IB Durability

[Bob_99]

I was considering building an IB above my ceiling but was wondering how it would stand up to large temperature range of summer and winter plus the dust factor. Can anyone tell me how long they've had theirs working and if they ran into such problems? I would think that between the temperature and the dust, the driver would age fairly quickly.

Thanks for any feedback.

Bob

[Darren]

This isn't an issue. My IB is in my attic above my fireplace. It sees the heat from the fire as well as the cold from the winter... 10 degrees F or so here and there.

[Bob_99]

Darren,

Thank you for the quick reply. How long have you had it?

Bob

[Chrisbee]

This issue comes up regularly on the IB Cult.

Many drivers are likely to be aimed at the car audio crowd where they suffer far worse than most homes can offer in the way of intense cold, searing heat and moisture. Imagine the drivers being fully exposed under a car rear window to the desert sun and then the cold of (say) Canada or Alaska.

There have been reports from at least one IB builder which suggested that in intense cold an IB can became quieter due to the driver suspension stiffening up.

I believe this problem was partly solved by reversing the drivers. Leaving the cone exposed to the cold rather than the magnet assembly. Presumably warmth from indoors heating would be steadily conducted through the metalwork. Had the magnet been exposed to the cold then it would become colder and colder. With the cone acting as an insulator between the warmth indoors and the cold metalwork. Once the drivers were well exercised with an audio signal they would probably start to heat up again.

[Bob_99]

Chrisbee,

Thank you for taking the time to provide that information. It's very interesting and makes sense. It also motivates me to pursue this further.

Bob

[Chrisbee]

Hi Bob

You should choose your drivers with care for an IB.

You want a decent Xmax to allow you to relax and enjoy any reasonable SPLS at any frequency. 15"drivers are almost the norm with 18" becoming more popular all the time. With 12" drivers you need a lot to give you decent headroom.

Check out the list of recommended drivers at The IB Cult where they are listed in dollars against displacement order. This makes sense with an IB where displacement is important for headroom at very low frequencies.

There are two lists. One is more up to date than the other. Both lists show discontinued drivers as some drivers might still be available on the used market.

Also do check out ThomasW's great FAQs on the IB Cult.

http://ibsubwoofers.proboards51.com/index.cgi?

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Chrisbee wrote:

This issue comes up regularly on the IB Cult.

Many drivers are likely to be aimed at the car audio crowd where they suffer far worse than most homes can offer in the way of intense cold, searing heat and moisture.

Unfortunately, the Titanic driver I’m interested in wasn’t designed for car audio, as far as I can tell. So I’m a bit concerned – not only about the heat and cold but the high humidity we have here in Houston.

Interesting idea, reversing the mounting. I guess you’d reverse the polarity as well?

Regards,
Wayne

[Chrisbee]

All the cones in an IB must move towards the listening room on a transient regardless of their orientation or physical arrangements in an array or manifold.
Where it otherwise there would be cancellation of the positive pressure pulses from the IB as a whole.

A simple battery test will ensure polarity is correct for all of the drivers.

I find it easy to feel all of my drivers' forward impulse on transients (like drums) simply by placing my fingertips lightly on the pairs of suspension roll surrounds. It is very obvious when a driver moves the reverse way on a transient.