Do cold temperatures damage audio equipment?

Good one S......how those Merlins treatin ya..

When equipment is really cold, such as being in the trunk of a car when it's been below zero, let the equipment gradually warm to room temperature first before powering up. The reason is that there are metals of different kinds that expand at different rates during temperature change. Componets are designed to handle that fine from room temperature to operating level, but not from extremely low temperatures.

Somebody once told me that you need to let the equipment warm up to at least 40 degrees before you turn it on. I don't know why that number was picked but that is what I usually told customers. Dan

Somebody once told me that you need to let the equipment warm up to at least 40 degrees before you turn it on. I don't know why that number was picked but that is what I usually told customers. Dan

That's a pretty reasonable guideline. Commercial grade integrated circuits are commonly rated for an operating temperature range of 0 to 70 degC. 0 degC is of course 32 degF, so the 40 deg number allows a little margin.

Regards,
-- Al

I'm gald you asked this..I've always wondered, and frankly I've been more concerned about summer heat. As a result when I've bought new I usually pay extra to have shipped overnight or two day if they drop ship. Like mentioned above it just bothers me to know the gear is sitting in a sweltering warehouse or slow truck when its over 100F outisde with high humidity.