The effects of gravity are reduced at higher altitudes. Thus, it is slightly possible that a speaker cone will behave slightly different at high altitudes compared to sea level. It would not be audible.
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WOW, Never expected to get responses like what I received. A YES or NO would have been sufficient! A number were "off mission" and there were others that were just plain strange. We audiophiles are a strange bunch! Now to what I actually heard: In Cleveland my speakers had a sweet warm sound which was what I was used to. In Prescott the sound became brittle and hard. I suspect that I need to do a lot of room tuning and carpet installing. I have some very loud cars and a very loud boat. These sounded the same here as in the CLE. If I made 1 mistake in my life it was waiting so long to move to this beautiful place.Thanks for your comments on & off mission! Brock |
yes it definitely does change. it's all related with sound velocity. if humidity, density or pressure increases sound velocity in air increases too. sound is lazy. sound waves tend to move to where sound velocity is lower. there is no way to come to a conclusion with one variable like altitude because humidity has a greater impact on sound velocity. if humidity is the same on both places than higher altitude cause more absorption than lower altitude on high frequencies. and it's perceived as slight decrease in treble and attack. same happens if humidity decreases. it's all related with sound propagation and behavior of sound in fluids. air or water more or less same rules apply for sound propagation cause both are fluids. I'm a submariner. and whole submarine warfare and anti submarine warfare (ASW) is based on tactics regarding sound velocity profile (SVP). |
Google: "speed of sound at sea level vs altitude". While the speed of sound varies with altitude the reference is to a standard temperature. Humid air is also less dense therefore lower in pressure and changes the speed factor accordingly. For a Pilot operating an Aircraft at 30,000 feet Pressure Altitude becomes a life and death matter but a 5,000 foot difference in a listening room will not change the factor enough to make much difference. However Caribou Ranch Recordings seem to have some notoriety amongst recording artists. |
cm, your ears did not plug up. As the pressure changes you have to equalize the pressure on the other side of the ear drum through your Eustachian tubes. Usually a good yawn will do it. Divers know all about it. Only the speed of sound changes with altitude. Everything else stays relatively the same. In other words there is no difference from a sonic perspective. |
mtemur yes it definitely does change. it’s all related with sound velocity. if humidity, density or pressure increases sound velocity in air increases too. sound is lazy. sound waves tend to move to where sound velocity is lower. there is no way to come to a conclusion with one variable like altitude because humidity has a greater impact on sound velocity. if humidity is the same on both places than higher altitude cause more absorption than lower altitude on high frequencies. and it’s perceived as slight decrease in treble and attack. same happens if humidity decreases. >>>>>Very low humidity produces static electric charges that we know influence the sound, too. So it’s more complicated, there are many variables, some independent some dependent. As I posted yesterday velocity of sound in air probably isn’t relevant as long as the frequencies propagate at the same velocity. The ear doesn’t care how long the sound waves took to get there. Take headphones, there is almost no distance for the sound waves to travel. It takes no time for the sound to get to the ear. No time, no distance....No velocity! 🤗 |