Squeeky woofer

[WindsorFox]

Okay, if you followed my opening thread with the purchase and delivery of my new (to me) reQuest speakers, you will remember my mentioning a rattle/whistle noise. This was generally only on hard bass notes but really prominent on very low notes at high volume levels. Well today I lean one of my speakers back on a box to fiddle with it, this is the one I had not noticed the sound from, but the alignment of the panel and woofer grill needed to be adjusted. So I pick up the ESL panel (HOLY CRAP! The two grills are not stuck together and if I'd not been paying attention could have easily peeled them apart. I HOPE that doesn't screw anything up!) ... and I poke the woofer and get "squeek!" It's like a dog toy. So I peel the woofer grill away from the ESL panel so I can lay it back in place and a start mooshing on the woofer as I listen and I determine that it's coming from the holes where the spike feet screw in. D'oh!! I put some 33+ over the three holes and no more squeeky. How odd.

 

[WindsorFox]

Now a question. I've seen this before but I'll ask, can anyone tell me consequences good or bad of removing the black cloth from the woofer grill?

 

[C.A.P]

None, its just visual !

 

[WindsorFox]

None, its just visual !

Good, I may just remove it as it easily gets dusty and I like the look without it. Now I need to get some little ML squiggle logo plates

edit

Do you people have any idea how easy it is to leave a black roll of electrical tape sitting on the black cabinet beside the woofer when you put the grill and rails back on??

 

[C.A.P]

Good, I may just remove it as it easily gets dusty and I like the look without it. Now I need to get some little ML squiggle logo plates

edit

Do you people have any idea how easy it is to leave a black roll of electrical tape sitting on the black cabinet beside the woofer when you put the grill and rails back on??

Look at the logo Idea I came up with on my rebuild. PM me for info!

http://www.martinloganowners.com/~tdacquis/forum/showthread.php?t=5697

 

[WindsorFox]

I like that. I also keep looking at the black side rails and think how much better they would look in a red mahogany.

I also need to figure out the best way to clean the matte black areas.

 

[JonFo]

... So I pick up the ESL panel (HOLY CRAP! The two grills are not stuck together and if I'd not been paying attention could have easily peeled them apart. I HOPE that doesn't screw anything up!) ...

Oh boy, that indeed can be serious. Are you saying that when the panel is off the frame, the two metal plates come apart?

If so, that means the tension on the Mylar could be compromised (the Mylar needs to be tight).

During production, they put the spars down on a stator, then stretch the Mylar over it and tension it down, then put the additional back spars (they have double sided tape) on the Mylar, then drop the other stator over the whole thing to create the ESL sandwich. It should not be separating. If it is, I'd say you are overdue for new panels.

BTW- this is usually an indication the panel was 'squeezed' laterally during shipping, so the entire speaker integrity is in question.
For my center project, I bought some banged up SL3's, and the one with a dimple in the panel and the scratched box had a panel that was beginning to separate.

 

[WindsorFox]

Well if that's the case they may have to go back on eBay and I'll have to move on I think. I have not heard any problems with them. yet

 

[FatJ]

That really bites! I don't suppose there's anyway that you could get your $ back from the seller??? After reading about the current condition of your speaker I went back and looked at your original post. From the picture in the ebay auction you could tell that something was not right with one of those speakers. The speaker that you're having trouble with is the one that has the sagging panel. The woofer section looks like it's almost resting on the ground. The MartinLogan logo also looks damaged in that photo. Those are just minor cosmetic issues but what you could NOT tell from the photo is that the panel is coming apart and the woofer cabinet is not sealed properly... Since ol' boy told you that he hooked them up and that they were working properly... There lies the fib

 

[C.A.P]

The panels will separate a tiny bit when there is no tension from the wood style. The Re-Quest has a panel that is 1/4 inch longer on the back IIRC. It will be fine when all the wood rails are on and pushing the 2 stators together. There should be white covered foam tape on them. It should run along the sides. The feet should not be plunged but should be used with spikes or some form of adjustable flat foot . They need to be tilted forward a slight bit to get that image down a bit.


Don't panic you are OK ! I know I have had mine apart several times !

 

[WindsorFox]

That really bites! I don't suppose there's anyway that you could get your $ back from the seller??? After reading about the current condition of your speaker I went back and looked at your original post. From the picture in the ebay auction you could tell that something was not right with one of those speakers. The speaker that you're having trouble with is the one that has the sagging panel. The woofer section looks like it's almost resting on the ground. The MartinLogan logo also looks damaged in that photo. Those are just minor cosmetic issues but what you could NOT tell from the photo is that the panel is coming apart and the woofer cabinet is not sealed properly... Since ol' boy told you that he hooked them up and that they were working properly... There lies the fib

They do work perfectly, I havn't had trouble with one. I reset the panel where it belongs and the only unsealed part of the woofers was were the floor spikes screw in, that's just the way they are made. As far as I can hear they sound perfectly fine. I'm still not so sure it's all that bad, as it dose stick and when it came open it only went 1/8 inch. I got them for $800 less than any other pair I've seen so how much would they be worth if both panels had to be replaced??

 

[WindsorFox]

The panels will separate a tiny bit when there is no tension from the wood style. The Re-Quest has a panel that is 1/4 inch longer on the back IIRC. It will be fine when all the wood rails are on and pushing the 2 stators together. There should be white covered foam tape on them. It should run along the sides. The feet should not be plunged but should be used with spikes or some form of adjustable flat foot . They need to be tilted forward a slight bit to get that image down a bit.


Don't panic you are OK ! I know I have had mine apart several times !

That's kind of what I was thinking. And they do have the weather strip stuff on them. In fact when I called ML Jeff said that I should check that foam and make sure it's still spongy, if not get some from Lowe's and replace it. I may go ahead and replace it anyway to make sure they stay good and tight.

 

[C.A.P]

I have a mod for that I did too. I will post pics up soon ! Pm me Ill explain it !

 

[FatJ]

They do work perfectly, I havn't had trouble with one. I reset the panel where it belongs and the only unsealed part of the woofers was were the floor spikes screw in, that's just the way they are made. As far as I can hear they sound perfectly fine. I'm still not so sure it's all that bad, as it dose stick and when it came open it only went 1/8 inch. I got them for $800 less than any other pair I've seen so how much would they be worth if both panels had to be replaced??

Good! That doesn't sound so bad then. --It sounded worse than it was--

Hopefully those panels still have lots of life in them. I think my replacements were like 800-900

 

[WindsorFox]

See, that bothers me. For the price and technology it seems like they'd last better than that. I wonder if I can buy the stuff ant rebuild them. Can't be much harder than reconing a JBL woofer.