Martin Logan Quest Z & ReQuest Questions

[soloracer951]

I just recieved my Quest Z's and ReQuest's and they are bigger than I had imagined! Both are similar in appearance although the Quest Z's are slightly taller. I did have a couple of concerns and thought I would ask here:

1) On the ReQuest electrostat panels I notice vertical "runs" or "shimmers" approximately 3 inches long in radom places. These are not present on the Quest Z's. Are these places where the panels experience damage of some kind (blown sections) or is this normal?

2) The cabinet on the Quest Z's is rubbery and sticky. They even leaves a light black coating on my hinds after handling them. It's almost as if the entire cabinet (not the fronts) is painted with a rubbery sort of shoe polish. I asked the former owner about it and here is his reply:

"This is the OEM finish. It seems that over the years the finish got
sticky. I don't know why that happened. I too noticed/felt this as we
were packing them outside in the sunlight. Maybe the thing to do is
to call Martin Logan and ask them if they can shed any light on this.
I'm pleased you got them in one piece. Keep me posted. "

Anyone know what the deal is with this finish?


Next I'm off to a high end audio store to get some speaker cables and then it's time to fire them up. Anyone have any suggestions for cables? Is there a proper sequence to first time starting up of these speakers?

Erik

 

[roberto]

I just recieved my Quest Z's and ReQuest's and they are bigger than I had imagined! Both are similar in appearance although the Quest Z's are slightly taller. I did have a couple of concerns and thought I would ask here:

1) On the ReQuest electrostat panels I notice vertical "runs" or "shimmers" approximately 3 inches long in radom places. These are not present on the Quest Z's. Are these places where the panels experience damage of some kind (blown sections) or is this normal?

2) The cabinet on the Quest Z's is rubbery and sticky. They even leaves a light black coating on my hinds after handling them. It's almost as if the entire cabinet (not the fronts) is painted with a rubbery sort of shoe polish. I asked the former owner about it and here is his reply:

"This is the OEM finish. It seems that over the years the finish got
sticky. I don't know why that happened. I too noticed/felt this as we
were packing them outside in the sunlight. Maybe the thing to do is
to call Martin Logan and ask them if they can shed any light on this.
I'm pleased you got them in one piece. Keep me posted. "

Anyone know what the deal is with this finish?


Next I'm off to a high end audio store to get some speaker cables and then it's time to fire them up. Anyone have any suggestions for cables? Is there a proper sequence to first time starting up of these speakers?

Erik

Welcome Erik...the Quest are older than the Request...you could check at ML site and also you can download the user's manual for both. Regarding the panels, the look are different also. First of all, play some music and listen if all the panel is working...the music must come out of the all surfase, from top tu bottom and from left to right. If is there a place that it is quiet than other, you need to replace the stat panel...Also if you have loss of high frequency, you can shower the panels as is indicated at the tweaks section of this forum. The Request was nominated in 1999 as the best mid-range speaker and was Product of the Years, also. They will give to you one of the best sounds available, even in now days. There is a lot of different kind of cables, and it is very difficult to recomend to you, but here, the favorites are: Nordost blue heaven, Harmonic Tech, Kimber, Transparent, DH Labs, Monster Cable, Wire World,...there are so many in the marketplace, that will work fine with your ML. The use of hight quality cable with your ML with show the quality of your ML sound. You have to trust your ears, and get the one that you like most, regardless of price. Not necessary, the most expensive cable is the best!...but good quality cable is a must!...happy listening,
Roberto.

 

[Jeff Zaret]

Erik,
The rubbery or sticky feel on the cabinet sides is the chemical breakdown of the covering on the cabinet. My Sequel II's have the same condition. I did ask Jim Power, the service manager at ML, about this and that is what he told me. There is really nothing that can be done besides have them redone. I have used a cleaner and that did help some and then I used a light amount of an "orange oil" cleaner. Both of these helped a little bit. I do live in a very dry climate so I am not sure if this is better or worse for these but they will not affect the sound at all!!!
Personally I would leave it unless it is starting to peel off the cabinet.

I hope this helps a bit.

Good Luck and welcome to the club

Jeff

 

[aliveatfive]

If I'm not mistaken, the finish is called Nextel and it's toxic. BE CAREFUL!

 

[soloracer951]

Well I finally got the speakers powered up just to see what they sound like. First I hooked up the ReQuests then the Quest Z's. I used the same speaker wire and power cables for both sets of speakers and had the speakers positioned in roughly the same spots. Amazingly I find the Quest Z's to have a warmer sound between the two. The ReQuests seem to be harsher and not nearly as pleasant to listen to. The Quest Z's also seem to have more bass - although a separate sub is going to be a must for these speakers. I really expected the ReQuests to sound much better than they did. Which leads me to wonder about the panels. I did a quick check to see if the panels on both sets of speakers were putting out equal volumes in all parts (face each speaker and go up and down looking for differences while playing music) and everthing appears to be fine. I did notice however that on the very lower part of a panel on the ReQuests it appears as though there has been some shipping damage. The panel is dented in such a way that the depression is causing the mesh to appear to touch the metal sandwiched between the two pieces of mesh. I almost think I could "pop" it back out by pushing on the back of the dent but am hesitant to do so for fear of breaking something. I haven't noticed any difference in the sound quality from the area where the dent is. The dent is about 2 inches around and on a quick review isn't immediately noticeable. Now that I see it however I will see it every time I look at the speaker. Any suggestions? I'm tempted to see how much new panels will cost me and hope that maybe they might cure both the dent and the harshess in sound.

One thing I immediately noticed is how the sound from these speakers fill a room. Do they ever "throw" out the instruments! At one point while listening to the Quest Z's during the soundtrack to the Passion of the Christ I heard an instrument that seemed to play in 3D about 3 feet from my head and no where else in the room. I had my back turned to the speakers at the time and when the instrument played I actually turned to see where it was. How these speakers are able to "pop" that sound right there is beyond me. I'm going to have to listen to that disc again to see what song that was. *lol*

One final thing, I happened to stand behind the speakers and noticed I got a 3d effect there too! It seemed as though the sound was coming towards me and then bouncing off the walls behind me. It was as if I was surrounded by sound. Not the proper listening position I'm sure but very cool none the less.

 

[Jeff Zaret]

Erik,
I would gove them a few days of playing to settle in your house. I would look closely at the panels and look for "little dots" on the panel. If you see them it is dust/dirt on the panel. Unplug the speakers over night and then the next day vacuum the panels. You will not hurt them. I would vacuum the front first then the back. Spend at least 10 minutes on each panel and it may take a few times to get everything clean.

If that improves them then great. There is also the option of washing the panels. Do a search because a few of us here have done this will excellent results.

I would image that a pair of new panels would be around $500.00 USD.

Good luck and let us know

Jeff

 

[syte]

I have exactly the same problem with the sticky black finish on my Quest-Z. The humidity here in the Tropics is relatively high (around 85% year round) so I attributed to that fact, but obviously not. What I used with great success is 3M Industrial strength cleaner. take a clothe and slowly clean off the residue on the sides and after a few applications, the stuff comes off. But after 6 months or so, some of the stuff does come back.

 

[Jeff Zaret]

syte,
Great tip!
Do you have the exact name of the cleaner?

Jeff

 

[MarkNewbie]

syte,
Great tip!
Do you have the exact name of the cleaner?

Jeff

Jeff - From what I heard, the cleaner's name is Pedro but he lives in the tropics...LOL and uses 3M Industrial Cleaner. LOL

Oh my, I could not help that one....LOL

 

[DTB300]

Do you have the exact name of the cleaner?

Jeff...I have used Armor-All wipes on my Sequel's and they seem to work great.

Dan

 

[Jeff Zaret]

Mark,
You are so bad but that was funny maybe that is why I like it

Jeff

 

[MarkNewbie]

Mark,
You are so bad but that was funny maybe that is why I like it

Jeff

Am so glad that I am not the only one with a warped sense of humor. I am in LA on business at the moment. Is that close to you? This is kind of a quick in and out and am travelling with the boss. We have a few hours to kill this afternoon and are planning on driving the Pac Coast Hgwy. Hertz screwed up my reservation and we ended up with one of those two seater Caddy convertibles. Took us about ten minutes to figure out how to start the darned thing! It's push button and you have to put your foot on the brake and the fob has to be with you.

Then we are going to hit Rodeo drive...LOL. A man and going shopping. I can't believe it!!

 

[C.A.P]

I have Quests and I used rubbing alcohol, it got rid of the stickiness and then I used a tire cleaner to polish them as the alcohol will make them smooth and the tire cleaner will bring the shine out just dont spray any thing near the stats, I sprayed mine into a towel and then wiped on

 

[syte]

No, the cleaner's name is not Pedro... it is 3M Sharpshooter Extra Strength no-rinse cleaner. Hope that helps. i've taken a picture of it but it's too big to upload.

 

[Jeff Zaret]

syte,
Thanks for the name I will look for it.

C.A.P and Dan,
I can look it to that too I was wondering about Armour-All. Thanks for the tips.

Mark,
I will not say anything about your trip to Rodeo Drive and shopping, just way too easy. If you can afford Rodeo Drive you can afford Statements!!

Yes I am about an hour away but it was too short of notice for me to get there.
If you are are still here Friday I may be able to do something.

Jeff

 

[MarkNewbie]

syte,
Thanks for the name I will look for it.

C.A.P and Dan,
I can look it to that too I was wondering about Armour-All. Thanks for the tips.

Mark,
I will not say anything about your trip to Rodeo Drive and shopping, just way too easy. If you can afford Rodeo Drive you can afford Statements!!

Yes I am about an hour away but it was too short of notice for me to get there.
If you are are still here Friday I may be able to do something.

Jeff

I fly out in the morning. Will let you know the next time I am coming out and will do so in advance. I hit my debit card pretty hard today. New shoes (expensive Italian ones), nice pair of wool dress slacks, four casual shirts, One casual tee, six pair of dress socks, six pair running socks, and a Tee from Bartel's Harley Davidson! Just got back from Dinner at Mortons in Burbank with the my contact at Warner Brothers. It's 11:30 pm my time and I am dead. Oh, and what wonderful traffic you people in California have!