ESL Panel Slippage

MartinLogan Audio Owners Forum

Help Support MartinLogan Audio Owners Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
When I picked up my Sequel IIs a couple of years ago, I had purchased them due to having a dead panel on one side, and dead woofer on the other.

What happened on the dead panel is that the wire had sheared off, knocking the soldered connection off of the bare metal. How did that happen? The stator panel had slid down behind the woofer grille. So, I am not as fond of using a bracket, as there is still the risk that the panel may slide behind the woofer grille. On the other speaker, both the stator and woofer grille shifted down equally, so, no issues there.

I'll think of something. Just having seen a situation where a bracket wouldn't have worked, makes me think there is another solution.

One thing I noticed, though--the stators seem as though they were originally attached with velcro. And it's the adhesive backing that failed, turning into a goo.
 
It looks like these old SL3's had slipping panels at one point as the previous/original owner ran a couple of small screws through the woofer grills and into the baffles to keep everything in place. So I guess that's at least one thing I won't have to worry about in the future.

p1944842133-5.jpg
 
Hi there.

Relatively new ML owner here experiencing the dreaded panel slip.

Well, I came up with a solution from a gent's idea earlier in this post - I created a plastic/vinyl 'L' shaped 'hook'. I countersunk them (4 - one per rail) into the inside of the rails.

New bracket in place 001.jpg
New bracket in place 003.jpg

This worked perfectly - and they've been in place for a month.

NOW - I see that the stator is beginning to slip behind the woofer panel.

One poster referred to having the same issue - but, no solution mentioned. Any ideas?

My thoughts were to buy/create 4 'H' shaped plastic pieces and mount the bottom of the 'H' slot on top of the woofer panel and have the stator slip into the upper 'H' slot. Place one of these (two per speaker) behind the rail. They should stay just as hidden as the 'Hook' I created for the bottom of the Woofer panel.

I think you really only need to align the Stator and the woofer panel. If they are always meeting, then you only have the bottom of the woofer panel to keep in place. Which should be covered by the first 'fix.

Has anyone come up with any other idea for the stator slipping behind the woofer panel issue?

Thanks, Pat
 
Please note, the holes DO NOT go through the bottom panel into the woofer cavity. They are only 1/2" long. When drilling merely mark your drill bit with a piece of masking tape by wrapping it around the bit 3/8" from the tip end. This will guide you from drilling to far into the cabinet. However, proceed with caution as you can force the tape to move up on the drill bit. Don't expect the tape to stop the drill from going further. It will not, it is only an indicator. For those of you into drilling, there are stop collars that use a set screw to avoid drilling too far. Although they are handy, most people do not have those inexpensive devices...
 
I'll think of something. Just having seen a situation where a bracket wouldn't have worked, makes me think there is another solution.

One thing I noticed, though--the stators seem as though they were originally attached with velcro. And it's the adhesive backing that failed, turning into a goo.
 
re tape the stator panel with 3m 5mm foam tape.. So it can get its cuvature and not slip.. Knock the sides out carefully and check all the tape.. My sequels did the sliping bit until the tape was replaced .. It was worn...
 
Back
Top