Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Technical Questions Temperature range for Algonquin outdoor speakers

What are the minimum and maximum allowable temperatures that the Algonquin outdoor speakers can handle? More specifically, what is the minimum recommended outdoor temperature?

I just came in after enjoying a very chilly -25 celsius night sitting in my hot tub and listening to some music over my Algonquin outdoor speakers. While they sounded OK, I did notice that they sounded somewhat subdued and were not quite as full-sounding and lively. They may also have sounded somewhat delayed in their response. Keep in mind, though, that I was playing a radio station and not a CD or DVD.

Is it possible that they will not perform as well at extreme cold temperatures? Does sound "sound" different at colder temperatures?

Or perhaps they sounded fine and it was my own senses that were so dulled by the cold

Any thoughts?

Bryan

With our current cold weather, the surrounds on the cones are very stiff, so they won't be moving as effectively. Kind of like when you first sit in the car and the foam in the seat barely gives way.

I'm sure Axiom might be able to tell you for sure, but it seems that some of the Axiom employees live in very cold climates of Canada and they have been manufactured to withstand those arctic conditions.

I figured that the cold temperature would affect the cones somewhat so I'm sure they weren't moving as "freely" as normal. Do you think I could cause any damage to them if played at such cold temperatures? I agree that Axiom (being a Canadian company) has probably stress-tested and designed them to withdstand our cold climates but their literature doesn't actually specify a temperature range. I don't want to damage them but I would still like to use them when its freezing outside and I'm sitting in the hot tub. That's one of the reasons I bought the hot-tub and speakers!

Thoughts? I'll probably send Axiom an email and ask them their official position but I thought some of the eager Axiom board members would probably be online - and I'd like to jump in the hot tub again tomorrow.

Bryan

p.s. jakewash - I'll PM you about getting together over the holidays to tweak my system and perhaps have a listen to your set-up.

I think the rubber they are using for the surrounds is an all weather variety, butyl, etc. It should withstand anything we can throw at them all though as you are finding out, they may sound different at our colder temps.

I shall be waiting for that PM, I will get to use the new soundcard and see how things graph out in your place, it should be fun.

I believe Alan even mentioned once they could fall in a swimming pool and still be fine after the water was drained out, not sure about icey waters.

Axiom says they test in their environmental chamber down to -20 Celcius... sounds like you've just exceeded the test conditions. Brr....

Jason

That just means they sometimes do testing with the door open!

Hi Icehawk21,

I chatted with Ian, Axiom's designer, and what you were hearing is in fact quite accurate. At those temperatures, the effect of extreme cold on the Algonquins is a somewhat rolled-off bass and treble response, so your impression of them sounding "subdued" is quite accurate.

Ian remarked that after you play them for quite awhile, the voice coils should warm up and the frequency response should return to normal.

If there's a lot of snow around your hot tub, the absorption of snow is considerable, so the sound might also be affected.

Regards,

Alan

Snow is a great bass trap.