ES panel failure - what are the signs?

what are the signs that indicate the electrostatic panels are starting to fail? Ofcourse im assuming the different es panels fail in the same manner.

Loss of high frequencies is the normal progression for an aging ESL, which is due to the diaphragm not able to hold the proper hv charge, usually because of conductive grime causing hv leakage to ground or deterioration of the high conductivity coating. Let yours get REALLY dusty and you might hear it...

02GF74 said:

what are the signs that indicate the electrostatic panels are starting to fail? Ofcourse im assuming the different es panels fail in the same manner.

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My CLS panels coated with much dust before I rinsed them with water. Rinsing with neutral temp water helped to roll back the years. Mine was a extreme case. Before rinsing very weak audio output and audio output distorted.

Tosh said:

Loss of high frequencies is the normal progression for an aging ESL, which is due to the diaphragm not able to hold the proper hv charge, ...

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Hmmm.... kinda what I was expecting.

I recently bought a pair of Aerius i, going by the serial number decoder, dating from 2000. I don't know the history but I'm noticing cymbals are not as bright, sounding a bit mushy.

I hooked up a sine wave signal and my ears can detect up to 15kHz if the dial is to be believed.

The panels do appear to have lost a bit of top end perhaps 500hz when compared to my B&W or Wilson Benesch speakers.

I have vacuumed them even though they did not look particularly dusty and am wondering about washing them.
But I cannot see any obvious way to remove the electrostatic panels; there are no screws apart from those holding the panel with the speaker terminals.

I've contact ML re replacement panels but I am expecting a very large figure.

A wash is a last resort. You need to lay the speaker on its back and tap the mounting rails (is it upward or downward?) to release the rails from their clips. Poke around here and you'll run into some pics.

http://shackman-esl-services.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=67&Itemid=87&lang=en
Reiner Römer in Germany knows what he's doing.

Tosh said:

Loss of high frequencies is the normal progression for an aging ESL, which is due to the diaphragm not able to hold the proper hv charge, usually because of conductive grime causing hv leakage to ground or deterioration of the high conductivity coating. Let yours get REALLY dusty and you might hear it...

Click to expand...

Fortunately, at least for me, the loss of high-frequencies (from aging/dusty panels) parallels the loss of my high-frequency hearing from aging, so I haven't noticed much difference with my 9 year old Summits!

Tosh said:

. You need to lay the speaker on its back and tap the mounting rails (is it upward or downward?) to release the rails from their clips. Poke around here and you'll run into some pics.

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Still not seeing anything obvious to tap.... but not understanding what is meant by "mounting rails".

The wooden side panel forms a groove in with the woofer grille and panel sits in, that doesn't look like it is coming off. Also I can see double sided tape holding them in place, it looks like the panels have dropped, the lower grille is touching the ground to expose the tape, as in second photo.

Hi 02GF74, see the ML panel washing post under the stickies in the main discussion forum. Link below:

http://www.martinloganowners.com/~t...n Logan Quest Stator Panel Shower Washing.pdf

It is a step by step pdf on taking apart the panels.


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sleepysurf said:

Fortunately, at least for me, the loss of high-frequencies (from aging/dusty panels) parallels the loss of my high-frequency hearing from aging, so I haven't noticed much difference with my 9 year old Summits!

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Longevity is much improved with the Gen2 (clear spars) panels.

Tosh said:

A wash is a last resort. You need to lay the speaker on its back and tap the mounting rails (is it upward or downward?) to release the rails from their clips.

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for aerius i it is downwards.