Humidity Effect on Speakers

[twich54]

Since this my first pair of M/L's and winter is upon us here in the North East I was wondering what those with experience feel as to proper humidity, 40-50% ?? My house has dipped under 35% and I know that is low. Have you noticed "sonic" changes with wide swings in humidity with electrostatics ???

 

[roberto]

Since this my first pair of M/L's and winter is upon us here in the North East I was wondering what those with experience feel as to proper humidity, 40-50% ?? My house has dipped under 35% and I know that is low. Have you noticed "sonic" changes with wide swings in humidity with electrostatics ???

Hola twich54. The humidity average here in Costa Rica is too high, about 85 to 90% all year . Sometimes drops in the range of 65 to 70%. I can say that with less humidity better sound! Humidity does affect the sound of ML. I don't have here other electrostatic on hand, but I do recall with my Quads, I had the same. Yes, I think you are right when you say humidity affects all electrostatic.
Cheers,
Pura vida,
Roberto.

 

[amey01]

Hi,

I am over in Australia and I too have also noticed changes in sonic performance with humidity. Nothing major, in fact, very minor changes, but changes all the same.

We get wild swings in humidity here in Sydney one day could be 110 F at 80% and the next could be down to 70F and 20% RH or less. I was more concerned about the longevity of my panels (as discussed in another thread) but when listening in high humidity the listening room air conditioning is always running to keep things more acceptable.

One thing for sure is that there are certainly more pops and squeaks in humid weather!

 

[georgehifi]

Read about the measurments that I made in this previous thread about humidty.

http://67.19.167.226/~tdacquis/forum/showthread.php?t=1308

Always switch them off when not in use, and do'nt use them at over 70% humidity.
The pannels become more efficient at higher charge voltage (lower humidity)

Cheers george

 

[Reverb2009]

Here in the Desert its usually around 15 to 20% humidity, but when it rain’s it will get up to 100% humidity and on those days my Logan’s will get a muddy sound to them.

Humidity defiantly effects the panels performance.

 

[georgehifi]

Here in the Desert its usually around 15 to 20% humidity, but when it rain’s it will get up to 100% humidity and on those days my Logan’s will get a muddy sound to them.

Humidity defiantly effects the panels performance.

The muddyness that you hear is a reduction in 10 or more db of the logan esl pannel. The bass driver is still just as efficient as it was but the esl pannel is down because of lack of bias charge because the humidity wo'nt let it get to it's 5kv charge state.
Hence the muddy sound , it's like listening with the bass boost all the way up and mid and trebble controls all the way down.

Cheers George

 

[Robin]

High Himidity vs. electrostatic speakers...

Hola twich54. The humidity average here in Costa Rica is too high, about 85 to 90% all year . Sometimes drops in the range of 65 to 70%. I can say that with less humidity better sound! Humidity does affect the sound of ML. I don't have here other electrostatic on hand, but I do recall with my Quads, I had the same. Yes, I think you are right when you say humidity affects all electrostatic.
Cheers,
Pura vida,
Roberto.

Roberto,

I listened to my speakers in high humidity and it seems in high humidity above 70% the sound is slightly muddy. I 'trusted my ears' and changed my opinion on this matter. IMHO, dehumidifiers, air-conditioners and humidity measuring devices are a prudent choice for use with ML electrostatic speakers, as needed.

Cheers

-Robin

 

[georgehifi]

Roberto,

IMHO, dehumidifiers, air-conditioners and humidity measuring devices are a prudent choice for use with ML electrostatic speakers, as needed.

Cheers

-Robin

Exactly what I use on high humidity days, a stand alone De-Humidifier, in Australia I picked up a reasonable priced one made by Dimplex it collects 4liters in about 4hrs out of my listening room, and brings the humidity down from 75-80% to 60% within 1/2 an hour, great if you must listen on hot humid days, or better still is a stand alone air conditioner, but they will cost twice as much, work the same except cool at the same time.

Cheers George

 

[Robin]

Dimplex De-humidifier / Air Conditioner...

Exactly what I use on high humidity days, a stand alone De-Humidifier, in Australia I picked up a reasonable priced one made by Dimplex it collects 4liters in about 4hrs out of my listening room, and brings the humidity down from 75-80% to 60% within 1/2 an hour, great if you must listen on hot humid days, or better still is a stand alone air conditioner, but they will cost twice as much, work the same except cool at the same time.

Cheers George

George,

Without realizing it, I have a de-humidifier in my system. I have a "Windchaser" in-room air conditioner, which I can use as a de-humidifier and / or air conditioner. I appreciate the recommendation though...

Roberto,

You are very modest. I sometimes think you have forgotten more than I will ever know about electronics...

Cheers

-Robin

 

[roberto]

George,

Without realizing it, I have a de-humidifier in my system. I have a "Windchaser" in-room air conditioner, which I can use as a de-humidifier and / or air conditioner. I appreciate the recommendation though...

Roberto,

You are very modest. I sometimes think you have forgotten more than I will ever know about electronics...

Cheers

-Robin

Hola Robin. With my de-humidifier, I take out every day, over 1 gallon and and a Half of water from my room . And this is sometimg that I cant help it here in Costa Rica. Very humid weather. My problem is loss of high frequency. When I hear this at my CLSs, then I put the machine to work as full as it can. I think that the humidity sticks at the panel, producing more weight to the diaphragm, and causing this the loss. When the water is out, the highs comes back again. Most ML users here uses a de-humidifier. It is a must! Happy listening,
Pura vida,
Roberto.

 

[abhijit]

I faced the same problem during humid weather - One of the channel specially delivers music without high frequency. I must install a dehumidifier - a good idea. Currently, I disconnect the speaker overnight, then do a hot air blowing through a hair dryer followed by a cold air blowing with a heavy duty vaccum cleaner

 

[georgehifi]

I think that the humidity sticks at the panel, producing more weight to the diaphragm, and causing this the loss. When the water is out, the highs comes back again. Most ML users here uses a de-humidifier. It is a must! Happy listening,
Pura vida,
Roberto.

It's not the weight of the diaphram that the humidity changing, rather it is the charge voltage on the diaphram that is being altered, read the measurments that i made using a very expensive electrostatic voltmeter, it's a link in my first post in this thread. You get a similar effect if you play the pannel and have forgot to give it mains voltage. The only way is to dehumidify the room.
I've also tested Acoustats, Janzsen, and a few others all have this humidity problem, Quad57 suffer also though not as much as they have a sealed dust cover made of the same mylar as the diaphram this gives them a little more isolation from the humidity than the others, but they have other big problems as well.

Cheers George

 

[roberto]

It's not the weight of the diaphram that the humidity changing, rather it is the charge voltage on the diaphram that is being altered, read the measurments that i made using a very expensive electrostatic voltmeter, it's a link in my first post in this thread. You get a similar effect if you play the pannel and have forgot to give it mains voltage. The only way is to dehumidify the room.
I've also tested Acoustats, Janzsen, and a few others all have this humidity problem, Quad57 suffer also though not as much as they have a sealed dust cover made of the same mylar as the diaphram this gives them a little more isolation from the humidity than the others, but they have other big problems as well.

Cheers George

Hola George. Thanks for the tip. I use a special high voltage probe for my Fluke tester, (safe up to 50KV) and measured at the red cable connector of the stat panel at the power supply, and the bias is around DC 7K V, which I assume it is not so bad. ( I remember my electronic´s teacher at college when he said to me: Roberto, never assume, because it will make an ass-u-me) That´s why I thought that the stat panel´s diaphragm was heavier and was dropping the high frequency. I can see that you took your time to make mearurements, and again, thanks. I think you did nail the problem right. Humidity makes to drop the bias voltage at the muliplier circuit, and the reason why we have sometimes not so nice sound. Thanks again for letting us to know that!. Great tip!. happy listening,
Roberto.

 

[twich54]

Thanks for the feedback !!

To all that posted, Thanks ! I know get the feeling it's better on the "dry" side, at or below 50% is ideal I guess.