Crinkle in membrane

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amey01

amey01

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When cleaning my Vistas today I noticed one panel has a crinkling in the membrane. It could have been there from new - I'm not sure (and it doesn't appear to be affecting sound quality), but it is a bit of a concern since it is not on the other panel. What do you guys think?
 

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i tihnk they replace it if its under warrenty.
 
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Amey01, looks like the Mylar is pulling up and away from the bottom seam of the panel. This is not uncommon, and can be addressed at home.

First, verify that the panel is holding its structural integrity by taking it off the speaker and checking that the bonding between front and rear stators is solid and continuous along the bottom of the panel.
Sometimes, the glue along the bottom seam will give and allow the panel ends to separate and lose grip on the membrane. This is usually caused by some stress on the curve of the panel during transport. But can also happen after years of sitting in a hot climate.

While there is no way for a user to re-tension the Mylar, you can at least keep it from getting any worse by coming up with a way to secure the front and rear stators to each other so the Mylar stops being pulled out.

Once you are convinced that the panel has a reasonable grip on the Mylar around its periphery, you can use the hair drier trick to carefully re-tension the Mylar at the bottom of the panel. You want to cause the portion diagonal to the wrinkle to get tighter and straighten the membrane. So a few passes of the heat along the bottom edge of the panel and up to within a few inches if the wrinkle might do it.

I had the exact same size wrinkle in the corner of one of the panels in a Logos center, and the hair drier trick smoothed it out.

Now, none of this is really necessary as long as the sound is still acceptable to you. Yes, it’s sub-optimal, but as a percentage of radiating surfaces, that’s not much to get concerned over.
 
JonFo said:
Amey01, looks like the Mylar is pulling up and away from the bottom seam of the panel. This is not uncommon, and can be addressed at home.

First, verify that the panel is holding its structural integrity by taking it off the speaker and checking that the bonding between front and rear stators is solid and continuous along the bottom of the panel.
Sometimes, the glue along the bottom seam will give and allow the panel ends to separate and lose grip on the membrane. This is usually caused by some stress on the curve of the panel during transport. But can also happen after years of sitting in a hot climate.

While there is no way for a user to re-tension the Mylar, you can at least keep it from getting any worse by coming up with a way to secure the front and rear stators to each other so the Mylar stops being pulled out.

Once you are convinced that the panel has a reasonable grip on the Mylar around its periphery, you can use the hair drier trick to carefully re-tension the Mylar at the bottom of the panel. You want to cause the portion diagonal to the wrinkle to get tighter and straighten the membrane. So a few passes of the heat along the bottom edge of the panel and up to within a few inches if the wrinkle might do it.

I had the exact same size wrinkle in the corner of one of the panels in a Logos center, and the hair drier trick smoothed it out.

Now, none of this is really necessary as long as the sound is still acceptable to you. Yes, it’s sub-optimal, but as a percentage of radiating surfaces, that’s not much to get concerned over.
Click to expand...
Hola chicos...yes, this is an usual problem...agreed 100% with Jonfo. The best is the hair drier. Be careful because too much heat can damage the diaphragm. First do it from left to right and then from top to bottom. It is only a cosmetic problem and does not affect to sound at all. Happy listening,
Roberto.
 
I've got the same condition with one of my Summits...on the lower right corner... that I posted about it a year ago.

http://www.martinloganowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3782


It doesn't seem to affect the sound at all. It seems to vary in it's "presence" with temperature. I think the membrane and it's mountings have different coefficients of expansion. I've spoken to ML support about it and they didn't seem very concerned.
 
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Wrinkled Membrane

Are the speakers still under warranty?If so,contact Martin logan so they can replace the panels.If you choose to try and fix it,pay attention to the other members instructions.You can very easily damage the membrane for good.Good luck.:bowdown:
 
roberto said:
Hola chicos...yes, this is an usual problem...agreed 100% with Jonfo. The best is the hair drier. Be careful because too much heat can damage the diaphragm. First do it from left to right and then from top to bottom. It is only a cosmetic problem and does not affect to sound at all. Happy listening,
Roberto.
Click to expand...

The best would be for ML to practice QC and not have their owners in the field repairing multi-thousand dollar speakers. Have ML replace the panel with one that is built properly.
 
risabet said:
The best would be for ML to practice QC and not have their owners in the field repairing multi-thousand dollar speakers. Have ML replace the panel with one that is built properly.
Click to expand...

This is not an uncommon issue to arise and I don't think it is a problem with ML's QC. I don't think panels leave the factory like this most of the time. I think the crease arises later due to changes in temperature and humidity stretching the membrane. It is a problem only cosmetically. It won't affect the sound. Several members have posted in the past about getting good results eliminating the crease using the hair dryer method.
 
Rich said:
This is not an uncommon issue to arise and I don't think it is a problem with ML's QC. I don't think panels leave the factory like this most of the time. I think the crease arises later due to changes in temperature and humidity stretching the membrane. It is a problem only cosmetically. It won't affect the sound. Several members have posted in the past about getting good results eliminating the crease using the hair dryer method.
Click to expand...

So it's okay if someones' circa $12000 Summits have what are only cosmetic flaws? Does that extend to the cabinets? I'm sorry but the fact that it is not uncommon doesn't make it acceptable IMO. One spending those sums of money should be confident that they are getting a product that is as near to perfect as possible.
 
Crinkled Membrane

Please note that if you damage the membrane with the hair dryer it will VOID your warranty.I would recommend that you have ML replace the panels.I have noticed many people seem to have this problem.The amount of money that is being spent,they need these problems brought to their attention.It is possible that they received a bad batch of materials.Good Luck.:bowdown:
 
I had crinkling on my Summits purchases just before xmas from Audio Connection in Sydney. I didn't hear anything in the first couple of days that I had them.

However, one night I played a blues CD with a fair bit of bass content and I could hear a loud vibration from the bottom right hand corner of one speaker. I couldn't see anything but knew there was something wrong as I could actually feel vibration on the panel. Some other CDs caused the problem and others were just fine.

I took the speaker back to Audio Connection and Phillip noticed the crinkle and replaced the panel without listening any further.

I would get it replaced under warranty as it is obviously a manufacturing fault. You never know when in the future it could cause a problem.

The speaker now sounds great and I couldn't be more happy with my purchase. It was stressful for a couple of days though.
 
Another comment after looking at picture

I didn't look at the picture before my last post but can now say that the crinkle looks exactly like the one that I had and is in exactly the same position.

Call Audio Connection as I am sure they are aware of the problem.
 
Neil H said:
I didn't look at the picture before my last post but can now say that the crinkle looks exactly like the one that I had and is in exactly the same position.

Call Audio Connection as I am sure they are aware of the problem.
Click to expand...

Neil - thanks for your post - I sure will call Audioconnection - that is actually where I purchased mine from too, but now I live up in sunny Queensland.
 
Crinkle...

I actually just noticed a crinkle in my SL3's last night - although mine are ~8yrs old (guessing not under warranty ;-P). Thanks for the info all - at this point I'm just going to keep an eye on it unless I notice it getting worse or affecting sound.

Jasper...
 
Here is a panel i well repair!

The front Stator is off an you can see why the it can play because all the membrane is gluded down on the back only the top an bottem are glude to the front stator!
:cool:But i would go with a new set of panels, these are new,er speakers.
 

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