Does Cold degrade speakers?
 

Just wondering if playing one's speakers at say -12C has a detrimental effect on speaker longevity?

ive played mine at a lot lower than -12.... the internal temp of my amp was -16 one day. Although i just installed them at the start of winter but i know many people that keep there subs in there car all through winter with temp's alot colder than-12 and they have never had a problem.

It was -40 here the other day and my subs were fine just sitting, I dare not find out if they will play in that temperature.

mine work in -15ish weather, I didn't try in the sub -20 weather this morning though
I wouldn't worry until you hit -30 or so (not that I've seen it happen, I'm just paranoid)

ive run mine as cold as -35 with no problems.
beyond that, i have no interest in running my head, and just use the factory system for radio.

With my first crappy pyramid pair i blew 1 sub in a winter not sure what caused it but since then i pull my subs in for the winter but my speakers are fine

I'm sure i've played my stuff in the low 40's or so with winchill (I generally will try not to leave my house in anything colder than -45...i mean...cause well there's no reason). So long as you let the interior warm up a lil bit...it's not like you're actually playing them in -30 or -40C, it's a lot warmer inside.

In the end, over the course of a number of years i've never had any trouble.

you should let your car warm up inside until it is above freezing before using subs , don't forget about all that extra power your drawing with your defroster and don't forget your battery is only about 40% affective at -12 , so hammering on your subs is just great for your alternator which is also cold and is all of a sudden working over time .

so its hurting your battery and alternator and probably your subs a little bit . i would wait till it was warm in the car and engine temp gage had at least started to move , then again your car not mine .

I should have elaborated... I never rock on my system until its warm enough in the car to go without gloves and toque.

Its always low volume, for example 1/4 what I would normally listen to on a warm day.