even cross my mind, obviously, but does make a difference in sound.

Brandon

CorporateMustache · #3 (**permalink**) 12-12-2005, 07:24 AM

I have always actually thought that bass seems to be louder also when the air is cold inside of the cab of the car. Thinner Air= higher SPL(sound pressure level) I know that some people who compete in SPL competitions with cars blast their AC to improve the Volume/SPL of their bass.(but that could be just a myth) not sure. But I am sure about the highs thing. If the SPL thing is true then it may also have the same effect on the tweeters in my car...........that may be why the highs seem louder and clearer as well.........if anyone knows this for sure be sure to post it!!!

brandondrury · #4 (**permalink**) 12-12-2005, 07:34 AM

Snoopy is our guy for this one.

Enlighten us!!

Brandon

snoopy · #5 (**permalink**) 12-12-2005, 01:43 PM

OK...I'll try to make this short. Everyone is right with the info here.

Less bass on cold days is caused by the material that the speaker surround is made of becoming stiffer and harded to move. A tweeter is usually diaphram (or dome) or a small cone speaker with little or no surround...it doesn't need to more far to create high freqs. In Midrange and Woofers things get a little more complex, especially if the speaker has a rubber surround. In home and studio speakers natural type rubber is great because temperature changes little in a very controlled indoor enviroment. Rubber has great acoustic properties and help keep the speaker moving linear in and out ( and in the voice coil gap). In a vehicle we have huge temperature changes....it might be blow zero in Dec and 180 degrees in July with the windows up. In the early and mid 90's car speaker companies started to use natural rubber as surrounds. The speakers sound great, but when the temperature fell they wouldn't...sometimes not at all till they ****ed up. The speaker companies hard develop hybrid rubber to help offset this effect. Now we see these hybrids in use and it helps alot, but still have a little of that effect going on. (the woofer cone being harder to move by the amp) Paper and cloth surround that we find on most all OEM speakers and some aftermarket speakers still have this effect...the material becoming stiff, thus less bass (and midrange) when it gets cold.

Now as far as SPL competition is concerned....yes the guys try to get the speakers cool, but for a different reason. They are trying to keep the temperature of the voice coil down. When the voice coil heats up it cause the impedance to rise. When the impedance rises the amp will make less power.....Higher impedance =Less Power In SPL competition having the power on every run is super important........

wow that should anwser your questions and was not super long.......

peace

earthboundaudio · #6 (**permalink**) 12-28-2005, 09:27 AM

about 6 years ago I saw Pearl Jam at Alpine Valley near Milwaukee. It's an outdoor venue but they sometimes schedule shows into late October. Well, the show ended up being Oct. 28th and the tempurature was an unseasonably cold 20 degrees. Fuckin' insanely freezing for a three hour concert. But, in the ten or so times that I have seen Pearl Jam, I have never heard them sound better. The sound seemed so much more crystal clear then any other show I've ever been to, and the band HAD to rock soo much harder just to not freeze on stage. Mike McCreedy (sp?) tore up some of the craziest, fastest solos that I've ever seen bust out. By the end of the whole thing, the whole band was just rocking away in just t-shirts. Fucking amazing..

Oblivion · #7 (**permalink**) 12-28-2005, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by earthboundaudio

about 6 years ago I saw Pearl Jam at Alpine Valley near Milwaukee.

Heh, unrelated to the sound issue, but I saw them there almost 14 years ago at Lollapalooza 2

BTW, for those of you keeping score at home, that's the same venue that killed Stevie Ray Vaughn.

Thanks for the cool write-up Snoopy. That all makes a lot of sense.