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In the Forum: Horn-Loaded Speakers
In the Thread: Midbass Horns and Real Estate.

Post Subject: Demise of the r2000 homePosted by miab on: 10/23/2009

Be very carefull in the advice taken from 'professional opinions'. Be as skeptical of these opinions as you are of audio opinions. In construction, maybe more than audio, everyone thinks their opinion is gold. Even city codes are often incorrect when it comes to moisture control in construction. Case in point. Early R2000 homes which were all the rave of the 70-80's have a lifespan in some cases of 20-30 years. In their quest for insulating value without proper thought of moisture control this homes actually rotted from inside out. Where as some 200 year old barns are still standing because of their drafty and drying factor nature. Joseph Lstiburek, could be considered a leading professional in this respect.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?%5Fencoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Joseph%20Lstiburek

What you are suggesting is much different then storing drivers in attics. There is no temperature difference plane where the driver is stored. Special consideration must be taken where cold meets warm. At that point there is a condensing potential. Air barrier is just as imprtant as insulation barrier.You MUST properly engineer a drying mechanism into your construction. A blanket of insulation alone will not suffice. I wouldn't make it a big deal if it were not for the delicate nature of a sound driver (paper, aluminum, voice coil thin copper...). If it was just bulk structure..even early r2000 homes outlasted their original owners. It's the second or third that got the surprise.

If it was me. Condition the attic space as you would your home with all construction changes needed. Or polyurethane foam spray (thickly) the entire horn and driver back but you would have to create an access door to your driver that would need fine detailed workmanship. This takes care of both vapour (air) barrier and insulating value plus would allow you to manipulate the resonance of horn.

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