Summit vibration

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.
N

Neil H

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 30, 2006
Messages
94
Reaction score
0
Location
Australia
Has anyone else had any problems with audible vibration at the bottom of the panel. When I first bought my Summits about a year and a half ago I had this problem in one speaker. I had it replaced at the time and have had no problems until now. That panel had some crinkling in the bottom right hand corner which could have been the problem.

I now have a similar vibration in the other panel at or about the same place but cannot see any crinkling. I reversed the amplifier leads but the problem stayed with the same speaker. I also disconnected the jumpers but the panel vibration was even more obvious. The problem appears to be fequency related as I have only it heard it on CDs with a lot of energy in the lower registers of the acoustic guitar and piano.

I have emailed Jim Power but expect it will mean another trip to the dealer. I am however, interested to know if this is a common fault or whether I am just unlucky.
 
summits

I have never noticed anything like this with my summits but would curious on what you come up with just in case i do.
 
i have the issue with one of my summits it comes from the bottom elclosure where the foward facing woofer is kept if i press on it it goes away only happens at specific sound ranges but annoying how can i tighten this up....
 
The vibration I have doesn't come from the woofer enclosure but from the panel itself. I had a reply from Martin Logan which said that all panels will suffer what they call a "kazoo" sound at certain frequencies given enough volume. This effect can be confirmed if the sound stops when a hand is pressed on the panel. This did stop the sound on mine but I still think that I have a problem because the sound occurs at normal volumes and only happens in one speaker.

After a few emails they concluded that I probably had a faulty panel and should take it to the dealer. I have since done this and they replaced the panel on both speakers. When I went to pick them up I asked for a final test of the speaker to make sure that the problem was fixed. Unfortunately the same speaker still made the sound even with new panels. We swapped the channels and the sould still only came from the problem speaker.

The dealer then had a closer investigation of the panel. He tapped first on the problem speaker and then on the other one which has no problem. What he found was that the speaker without the vibration is basically dead when the panel is tapped with fingers. However, the problem speaker is not dead when tapped and can actually be made to vibrate by tapping (note that the power was disconnected). We have now concluded that there is a problem with the frame and the dealer is going to replace the whole airframe which I am hoping will fix the problem. I should find out tomorrow and will keep you posted.
 
Problem getting worse

The dealer delivered the Summits today. Both now have new panels and one has a new frame as the old frame seemed to be causing the vibration.

Before the dealer left we did a bit of testing. I was standing in front of the speaker that had the new frame (and that had the vibration problem) and was happy that it was not vibrating. However, the dealer was sitting in the listening seat and heard a vibration in the panel that before was ok. In fact I had listened to this speaker in the shop a week ago and didn't hear a problem.

The vibration is now coming from the top left corner of the panel. I then changed CDs and put on a very well recorded Jazz vocal CD. This one caused the vibration to become even worse. I am glad that someone else picked this up but don't understand how it was ok a week ago in the shop and is now very bad.

The dealer has suggested that perhaps the problem is that I now have a new panel in an old frame and that perhaps there is some mismatch between the two. The speaker with a new panel in a new frame is now fine. He is now going to install a new frame on Monday so that I will have 2 new panels and 2 new frames.

I have to say that I have lost some faith in the reliability of the product but perhaps I am just unlucky. Has anyone got any idea what might be going on here. The volume used for the test was loud but not too loud. We could hear each other talk quite easily. We also tried swapping the preamp leads and then speaker leads. The problem stayed with the speaker.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Neil H said:
The dealer delivered the Summit's today. Both now have new panels and one has a new frame as the old frame seemed to be causing the vibration.

Before the dealer left we did a bit of testing. I was standing in front of the speaker that had the new frame (and that had the vibration problem) and was happy that it was not vibrating. However, the dealer was sitting in the listening seat and heard a vibration in the panel that before was ok. In fact I had listened to this speaker in the shop a week ago and didn't hear a problem.

The vibration is now coming from the top left corner of the panel. I then changed CDs and put on a very well recorded Jazz vocal CD. This one caused the vibration to become even worse. I am glad that someone else picked this up but don't understand how it was ok a week ago in the shop and is now very bad.

The dealer has suggested that perhaps the problem is that I now have a new panel in an old frame and that perhaps there is some mismatch between the two. The speaker with a new panel in a new frame is now fine. He is now going to install a new frame on Monday so that I will have 2 new panels and 2 new frames.

I have to say that I have lost some faith in the reliability of the product but perhaps I am just unlucky. Has anyone got any idea what might be going on here. The volume used for the test was loud but not too loud. We could hear each other talk quite easily. We also tried swapping the preamp leads and then speaker leads. The problem stayed with the speaker.
Click to expand...

The good thing is that someone is taking care of the problem. Sounds like a good dealer, he'll handle it.
 
Neil H said:
Has anyone else had any problems with audible vibration at the bottom of the panel. When I first bought my Summits about a year and a half ago I had this problem in one speaker. I had it replaced at the time and have had no problems until now. That panel had some crinkling in the bottom right hand corner which could have been the problem.

I now have a similar vibration in the other panel at or about the same place but cannot see any crinkling. I reversed the amplifier leads but the problem stayed with the same speaker. I also disconnected the jumpers but the panel vibration was even more obvious. The problem appears to be fequency related as I have only it heard it on CDs with a lot of energy in the lower registers of the acoustic guitar and piano.

I have emailed Jim Power but expect it will mean another trip to the dealer. I am however, interested to know if this is a common fault or whether I am just unlucky.
Click to expand...

I have the same problem. I inserted a small bit of felt between the film and the rear stator. That solved the sound problem. Obviously it is a production problem. I may go back to have the pannel replaced.
 
Neil, did ML resolve your vibration issue with your Summit? It's been several months since you last post. I hope they did the right thing for you.
 
Last edited:
Hi Neil,

Sounds like a QC issue but it sounds like your ML dealer has responded in an appropriate, professional manner.

BTW, I've had mine since 12/05. Early adopter. No issues.

GG
 
Audioseduction said:
Neil, didi ML resolve your vibration issue with your Summit? It's been several months since you last post. I hope they did the right thing for you.
Click to expand...

The dealer first replaced both panels but that didn't fix the problem. Well it did in a way but the other speaker then started to vibrate. In the end he replaced both frames so I now have 2 new frames and new panels. I suspect that there was some kind of manufacturing fault that was not obviously audible at first but could have been colouring the sound.

I think the speakers now sound better than they did before and that is why I think there was always a bit of a problem.
 
Summit vibration.

Hi everybody!
My 1st post.
My Summits - 2 years old, serial nr. SUTB 406 and 407 - suffer from vibrations that render them improper to listen.
Panels - specially on the 406 - vibrate strongly on the lower left part and less strongly all around the borders of the panel, generally speaking.
The vibrations are getting worse all the time so I gave up using the Summits.
When I bought them I specified clearly that I intended to use the Summits with amplifiers NuForce which are SMPS. At the time I read somewhere that first Summits produced were not apropriated for these type of amplifiers. I was assured by the seller that the ones I would receive were already SMPS adequated.
Can someone inform me if:
- there was ever indeed an issue with SMPS amplifiers;
- if so, my Summits with the above mentioned serial numbers, are they ready for SMPS or not.
I emailed the seller/distributer for Portugal (Imacustica) this week my present situation and hope to receive a feedback of what follows to get back my Summits in due shape.
Thanks
Carlos
 
I had a reply from Martin Logan which said that all panels will suffer what they call a "kazoo" sound at certain frequencies given enough volume
Click to expand...

Yea well, I've got a pair of 20 year old ML's that do that (and only one), which is to be expected. Not from a warranty age relatively new product. I've also had my Vantages up so loud the dust covers were billowing and had no "Kazoo"-ing then or since.
Sounds more like the current ML service dept could use a good boot in the a**!
 
Summit vibration.

Yes they did work properly for about one and a half years.
And I enjoyed their sound very much.
But because I have - and listen - to other 3 stereo set-ups, I must say that the Summits were not working all the time. On the contrary, I imagine they worked for just a few hundred hours, for sure less than 1000 hours. I do not listen to music very loud - I prefer vocal jazz, I do not want the jazz girls shouting at me -, my music room is a dedicated room were only me is allowed to enter, I do not smoke, I do not have a fireplace in that room, the sunlight never reaches the hi-fi equipment, no dust - I even vacuum myself with a HEPA filter the room - the moisture in the air is very, very low - Portugal, away from the sea, 37ºC or more in summer, we feel cold with 10ºC in winter - so what else could the Summits ask for?
To say that I am disapointed with the reliability of these speakers would be a clear understatement.
Thanks
Carlos
 
caar said:
Yes they did work properly for about one and a half years.
And I enjoyed their sound very much.
But because I have - and listen - to other 3 stereo set-ups, I must say that the Summits were not working all the time. On the contrary, I imagine they worked for just a few hundred hours, for sure less than 1000 hours. I do not listen to music very loud - I prefer vocal jazz, I do not want the jazz girls shouting at me -, my music room is a dedicated room were only me is allowed to enter, I do not smoke, I do not have a fireplace in that room, the sunlight never reaches the hi-fi equipment, no dust - I even vacuum myself with a HEPA filter the room - the moisture in the air is very, very low - Portugal, away from the sea, 37ºC or more in summer, we feel cold with 10ºC in winter - so what else could the Summits ask for?
To say that I am disapointed with the reliability of these speakers would be a clear understatement.
Thanks
Carlos
Click to expand...

Talk to your distributor.
 
I invited the seller to my home and showed him the way Summits were vibrating.
He was impressed after a couple of minutes.
To oficialize my complain I sent an e-mail to him describing the problem.
He then sent my e-mail to the distributer - last Tuesday.
I did not get any feedback from the distributer until this moment.
Hope the distributer performs better than the Summits.
 
Perhaps you might wait to see if the problem is solved in a reasonable amount of time before airing your dirty laundry....
 
caar said:
I invited the seller to my home and showed him the way Summits were vibrating.
He was impressed after a couple of minutes.
To oficialize my complain I sent an e-mail to him describing the problem.
He then sent my e-mail to the distributer - last Tuesday.
I did not get any feedback from the distributer until this moment.
Hope the distributer performs better than the Summits.
Click to expand...
I hope the distributor performs better than your Summits too. Nothing wrong with your post, caar, but don't expect any free merchandise though :rolleyes:
 
Pure Conjecture - So keep the flames off

:confused: Could this be a design problem? Summit X, Summit, Sprire, Vantage have the same basic architectural design. I wonder if there is too much stress on the base of this type of speaker.

Pure Conjecture - So keep the flames off
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Channel Imbalance on Martin Logan sl3s
Replies
7
Views
839
Brandon Hartwick
Brandon Hartwick
Mogrub
Storm Damaged Theos
2
Replies
21
Views
2K
Robert D
R
Z
From Theos to Montis, goodbye Magnepans.
2
Replies
25
Views
3K
Zardos
Z
Ishaansuri
ESL 9 hissing and levels
Replies
16
Views
2K
Ishaansuri
Ishaansuri
ttocs
My New C18 Focus Center Speaker!
2
Replies
23
Views
4K
TiBoneFramer
T

Latest posts

Back
Top