Why does a sub play louder in warmer weather?

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Psycho-Acostics. You saw the mirror moving more do to the softer gasket and more pliable glue, and you assumed loudness. Your brain made it then sound louder to you. Maybe?

I don't think subs get louder in different temps, although I do know they get stiffer in cold. Part of the reason it sucks having a system in MN where I live. Blazing Hot in summer freezing cold in winter....
 
xplod1236 said:
but it was an easily noticeable difference. I'm guessing about 1-2 dB louder.

You need watch the weather forecasts, and wait for a very hot day with high humidity, while a high-pressure mass moves through your area. The air will be at its thickest and system should sound the loudest, yes?

You should easily get an extra .01dB out of the system.
You'll know it when you hear it.

Excuse me while I giggle for a while.:cannotbe:
 
Relax said:
Psycho-Acostics. You saw the mirror moving more do to the softer gasket and more pliable glue, and you assumed loudness. Your brain made it then sound louder to you. Maybe?


Nope. The next day when it was cooler, I could also tell that it wasn't as loud as the day before.

I don't think subs get louder in different temps, although I do know they get stiffer in cold. Part of the reason it sucks having a system in MN where I live. Blazing Hot in summer freezing cold in winter....

Over here in Michigan, it's the same kind of weather. I did notice that a rubber surround gets stiffer in the cold, so that's why I guessed that it softened up in the heat.

Bending a soft piece of rubber is easier than bending a hard piece of rubber. So a soft surround would be easier to bend, resulting in more cone movement from the same VC force (what I said in my first post). Am I correct?
 
... Or the warmer weather is making your ear drums more pliable or not as pliable as mine in warm weather so it may sound glaringly different.

Anycase IMO there are way too many factors to list without proper testing.

Come to think of it, I have never seen some sort of test like this. Although one can use equations for the basic different densities of air with changing temps for basic ideas.
 
I want to agree with xplod1236 that on hot days bass does seem to increase. This is probably a great question to ask the car audio professionals.

Here in NH the temperature changes considerably from the morning hours to the late afternoon. With my older subwoofers, I really felt like the bass impact/SPL was more after work than it was before.

I also think I remember reading something about this. Those particular subwoofers that I had were some type of aluminum cone. I think it is the effect the temperature has on the cone that changed the difference in sound.
 
Or the warmer weather is making your ear drums more pliable

That could be it. All I need to do now is find a microphone that gets more sensitive in warmer weather, so I can prove all of you wrong. :) Joking aside, maybe you guys are right. I did have the sunroof open on the hot day and not on the cool days, so that might have had an effect. There was a discussion about that here. I just wanted to find out if there is some explanation for this.
 
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Car audio is an extremely harsh environment, with extremes of temperature (not to mention engine and road noise to compete with)

Explod and tf you are quite perceptive (and right!)
- the bass response does reduce with cold temperatures, as John Krutke has shown empirically by his heating and cooling tests-

Effects of temperature on a woofer-
http://www.zaphaudio.com/temp.html

One of the reasons you'll never see me dropping high end drivers into my car.
 
I have seen a fair few SPL competitions and I do know some of the more experienced DBDRAG members in the UK.

Temperature will not effect SPL output very much at all, certianly not noticable by ear.

Opening a window or sunroof can make a difference to SPL output though, you can a effect cancelation in the cabin by doing so and secondly you are effectivly adding an additional bandpass/vent to the cabin which often can add extra bass in the 30-60hz region.
 
we are talking about a car sub here, there are many other variables in a car that are affected by temperature i noticed that on a cold day my sound system sounds different aswell but i put it down to the fact that if its a cold frosty day here and im driving the car i have a lot of extra electronics turned on such as the heater fan, heated seats, heated screens, heated mirrors, etc... but meh! thats just how i decided to explain what me and my friends had noticed.
owen
 
burnedfingers said:
Could it be that no one owns a sound level meter in which to check?

You could respond with 32 pages here or you could get a meter and put an end to the question.

I have spoken to DBDRAGG pros who have tried exactly this.

SPL compertitions using term lab sensors prove that temp makes little difference.

Older less accurate mics like Audiocontrol ones were effected by temperature.
 
DoomPixie said:
I would borrow my mates spl meter again and run some tests but im moveing in 3 days and we are forcasted cold, wet weather and im not bringing my car with me (only going for summer then i will be back) but yeh, the only real way to tell is if someone measures it.
Owen


If it is not a Termlab sensor the test is invalid, temperature can effect less accurate mics......
 
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