Martin Logan Shower Cleaning PDF

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Well, you must have made a mistake somewhere, you did check you connected the wires correctly and checked in the bass cavity that nothing came loose in there?
Is the bass working? Does the led light come on?
 
Greetings!

This is my first message.
Long time Aerius owner (1997) and have similar problems of decline.
The shower story is completely new to me and the whole thing leaves me in dubio. But I am affraid I end up with two options. Take a shower with my panels or purchase new ones.
I reckon a showersession also brings me closer to my set...
I'll bring you a rapport of things!
Cya
Tomaso
 
Okay, when I saw this I thought 'oh, man, somebody has a few loose screws'. Well, I had to take my SL3's apart today to reposition the panels and add the 'the Martin Logan patented panel stop plates' (now there's a high-tech solution for you). the panel on one speaker had slipped enough that the strain on the panel wires had weakened enough for the front and back wires to immediately come off. If you ever had to re-solder these little buggers back on, well, I feel your pain.

At any rate, the panels were off and I thought, what the heck, let's hit the shower. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? I'd already survived the soldering exercise without giving up and throwing the damn things away and ordering new ones. What's a little water?

So, there weren't as much as fun as a shower with the wife. No surprise there, i guess. It's okay; my expectations very pretty low anyway.

Dried and back together with a light dusting of baby powder (I'm just kidding with that part) I fired them up.

Wow! Are you serious?! I'm completely stunned. Could they have been that dirty to sound that comparatively bad or are they just really happy to be freshly cleaned and feel like singing? Maybe I need to bath with them more often.

Nah, that's a 'once decade thing', don't get used to it, girls. it wasn't that much fun but I thoroughly enjoyed the results.
 
Has anyone ever done this with a pair of Ascents? Mine are probably due for this treatment and I was wondering.

Doug - out
 
I ran my aerius's threw the shower about two years ago. They sounded better, however I gave them another one two days ago this time I used a horse hair brush and went over the entire panel. Let me just say my aerius's have never sung like they do now.
 
Many THX

Many thanks dear Steve..

Quite instructive info in your Pdf doc. which I hope to be applicable on my Monolith III..
Cheers
 
Hello Friends,

I just feel the need to notice that the water washing process does only the removal of the superficial dirty, while nothing can do for the coating worn-out over the time.

This summer, I washed 2 times my old Sequel II panels but I couldn't improve anything. At opposite, one panel went worse.

Only the full panels recoating could restore a reasonable correct sould level and clean sound (Look for recoating threads on this forum).

Regards, Andrea
 
Hi Guys,

I bought an used Ascent i couple months back and not too impressed with the sound. The mids are muddy and separations are poor. I tried vacuuming but result is the same, next I took my chance on washing the panels. The result is fantastic! I got sparkling clarity on mids and highs. It's so musical and evolving after the shower. Do give it a try if you already tried everything else.
 
How often should this be considered? What about in smoky environement's? We have a chimeny that has a poor initial draw so there is a few times during the season we start off a bit "smoky" in the in the room.

Can any gentle cleaning agents be used? Or just water? RO over well water?
 
I mustered up the courage to do it. I dismantled my 2002 Aeons and... showered... the panels in my bathroom. >_<

The speakers have been in the family for 12 years now, and I wasn't around to attend to their care for most of that time. I'm certain they have been hit by unattentive cleaning services spraying lemon pledge, boisterous pets, and twelve years of dust and pet dander accumulation. Thankfully no smoking. They had lost the magic somehow. Not that they sounded bad, just average. We picked them out at the audition room because we liked their sound the best, even though we had the budget for more expensive models. I remembered the first time we brought them home and turned them on, the experience was transcendent. But now they just sounded like decent full range speakers. A little pile of dust was clearly visible smack in the center of each hole in the metal grill. I found myself considering electrostatic headphones when I realized how crazy I was being-- I hadn't tried everything to revive the Logans yet...

Now that I have deflowered the aeons and gained knowledge of their insides, I have to compliment ML on the quality of their engineering. At first I thought I would have to disconnect the panel wiring inside the woofer enclosure. I removed the screws and gently pried off the back plate to discover a beautiful series of components in neat little rows, masterfully soldered together. But what was this? The panel wiring leading to the fist sized transformer came out through a sealed hole in a block of wood? I fumed loudly to myself at this setback until I discovered the convenient access door on the front of the enclosure behind the LED light. You see years of experience with poorly designed consumer electronics led me to expect the worst... kudos to ML for putting a separate access point to disconnect the panel wiring!

I brought the removed panels into my shower and sprayed them liberally with warm (~37 C) water, front and back. When I was done, I rinsed them off with cold RO-treated water (dissolved solids 78 PPM) just to ensure no development of any kind of film or scum from my hard well water. I gently manipulated them to let as much water run off as possible, before moving them on to the bed to towel them off. I dried them for four hours under my ceiling fan and with a hair dryer which I very carefully modulated the heat of. By now the panels were mostly dry except for the regions underneath the clear plastic pieces on the rear of the panels.

I moved the panels back to the speaker enclosures and mounted them. I noticed that one of my panels was beginning to separate a little bit, which made me very scared that I had destroyed them. I don't know if they are designed to do this, or whether the water wash had weakened the adhesives. Once I got the side rails on, they looked fine though. They were as clean as the day they came out of the box. I proceeded to vacuum out as much water as I could and generally gave them a final once-over. I couldn't restrain my curiosity anymore... I just HAD to know if I had destroyed them, especially after reading a warning on this thread not to wash the back of the panels (OOOPS). I plugged them in, knowing they were still carrying some water...

I plopped down in my sweet spot couch, hit the play button, and prepared for the worst. What I heard absolutely took my breath away. The magic was back. Not simply the ineffable clarity and resolution of a hi-fi sound system, but the eerie sensation of the musicians' presence in the room with you. An invisible wall of sound brought to life before my eyes, as though the back wall fell away into outer space and was replaced by a recording studio. An illusion so powerful, yet delicate, that simply holding my hand up in front of my face was enough to break it. The Martin Logan magic was back, as if I had brought these speakers 12 years back through time.

I reluctantly turned my system off after listening for about 10 minutes, concerned that any conductivity due to water still on the panels could push the electronics past their limits. This procedure is no joke. It really works, if you have years of accumulated dust on your mylar this will refresh them like they're brand new again. I auditioned the speakers before and after and the difference was clear. It also fixed what appeared to be a channel imbalance, with centered signals appearing to come a little left of center. Now they're dead center again. I don't have any experience with other ESLs but this is a very worthwhile procedure to revive your MLs before you think about selling or replacing the panels.

I'm back in sonic heaven again thanks to a little warm water. If any problems develop I'll report back in this thread.
 
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I rinsed both panels... one is still nearly dead... one now is about half back to life... hmmmm time for new panels... ouch indeed as they seem to have dramatically hiked the price...
 
are there an instruction of how to vacuum the panels anybody?

Leave the speakers unplugged from the electricity outlet overnight.

the next morning, take your vacuum cleaner hose attachment and hold it directly up to the panel and slowly move the hose over the entire panel, paying special attention to the spars (the spacers between the mylar and stator.) Do this for the front AND back of each panel. Some use the brush attachment, but I prefer to just take my hose and put it right up to the stator.

You may see the membrane being sucked up towards the hose against the stator.. This is OK and won't damage anything.

You should do this every couple of month or so, depending on your environment.
 
Leave the speakers unplugged from the electricity outlet overnight.

the next morning, take your vacuum cleaner hose attachment and hold it directly up to the panel and slowly move the hose over the entire panel, paying special attention to the spars (the spacers between the mylar and stator.) Do this for the front AND back of each panel. Some use the brush attachment, but I prefer to just take my hose and put it right up to the stator.


You may see the membrane being sucked up towards the hose against the stator.. This is OK and won't damage anything.

You should do this every couple of month or so, depending on your environment.

Thank you very much for the instruction Tom
 
Leave the speakers unplugged from the electricity outlet overnight.

the next morning, take your vacuum cleaner hose attachment and hold it directly up to the panel and slowly move the hose over the entire panel, paying special attention to the spars (the spacers between the mylar and stator.) Do this for the front AND back of each panel. Some use the brush attachment, but I prefer to just take my hose and put it right up to the stator.

You may see the membrane being sucked up towards the hose against the stator.. This is OK and won't damage anything.

You should do this every couple of month or so, depending on your environment.

Thanks Tom
 
Thanks Tom. I've done it but always apprehensive of using direct hose to panels.


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My CLS have lost 90% of their former volume and audio quality. The transparent mylar is no longer transparent since it is covered with dust. Their 27th birthday is in December this year. They have never been repaired or showered. Since new panels for CLS1 are 3k pair, I plan to first use shower tap water to revive them. I will post to let everyone know the results of shower cleaning.

Please if someone with knowledge let me know the following:

Is it okay to wash with tap water the back side of the panel?

Should the water temperature be neutral or lukewarm? Will not the warmth in water weaken adhesives
used in the panel?

The panel block connector clearly needs to be removed in order for the panel to be separated from the wood frame, however the block connector has no visible screws. How do I open the block connector to take out the black, green and red wires without my destroying it in the process?

Many thanks for any help that may be forthcoming in this regard.
 
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