# Should you let an amp warm up before maximizing volume?



## ShoTme (Aug 7, 2010)

This is something i've been curious about for a while. Now that it's getting colder outside, when I get up in the morning my amps are cold..obviously due to the fact that it's cold outside and they haven't been used for at least 10-12 hours (the day before). With my cars over the years I've never pushed the engine too hard until it gets a chance to warm up...just as a precaution and the fact that the engine runs much better when it warms up then it does right when you start it up. 

I do the same thing with my system. I usually only have it at 1/4 volume output (from my headunit) for 10-15 minutes until the amps warm up some.
So I have been really curious if it's similar with amps. Meaning, is there any benefit or could any damage be done if you just turn your system on FULL BLAST or even 3/4 blast right from start up? Logically, i'm thinking that it wouldn't make a difference either way,....but I'm not completely sure which is why I had to ask.


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## GoodyearJ (May 4, 2011)

I've never heard of cold issues with amps. However, there have been some instances of issues with surrounds on subs getting hard at near freezing temperatures restricting cone movement and thus overheating the coils of the sub


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## AKheathen (Sep 10, 2011)

there have been cold issues in amps, but that's pretty much in real cold temps, like sub-zero, and also where high levels of condensation is concerned, but i don't think you'll have a problem in cali, lol. and, don't forget that the stiff surrounds rip in the real cold temps, because thaey are also brittle, and flex more at the weakest point a few min is good practice, but i don't think it's near necessary there. your engine needs to fully expand all the metals and get the viscocities of all fluids to operating range to run best and at proper tollerances....


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

GoodyearJ said:


> I've never heard of cold issues with amps. However, there have been some instances of issues with surrounds on subs getting hard at near freezing temperatures restricting cone movement and thus overheating the coils of the sub


I cant see that being true at all. if they are near frozen, just means it will take longer to heat up. the inductance shouldnt be any different (at least not enough to matter) no matter what temp it is. once a speakers warms up it will change properties a bit, but power handling is not one of em.


for the OP, this is not a car. if it comes on and works you can use it however you like. I doubt will get a piece cold enough to actually effect the electronics (most are rated well below 0° F)


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## crispin (May 23, 2011)

I only recently learned about the surrounds on subs getting stiff.
This is the first year that I have had my subs mounted in the trunk while living in an area that gets below freezing so i am going to make sure to use low volume for a few mins before getting loud.
I do not think that the amps need any concern, however.


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## minbari (Mar 3, 2011)

depends on the sub too. ones with bytle rubber surrounds and the like are less susceptible.


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

crispin said:


> I only recently learned about the surrounds on subs getting stiff.
> This is the first year that I have had my subs mounted in the trunk while living in an area that gets below freezing so i am going to make sure to use low volume for a few mins before getting loud.
> I do not think that the amps need any concern, however.


I've lived in Illinois my entire life where it at times gets below 0F... I get in the car, let the engine warm up till I can tolerate the fact that humans have to endure said temps, and bang on it... Never lost a sub, sound different but have not come across damage.


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## crispin (May 23, 2011)

chad said:


> I've lived in Illinois my entire life where it at times gets below 0F... I get in the car, let the engine warm up till I can tolerate the fact that humans have to endure said temps, and bang on it... Never lost a sub, sound different but have not come across damage.


Well I have the Skar VVX's and they have a very thick rubber surround that gets pretty stiff when cold.

Now most of the subs I have owned in the past were JL Audio and those have a much more pliable surround plus they were installed in a SUV which gets the subs in a warmer environment much quicker than sitting in an unheated trunk.

These Skars that I have, while I love the performance for the price point (ie very loud sub for the money) they have a very poor cold weather design - IMO


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## AKheathen (Sep 10, 2011)

minibari, you are dead wrong on both aspects. doesn't get much colder than i live and work in...... first, the bytil/rubber surrounds are the worst for cold seizure. over a decade ago, i had my wife cranking 1k to a pg x-max 15 and i had my head against it to make sure it was even on. worked fine once the trunk warmed up a bit. 2nd, no movement= no cooling, and even though the problem is that the sub is cold, the coil can heat real quick, and is actually possible to cook it before you can even feel it on the dustcap. this is real cold, though, not your southern overnight chill. the butyl rubber surrounds are what i perfer over foam, and most i have run in the last 8 or so years have been just that, and not split apart like foam, and pretty much, if it's a problem that it needs to warm up, it tends sound a little funny or quiet, so you'll know to turn it down for a bit...


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

AKheathen said:


> minibari, you are dead wrong on both aspects. doesn't get much colder than i live and work in...... first, the bytil/rubber surrounds are the worst for cold seizure. over a decade ago, i had my wife cranking 1k to a pg x-max 15 and i had my head against it to make sure it was even on. worked fine once the trunk warmed up a bit. 2nd, no movement= no cooling, and even though the problem is that the sub is cold, the coil can heat real quick, and is actually possible to cook it before you can even feel it on the dustcap. this is real cold, though, not your southern overnight chill. the butyl rubber surrounds are what i perfer over foam, and most i have run in the last 8 or so years have been just that, and not split apart like foam, and pretty much, if it's a problem that it needs to warm up, it tends sound a little funny or quiet, so you'll know to turn it down for a bit...


There is no flippin way butyl rubber is holding back a kilowatt of power, Anchorage is cold but not cold enough to stop 1KW from moving a driver. Methinks something else is oddly wrong..... 

time to dig out a driver and make room in the deep-freeze.


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## Viggen (May 2, 2011)

I would let it warm up.... just like a engine

Many home audiophiles leave their home amps on 24/7 so they sound the best & are at optimal temp, seems like a waiste to me though.

Mostly I would worry about pushing a voicecoil to hard when it's cold, letting it have a minute or so to warm up just like the engine is cheap insurance to me


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## sqshoestring (Jun 19, 2007)

I always found less sub output at cold temps so it does not sound right. I always play it at a lower volume for a bit and it seems to normalize, though air temp in the car may cause some of the issue as I don't think trunks warm that much or that fast. But if stiff that will cause friction and heat so it will warm itself, I'd guess.

I always try to minimize moisture in the car, keep the floor mats dumped out and use mats that don't let the carpet get soaked. Otherwise it blows moisture when the heat is on. Always fix any water leaks in the car. Otherwise when at freezing or less there is no moisture and electronics themselves love low temps.


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## sqnut (Dec 24, 2009)

I think it's the cabin that needs to warm up, not the sub. You would get better perception of the bass when the air is less dense. Heck, this was the only thing left unsaid .


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## glenmc (Jun 13, 2011)

Electronics love the cold that is a fact as for the subs great discussion thanks


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## bhammer (Dec 9, 2011)

AKheathen said:


> over a decade ago, i had my wife cranking 1k to a pg x-max 15 and i had my head against it to make sure it was even on. worked fine once the trunk warmed up a bit.


Hmmm, I spent some time in Barrow, AK and one of the Base Ops guys had a thumping stereo. It'd play fine, albeit, a little different, after sitting for a couple of hours. I don't know what kind of subs he had running but he never had a problem with them not moving at all.




AKheathen said:


> 2nd, no movement= no cooling


Yes, very true. I had a buddy that packed his car with a bunch a donation clothes for goodwill several years ago. He really didn't think the closthes would have an impact by laying on his 1 12" sub. The problem was, it was enough weight to keep the cone somewhat still. Boy, I am sure those clothes stank as the smell of a burnt up VC is bad....


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## MikeT1982 (Jul 6, 2011)

Hey guys, i myself always allow a warm up time just because it feels like the right thing to do, and the bass always seemed to sound different when it is very cold. However i know that computer guys freeze the CPU's...but with an amp i gues if we froze them with freon say and KEPT it cold it'd be one story...but we heat them up...and the question is will a rapid (full power) heat up crack things, wear out tolerances faster, like of the solid state devices that get very hot like the transistors and such. However one distinct experience i couldn't explain was from my MMATS D100 i had (the smaller than HC sinked [email protected] class D monoblocks). I had it running a pair of MMATS pro 12's around the year 1999. That winter, i was in my senior year of highschool and we were renting a place with no garage as my parents were building. Anyways i had a themometer (radio shack digital with remote probe) with the probe mounted to the amp with tape and the thermometer display on dash. (it was from to my previous amp...Soundstream Reference Class A 3.0 hahaa, biggg temp diff...about 200 degrees dif LOL). Anyways, when it was in the teens Farenheit, the amp would power up and squeel! Not from the speakers either!!! A very weird squeaking pulsing and squeeling similar to a charging capacitor in a camera photoflash but much lower and also the sound of dragging chalk on the chalkboard....untill it warmed at closer to 30F!!! Maybe the first 5 min of easy jamming. It would come out of the power supply side vents into which i could see a torroid transf next too. It would always function fine though but boy was it weird! Fall and Spring time all gone!


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## goodstuff (Jan 9, 2008)

I once had a high school history teacher try to tell our class that warming up a vehicle was useless and wasteful because it wasn't human and couldn't feel cold. 
Me and the one motor head in the class both did simultaneous face palms.


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## bmiller1 (Mar 7, 2010)

chad said:


> *time to dig out a driver and make room in the deep-freeze.*


Love it. :laugh::laugh:


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## chad (Jun 30, 2005)

bmiller1 said:


> Love it. :laugh::laugh:


Testing is fun.


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## AKheathen (Sep 10, 2011)

well, it was in fairbanks, actually, i don't remember if it was -20, or -40 that morn, but somewhere in that range. what i remember tha most was having to drive a couple hours @ -22f 2 nights before with no heat until i reached the next gas station and got coolant. so get it cold, and make sure you have anice cone and thisck surround if you wanna try. the pgx-max had one of the first full cf cones, and i'm supprised it did not blow apart


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## sqshoestring (Jun 19, 2007)

goodstuff said:


> I once had a high school history teacher try to tell our class that warming up a vehicle was useless and wasteful because it wasn't human and couldn't feel cold.
> Me and the one motor head in the class both did simultaneous face palms.


Lol, feelings? However lubricant flow (viscosity) and mechanical tolerances do change at cold temps, so a car should not be run hard until warmed. It is bad for your mpg to warm a car up idle you are better off to drive it gently....far as mpg/fuel use. But hey, I use my car starter sometimes but not for that long, and I sometimes turn off the OD for a few miles so it warms up faster. F the cold lol.

By far the largest problem with electronics is condensation and shorting with rapid temp changes.


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## tekjunkie28 (Dec 2, 2011)

MikeT1982 said:


> Hey guys, i myself always allow a warm up time just because it feels like the right thing to do, and the bass always seemed to sound different when it is very cold. However i know that computer guys freeze the CPU's...but with an amp i gues if we froze them with freon say and KEPT it cold it'd be one story...but we heat them up...and the question is will a rapid (full power) heat up crack things, wear out tolerances faster, like of the solid state devices that get very hot like the transistors and such. However one distinct experience i couldn't explain was from my MMATS D100 i had (the smaller than HC sinked [email protected] class D monoblocks). I had it running a pair of MMATS pro 12's around the year 1999. That winter, i was in my senior year of highschool and we were renting a place with no garage as my parents were building. Anyways i had a themometer (radio shack digital with remote probe) with the probe mounted to the amp with tape and the thermometer display on dash. (it was from to my previous amp...Soundstream Reference Class A 3.0 hahaa, biggg temp diff...about 200 degrees dif LOL). Anyways, when it was in the teens Farenheit, the amp would power up and squeel! Not from the speakers either!!! A very weird squeaking pulsing and squeeling similar to a charging capacitor in a camera photoflash but much lower and also the sound of dragging chalk on the chalkboard....untill it warmed at closer to 30F!!! Maybe the first 5 min of easy jamming. It would come out of the power supply side vents into which i could see a torroid transf next too. It would always function fine though but boy was it weird! Fall and Spring time all gone!


Yup we computer guys have frozen cpus (though I have never actually done any water cooling even.) But a few times I have heard of them cooling cpus so far that they actually go quite a bit slower bc from my understanding you are literally frezzeing electrons. My kenwood x794 comes to mind when it cold the screen is blurry as text scrolls bc of the LCD's slow reaction when they are cold even though its still the same amount of voltage being applied to them.


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## nathanz (May 6, 2010)

Warming up your car:

Most road cars have a low silicone piston under tight tolerances with thin weight oil. Once the car fires and the oil flows to the head, there is no real issue with driving the car hard after startup. your car will be in whats calls open loop, where it's ECu is giving it more fuel and less timing in addition to adding EGR and in most newer cars initiating a catalyst heater. All of this works together and will get your car to within operating temp witin seconds. The emissions coment is due to to the catalyst not heating up at idle as fast as it will at low speed - which is accurate.

Amps:

Electronics are not as sensitive to cold as they are to moisture. Ever have your CD player not work right in the cold? That's condensation on the laser cover, a stiff belt on the drive or alike. 

It's not going to harm your amps to crank them in the cold, in fact, heat is your enemy here and so they should sound better.

Speakers:

Your bytle surrounds will suffer from stiffness, and until you can get the ambient temp up in the car, they wont soften much. THIS would be a GOOD reason NOT to crank it up in the cold.


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## BuickGN (May 29, 2009)

The only way I can imagine a speaker not moving due to the cold is if moisture got into the VC and froze overnight. There's just no way a surround could hold back that much power without breaking itself or the cone.

I could swear I hear a bigger change in sound from my front stage than from the subs when cold but maybe that's just my perception.


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## That1guy (May 8, 2020)

Well old post but Being an audio fanatic ever since I can remember I am just noticing this for the first time with my car amp and subs. I have a competition cadence zdrive 800w that hits like a 1200 w amp. And 2 x 500w rms dual brand subs. In a 1/2inch thick 100% sealed box within specs of subs.. ( subs be upgraded soon but they will do for now.. and altho this is my first car stereo system this is not my first rodeo w speakers subs n amps. I know they're very different. But as a whole they are the same. Just different environments and power. So I dialed in after much research my car amp last night. After driving around so yea they been goin for like 60mins + prior to adjustments. During the tuning of freq and gain/volts. I had eq set to flat and head unit running at lil over 80% power for about an hour or two and it sounded amazing I had fade all the way sent to the rear while I was adjusting it and only had the subs going ( no rear fill) SET AMP GAIN 1-2 CLICKS BELOW DISTORTION POINT. THEN FIXED THE FADE 1 -2 CLICKS TO REAR JUST BELOW Distortion OF FRONT SP AND TWEETERS. and the AMP GAIN IS STILL only up halfway. GOT AMP SET TO BOUT HALF WAY .also HZ IS SET BETWEEN 80HZ AND 50HZ and OK.. WOW. the mirrors are shaking and everything AND BASSY AS ****!! CLEAN N CLEAR VOCALS AND HIGHS N MIDS TOO.. anyways NEXT AFTERNOON at around 3 p.m. I got to my car started thought ok good .. turn on my head unit and it was weird. Same settings.. But I'm not able to have it at max volume like night before .. Bout half. (Yea loudness is set to off and it sounds crystal clear and Bassy so there definitely is a difference 100 % IT might have to do with the restriction AND expanding of the materials with the temperature if you think about it that makes sense cuz it's more flexible and maybe TOO .amp needs to be warmed up? I mean this amp dont even get hot it only gets a little warm but that's expected . after it was all warmed up I'm now able to listen to it at full power I mean I thought my speakers were blown but they're not so yeah there's a difference at least with my setup and I pay attention to every detail too


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## Lou Frasier2 (Jul 17, 2012)

why bring up a 9 year old post seriously?


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## K-pop sucks (May 28, 2018)

Deja vu


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