Q for IB cult members

[JoshK]

How do you guys avoid having your many $$$s worth of drivers being slowly ruined by dust, fiberglass or other nasties in the space you've stuffed them?

I've considered the idea in my house but the only place for the IB is in the basement firing up through the floor. Problem is my basement is also my shop and even though I have a dust collector system it does get dusty down there. I though about building a frame around the manifold & drivers with a sort of cloth wrapping, but it seems to me if it would provide sufficient airflow through the cloth then won't it let through dust?

[ThomasW]

Since the performance of the drivers isn't effected by dust it's not a big deal. You could certainly make a frame covered with grill cloth if you wanted....

If/when mine get dirty I just use a shop vac to clean them off

[Stoney]

If you crank them up loud enough, won't it shake all the dust off? :B
I remember cranking a 16Hz signal through an old pair of Kenwoods and seeing a blast of dust blow out the ports.

[JoshK]

I am not worried about dust on the cone, but in the motor. Can't it get into the motor and cause ill effects?

[Stoney]

The motor should be protected by the spider. No real way for dust or debris to get into the VC gap.

[Gerald Jansen]

Hi JoshK,

Your Q made me register on this great forum, and after lurking for several days I would start by saying hello to all of you.

I have no experience with the big IB construction apart from seeing them on the internet, but I think you can save the innerts of the drivers (the ones with vented pole pieces and/or perforated VC) from dust and particle penetration by using your cloth wrapping thing in combination with overpressurisation; i.e. attach a flexible tube and blow in fresh clean air (at least while you're busy in the woodshop).

Maybe it's been done before by other IB contenders. To my knowledge, putting a room on overpressure is used in various production processes like semiconductor and CD/DVD glassmastering.

Good Luck,

Gerald

[Stoney]

I didn't even think about vented pole/perforated VC (shows my inexperience). I agree that enclosing them or surrounding any vulnerable areas with grill cloth would be a good solution.
Would pressurizing the room at the rear of the speakers effectively put a load on the cones and change their performance?

[Bent]

in addition to the pole vent, there are vent holes around the outside of the motor assy of my BP-1503 where stuff can get into it as well,
you can see the voice coil in this picture through one of these holes

Image not available

[JoshK]

Welcome Gerald! And thanks for the idea. It is an interesting one.

[Gerald Jansen]

I don't expect to generate a lot of traffic, 'cause I'm too busy with all kinds of projects besides my dayjob and once I'm designing and building I don't take time to post the results or maintain a website. Yet...

But once I feel I can contribute I'll do so.

[ThomasW]

From a practical standpoint I can tell you that in the 5.5yrs the "Cult" has been up and running, no one has reported any problems of this nature. And there certainly are drivers installed in some fairly hostile environments, this includes crawlspaces open to the outside.

[JonFo]

One nice thing about an 'outie' IB config like mine (see my outie IB story ) is that the drivers are fairly shielded from dust.
However, I was concerned about moisture, so aluminium cones helped allay that fear.

But in general, I think these drivers are quite robust and don't really worry about it.

If something happens, then hey, an opportunity for an upgrade :W

[Dustin B]

You could also build the manifold big enough to have all the motors on the inside and the cones facing your basement shop. No worries of dust from the shop then.

[JoshK]

Strangest thing happened last night. I was surfing the web with my misses and thought I'd playfully show her the "cult of the ib"'s gallery. In particular, I showed her this picture.



We have as I've mentioned before, a 1870's Victorian style row house. We have similar cast heater grates in our house and I said we should do the same thing. She thought it was a pretty good idea and agreed to allow me to do this. She just wants me to wait till I get some other stuff done (I have an overflowing plate right now) before I get started. I was floored, I thought there was no way in h-e-double hockey sticks that she would go for such an idea.

Now just what drivers do I want to use?.... hmm....the $400 4-pack IB15s looks pretty interesting.