Aerius i woofer advice

[steve04]

I laid the speaker on its side on the bed, bumped the trims off (maybe three seconds?) and rolled the speaker around on the bed like I needed. ...no, I'm no longer married, and it's why I have big ass speakers in my house now.

I am not carrying mine upstairs lol i will bring bed down stairs

 

[drkumarmp]

Hey Steve, so I pulled a woofer tonight and we don't have the nice Scandinavian Vifas, just the lowly $40 eminence woofers. They do fine I'm sure.
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I recently acquired a martin logan aerius, it had a fuse blown, replaced that with a 240V, 0.25A fast blow, its working now, the woofer of course had its surround in pieces, reformed it and once that gap was closed the sound started leaking through the dust cap side making a very irritating whining sound, took some time to find the place of defect, removed both dust caps and glued them back, now its working amazing, by the way there is no mention of ohm value anywhere on the speaker, measured it to be 5.9 ohm, so it must be a 8 ohm speaker. good solid make, very hard tough cone & dust cap. tried removing the back to get better access to the circuit broads but after trying a lot and even after hammering from inside it is obvious the back panel is glued shut and screws are added, there is no way of removing the back with out serous force which could break the back panel or the sides to which it is glued. removed the circuit board from the woofer hole to resolder the broken fuse clips.
My main question is since I have never heard a Electro static speaker, there is music from the panel part even without power cord connected, and once power is connected the sound increases a bit, and we get music at some parts of the panel while other parts remain dead, is this normal or should there be sound coming from the entire length of the panel? Thank you for any replay.

 

[drkumarmp]

 

[drkumarmp]

 

[slofut]

Dr, the backs will come off. Proper tools will mitigate damage. I use the weight of the panel to advantage by suspending speaker face up and whack the rear edges (carefully) around the panel until the panel begins to drop. You can also push on the panel through the woofer hole to help. Once off they're easier next time. They can be tough.

 

[SomeGeoffGuy]

peaker, there is music from the panel part even without power cord connected, and once power is connected the sound increases a bit, and we get music at some parts of the panel while other parts remain dead, is this normal or should there be sound coming from the entire length of the panel? Thank you for any replay.

My guess is that it needs a wash. My speaker was like that too, then I rinsed it in the wash basin in my basement. Sounds like new now.

-Geoff

 

[Robert D]

Once the panel is energized, it will still produce sound if the speaker is unplugged. I think it can go for 5 minutes or more. The static charge is already on there.

 

[drkumarmp]

Dr, the backs will come off. Proper tools will mitigate damage. I use the weight of the panel to advantage by suspending speaker face up and whack the rear edges (carefully) around the panel until the panel begins to drop. You can also push on the panel through the woofer hole to help. Once off they're easier next time. They can be tough.

Thank you so very much for the reply, i have been doing work from the woofer hole, can clearly see that the back panel is stuck with glue, can see the excess glue on the inside edge, tried hammering from inside to push there panel out backwards but wasn't budging, anyways got almost all work done from the front access, inconvenient though. Thanks again.

 

[drkumarmp]

My guess is that it needs a wash. My speaker was like that too, then I rinsed it in the wash basin in my basement. Sounds like new now.

-Geoff

Just wanted to know what happens when you move your ear from top to bottom of the panel while music is playing, are you suppose to hear music all through the length of the panel from top to bottom or at some segments only. Don't have many electro static speaker in India to compare against and know what's normal, sounds great but don't know what a new one suppose to sound like, that's why i am asking help from the forum, will definitely give it a wash if it's not working normal though. Thanks again

 

[slofut]

Thank you so very much for the reply, i have been doing work from the woofer hole, can clearly see that the back panel is stuck with glue, can see the excess glue on the inside edge, tried hammering from inside to push there panel out backwards but wasn't budging, anyways got almost all work done from the front access, inconvenient though. Thanks again.

Wow, that's a bummer. It's not factory done at least. Maybe a previous owner thought it would be better if glued on? At least the crossover and power supply boards will come out through the woofer hole.

 

[HiFiFuchs]

Nice tweed, does anyone of you know which bass speaker unit sound better, Vifa or Eminence?
My Aerius still have the Vifas and until now they are fine but just want to prepare myself for the day they need changing.
Are the Vifas and the Eminence 1:1 interchangeable?

 

[slofut]

The vifas are a more expensive cast aluminum basket speaker, imho a much better speaker and im sure the eminence was subbed to cut cost. Ive built lots of speakers and always loved Vifas. Ill swap you woofers any time.
Btw… i wouldnt anticipate needing to replace them anytime soon unless they get abused. They have rubber surrounds, prob last forever.

 

[HiFiFuchs]

Thank you slightly for your advice.
Would you be kind enough to give me the exact Vifa type?
I will document it for the day I decide to change them. Until now they do a grate job, I am satisfied

 

[slofut]

Rino, I don't have the model number for the Vifas used in the Aerius but someone here certainly should. I would think they would have been discontinued by ML and were supplied with a ML part number, I would call ML service or Vifa and see if they can provide a proper replacement model. If you can get the original part number you could keep an eye out on ebay for a pair.

 

[Tosh]

Although it's currently sold out at Madisound, this ~$100 8-ohm Scanspeak 22W/8534G00 is today's PnP woofer replacement for the Aerius i. It has the same basket OD of 225mm like the original Vifa woofer.

Scanspeak 22W/8534G00 Discovery 8" Woofer

Scan-Speak Discovery, 22W/8534G00, 8" Midwoofer, 8 ohms. This series was designed for the discerning audiophile customer. To meet the needs of this audience, several new technologies were developed with the goal of lowering distortion and damping in the speaker. The coated fiberglass cone...

www.madisoundspeakerstore.com

 

[HiFiFuchs]

Thank you Tosh,
My Aerius is not an "i" but I suppose it does not matter. The Scanspeak is available here in Germany.
Ist it a 1:1 swap or do I need to modify anything on the Cross Over?

 

[Tosh]

The XO will still work, as it's also an 8-ohm woofer.
But I expect the counterbore will need to be enlarged for the bigger, later basket to fit in the counterbore for the older Eminence woofer...