Can heat from radiators damage speakers

[Imran_UK]

I got a new pair of floorstanding speakers and the way the room is setup the speakers are about 30cm infront of a radiator, I was just thinking could the heat from the radiator damage the speaker.

[CARL]

If nothing else the heat could warp the cabinets of the speakers !!

[bigup]

/me moves his sub a bit further away form the radiator :)

[MikeK]

Originally posted by Imran_UK
I got a new pair of floorstanding speakers and the way the room is setup the speakers are about 30cm infront of a radiator, I was just thinking could the heat from the radiator damage the speaker.

I suppose it depends on how warm the speakers are actually getting. Despite the name "radiator", they do in fact give off relatively little direct radiated heat, it's mostly convected type heat, which goes straight upwards.

If the speakers are just getting a "bit" warm, then I wouldn't worry about it - but if they are getting very warm, then perhaps a resite may be in order if it's worrying you.
The worst that is likely to happen is that the vinyl wrap on the speakers may get damaged, but you'd have to heat the speaker up quite a lot for that to happen - vinyl coverings will withstand hot coffee cups being placed on them - which are almost as hot the very surface of a radiator on full blast.
Unless it's a poor design, and is also made from plywood or blockboard (very rare in speaker these days - it's almost exclusively partcleboard (aka chipboard) and MDF these days, plus alloys and carbon fibre on some small and/or very expensive speakers), then the cabinet is very unlikely to warp. MDF/CB are chosen partly because of their inherent stability (plus they are easy to work and finish). Just think, a radiator shelf will be either MDF or CB, and they don't warp even though they are placed directly in the convected heat stream just a few inches above a radiator.