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In Reply to: Infinity RS1Bs Under Water posted by Craig Simon on April 19, 2007 at 18:30:42:
Thank you all for your help and sympathy. I must admit that I woke up today in a bit of shock. I've been at this hobby for a long time and maybe didn't realize how much the music and equipment meant to me. I do want to keep this in perspective, though, as this is a minor setback compared to everything else going on in the world. A note to my compatriots on AA -- check your homeowners policies. My insurance company, Allstate, informed me this morning they will not cover the damage as my policy doesn't doesn't include damage done by "outside" water. Allstate will losing all my business today.So, now I need some advice. If my RS1bs can't be saved what should I replace them with? It's been a long time since I've gone speaker shopping. The room is 13 X 20 feet treated with tube traps, RPG diffusors and Owens Corning absorption panels. I have a Pass Aleph 2 amp, Audio Research SP11 mk2 preamp, SOTA Millennia/Graham tonearm, Squeezebox 3, Denon 5900 CD-SACD-DVD_A. I listen to everyting - Clasical, Rock, Jazz, Opera. Good music is good music to me regardless of the genre. I know that the room seems small for the RS1Bs but with the room treatment in that dedicated room they worked wonderfully!
Thanks again for your help and thoughts.
Follow Ups:
Don't shop by price, just get Chubb insurance. They are the best and will cover wine and artwork also. Be sure to get flood insurance included.
I live just outside of New Orleans and have Allstate for my home and car. Like virtually all other carriers that I am aware of, their homeowner's policy specifically excludes damage from "flood" and flood is defined, simply, as any situation where loss is incurred due to rising water. A rising river/lake, a broken upstream impoundment, a broken city water main, a backed up sewer system, etc., all would qualify as flood damaging agents. Bottom line...90% of the ways possible to suffer water damage are cleverly excluded from coverage in the typical homeowner's policy. Shocking, isn't it?BTW, national flood insurance is administerd by most national carriers seperately as a distinct product. Currently available caps for coverage are $250,000. for structural and $100,000. for contents.
Your region is or shortly will be having its flood zones redrawn following recent events, levee repairs and improvements. Flood insurance rates and availability will be determined by those maps, so please be sure that you keep in touch with what's happening in that area.The National Flood Insurance Program is based on regional mapping done by the Corps of Engineers or contracted through them. You can call the New Orleans District and ask to talk with someone in Floodplain Mapping.
I'm really sorry for your troubles. Understand that most homeowner policies will have been changed post-Katrina. Read ALL the ex/inclusions and be sure to ask lots of questions. For my money, I'd choose to sit down with an agent and not deal with anything online.Lots of folks can help with speaker selection. I'm an Infinity owner myself, so I've also been out of the game.
But I am also a SOTA tuntable owner, and if you have damage to yours, call the SOTA folks. They can swap parts and restore your unit as needed. The Millenium is too good/too expensive to not make the effort.
I have done repairs to Infinity drivers as well as standard types. First order of business is to get the psanels dried out. Get them out of the room(s) that flooded. I forget what the Infinity panels were constructed of. If iit is veneered particle board you will be replacing them. It is is sold red oak you may be able to save them but most likely you will have warping and or separating joints. You will need to removed all the drivers and electrical components, connectors and have a wood shop evaluate them.Emit and Emim drivers. It is likely that the diaphragms themselves are undamged from the water. They are constructed of materials and adhesives of the type used for PC board manufacture. If the PH of the flood water is acidic you may end up with corrosion on the aluminum conductors. So, these need to be stabilized by a neutralizing solution. Not sure what would be recommended here.
In order to do this the driver magnet assemblies will have to be separated and the spacers and diaphragms will have to be removed. This is a job that requires a lot of care due to the strong attraction of the magnet fields generated. Also, it is likely that ferris based debris being flooded around by the flood water has become attracted to (and attached) the magnet assemblies in all of the drivers. This debris will have to be removed while the units are disassembled.
A lot of work. In my opinion it would be worth it to save the panels. I have schematics for the crossover-controller if that requires repair. Any electronics should be carefully rinsed with Isopropyl alcohol. If you have more questions you can email me off line. (see my profile)
Best of luck!
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