Temperature tolerance of equipment - home theater in barn

[ahofer]

I have a home theater of sorts in my barn in CT, which is not winterized. We project onto a large pull-down screen, and it's been a lot of fun over the summer. I've been using some old speakers and an old Mirage subwoofer but I'm thinking about upgrading. Outdoor temperatures can be as low as -10F in the winter. While the space is enclosed, there is no heat.

My question is whether this is damaging to equipment. It seems like speakers are most likely to be affected. Obviously we won't be using the equipment when it is that cold, but I don't have a convenient temperature-controlled place to store it. Temps don't seem to have damaged the little speakers I have there. But I don't want to buy something nice and have it ruined.

I'm thinking some active monitors, and possibly surround. It is a large space, although the seating is around 10-15 feet from the screen.

I'm using a Google TV dongle and an Epson Home Cinema (3200?), so I'd need an AVR or preamp to go HDMI in, (split sound), HDMI out to the projector. the projector has a 1/8 inch audio out that I'm using right now.

This article is pretty sanguine.

 

[DVDdoug]

Dry cold should be OK but condensation or frozen condensation could be bad.

 

[ahofer]

Dry cold should be OK but condensation or frozen condensation could be bad.

Yeah. It tends to be a bit more dry in the winter, although fall and spring can be miserably wet and freeze at night. I've never seen ice build up anywhere in the barn, like windows or anything. I suppose I could seal them in a bag in the winter or something.

 

[pjug]

I have a home theater of sorts in my barn in CT, which is not winterized. We project onto a large pull-down screen, and it's been a lot of fun over the summer. I've been using some old speakers and an old Mirage subwoofer but I'm thinking about upgrading. Outdoor temperatures can be as low as -10F in the winter. While the space is enclosed, there is no heat.

My question is whether this is damaging to equipment. It seems like speakers are most likely to be affected. Obviously we won't be using the equipment when it is that cold, but I don't have a convenient temperature-controlled place to store it. Temps don't seem to have damaged the little speakers I have there. But I don't want to buy something nice and have it ruined.

I'm thinking some active monitors, and possibly surround. It is a large space, although the seating is around 10-15 feet from the screen.

I'm using a Google TV dongle and an Epson Home Cinema (3200?), so I'd need an AVR or preamp to go HDMI in, (split sound), HDMI out to the projector. the projector has a 1/8 inch audio out that I'm using right now.

I would keep the equipment from getting too cold. You can make a big styrofoam box or cover for storage, and run reptile heater wire inside with with a controller. I do similar to keep epoxy from getting cold in storage.

 

[617]

My instinct would be that as long as the temperatures fluctuate gradually, which they naturally will, and you aren't using a frozen speaker, you should be good.

I'd avoid drivers with foam surrounds but they are somewhat rare these days.

 

[thewas]

Dry cold should be OK but condensation or frozen condensation could be bad.

Exactly, the temperatures are usually not the issue but high humidity or large/quick change of temperature which leads to condensation.

 

[ZolaIII]

Well I don't know that's pretty cold for my standards and I live on a mountain side (where I have such for 10~15 days a year regularly).
Safest would be in to pack it all up during the winter to a relatively controled conditions as part of the hause you don't use like attic or garage where it stays over 32° F.
Anyway there are deacent outdoor and PA components it depends what you hope to achieve. You could use half deacent PC with a discreet GPU and audio card as a source and a processor for both like I do (MadVR & JRiver). It's possible even with very deacent laptop (MadVR needs a deacent GPU) and a multichannel interface and if you are fine without MadVR even humble laptop with discreet GPU will do. Projector has HLG support so broadband HDR to chip/lens capabilities and don't upscale over 1080P for video content it's still native resolution for it and better refresh without shifting. It's up to you how much you want to carry around and how much you want to spend. There are under 5 min deployment cart 2.1 PS systems. Outdoor speakers would be tolerant to the moisture and low temperatures but I would go with pasive such speakers and sub's and still store the amp's and electronics inside. Consider higher gain optical grey (silver...) canvas as it ain't exactly power house and I don't consider HDR under 400 nits as HDR. Lamp is rather on a hot side with 250W and it certainly ain't quet in non eco mode and even so you can fill in a minimum for 100" projection on 5500° K (84% to 6500° K default). For the price of a new one right now I would probably opt for PowerLite L250F and settle down for 10K h with it (and in eco mode 28~29 dB) tho lamps aren't a big problem with Epson (but prolonged warranty of laser models have it's advantages).