Amp affected by Cold?
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=22024
Printed Date: July 18, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Topic: Amp affected by Cold?
Posted By: luxuryrules
Subject: Amp affected by Cold?
Date Posted: November 27, 2003 at 2:00 AM
Just a couple of days ago I noticed my amp cut out on me. Then back in. Then out again. Then... well, you get the idea. So I threw in another CD that was less bass intesive. Same problem. Then I checked every connection in the system, powers, ground, remote, all the wires on my cd player, and everything's good. So I'm sure it's not a loose connection. And I'm pretty sure that it isn't the amp overheating, because it'll cut out on me after running for less than a minute and I have my gains knobs turned down to half.
Then I stumble on to the possible culprit. This is an old, cheap amp (Lanzer Vibe 420, the black one that's supposed to be 800 watts), and it's now cold outside, coincidentally it started doing this when the temperature dropped. Could being cold do this to a geriatric amp?
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I refuse to tiptoe through life only to arrive safely at death.
Replies:
Posted By: tuneman
Date Posted: November 27, 2003 at 4:54 AM
I suppose it is possible although unlikely unless you have a cold solder on the circut board that is more effected when its cold out. (The moisture and cold in the air will contract metals causing an already bad connection to go worse). Does the amp behave itself when it gets warmed up? I did have a set of woofers freeze up on me before though, literally!! It freaked me out! They just wouldn't play till got warmer out.
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Posted By: DYohn
Date Posted: November 27, 2003 at 11:12 AM
In general, amps are not affected by cold weather. It is possible, however, that if an amp (or any electronic device) is really frozen that rapid heating when it is first turned on can crack components and even the circuit board, especially if it is turned on at high volume levels. The best thing when it is really cold is to turn your system on at very low volume and allow it to warm up slowly. Slowly turn the volume up to normal listening levels over about a 15 minute time frame. On the other hand, speakers can easily be and are often affected by very cold weather. They have moving parts that are susceptible to freezing. It is very common to shear off a voice coil, break a surround, or simply fry a VC electrically that is frozen in very cold weather. Just like your muscles, everything in a loudspeaker stiffens up when it gets cold. So again, the same advice as above, warm them up slowly for best results. On yet another hand, your supposition that it may be your Lanzar amp could be the only problem. In my book, Lanzar = crap. It is very common for these things to go out at random times without warning. They are boat anchors as far as I'm concerned. The sooner you can replace it, the better off you will be.
Posted By: noob
Date Posted: November 27, 2003 at 2:00 PM
i would guess its your subs, try taking all your stuff inside for a while to let them warm up, just let hit room temp, then go put em all back in and test em out, if you still get the same result, get a friend to loan you a sub and test that out, if it works fine your prolly damaged a VC
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