Panels drooping?

Hi there, I'm new here, nice to see such a vibrant ML community.

About 10 years ago, I bought the following:

2ea SL3
2ea Aerius i
1ea Center channel (forget the name, it's big)

I love them, but I had them stored for the past 2 years due to a remodel on the theater and noticed a slight problem. The panels on all the speakers (not the center) have "drooped", or fallen about an inch or so.

So I called ML and told them and they sent me a trim tab kit for each that is a small tab that will hold the panels in place. Fine so far.

Now, when I pull the trim pieces off to allow me to move the panels, I notice (on the first one I've pulled apart) that the red wire going to the front of the ESL panel has come loose. It looks like it was taped in place by some conductive tape and that has degraded. Also, the adhesive on the velcro and foam that holds the panel in place is degraded too.

What's a guy to do at this point? Surely others have been through this. I have some ideas but I'm sure there's a standard fix that's been vetted...

My wife can't wait to get those suckers singing again :rocker:

Thanks,

Naven in CA

Welcome Naven.

Your issues are not unheard of.

With the Velcro you can just change it out for new pieces. Any Velcro product will work.

The clips for panel slippage just screw on the bottom of the the speaker to hold the grill over the woofer in place and that holds the SL3's stat panel in place at the proper height. Just reinstall the wood trim and you are finished.

As for the red wire. It just needs to be re-soldered to the panel. If you are adept at this, go ahead, if not find someone that will do this for you. You need a good soldering iron with enough heat to quickly melt the solder to re-attach the wire with out doing damage to the Mylar with too much heat for an extended time.

You should be able to have them up and running in no time.

Thanks for the info.

I mis-stated - it is the blue wire that has come loose.

However there is a little piece of copper foil that is coming out from where the red wire connects to the panel. I'm guessing that's not supposed to connect to the area where the blue wire connects.

Does anyone have a picture of what it's supposed to look like, or a diagram? Thanks!

[FONT=&quot]The tape is actually “non-conductive” (big difference)… and the ‘copper foil’ sticking out is the bias strip that charges the diaphragm.[/FONT]

Brad225 said:

As for the red wire. It just needs to be re-soldered to the panel. If you are adept at this, go ahead, if not find someone that will do this for you. You need a good soldering iron with enough heat to quickly melt the solder to re-attach the wire with out doing damage to the Mylar with too much heat for an extended time.

You should be able to have them up and running in no time.

Click to expand...

I have found that you need a soldering gun (100 watts at least) in order to get enough heat.