Car Audio in Freezing Weather: Why It Distorts and How Not to Damage Your Speakers

Today I learned something (logical, of course, I just never thought about it — I don’t have a car yet): in freezing weather, car audio starts to sound bad and can even get damaged!

After browsing car forums, I realized that experienced drivers know this problem well. In freezing weather they first warm up the cabin, then turn the music on at a low volume, and only once the cabin is comfortably warm (for both people and speakers) do they crank it up.

The experts on the DLS forum answered short and simple: don’t push it, wait until the cabin warms up.

Why car speakers distort in the cold

A speaker cone is held by the surround — a flexible ring of rubber or foam — and by the spider. In the cold these materials stiffen: the cone moves with difficulty, the sound gets harsh, the bass almost disappears, mostly the highs remain, and turning up the volume brings distortion. Play loud in that state, and the stiffened surround can simply crack.

Especially risky for a subwoofer

A subwoofer usually sits in the trunk, and warm air reaches it much later than the cabin. On top of that, a subwoofer cone has a long excursion, so the surround is under more stress. A rubber surround turns rock-hard in the frost and can easily tear.

How not to damage your car audio in winter

• warm up the cabin first, and only then turn on the music;
• keep the volume low for the first few minutes;
• turn on the subwoofer and heavy bass last, once the trunk has warmed up too;
• if you hear distortion or the bass is gone, turn it down and let the car warm up more.

Watch out for condensation

If you heat a frozen car very quickly and very hard, warm humid air condenses into droplets on cold parts — on the speakers and inside the head unit and amplifier. So it’s better to warm the car up gradually rather than blasting the heater at full right away.

Which speakers to choose

If your car stays outside in winter, look at the materials when choosing speakers: paper cones don’t like moisture, while plastic ones (for example, polypropylene) handle it better. Surrounds also behave differently in the cold from model to model — ask the seller or read reviews from owners in cold regions.