Panel Longevity

[amey01]

Hi guys,

I was just wondering what the expected longevity of ML panles is? How do you know when it is time to replace the panels. I own an ageing pair of Aerius and am wonering if I should go ahead and replace the panels, although all sounds very well at present.

 

[roberto]

trust your ears!...

Hola...well to tell if the panels are bad is very easy. They, in some parts of the panel, are dead. No sound or loss of high frequency is evident...if your Aerius panels are giving you great sound, you don't need to replace them. The time to replace is a difficult task to say. Why? Well, here in Costa Rica, we have a severe voltage fluctuations during all year long. Also our climate varies from 60% humidity to 100% in one day!!!...I think that these factors made us to had a severe panel´s epidemic some time ago...I would say about seven to eight years ago to the past. With the new panel´s materials and the new panel´s coat, the panel´s failure has being reduced dramatically, but still have some bad ones once in a while. You never know when this is going to happen, but I can say that sometimes I have customers that live far away, and both got bad panels the same day!...this is strange, right?...anyway, I think that you should keep yours at a point were you feel and listen a big change in the way that they sound...trust you ears!, the panel should porduce sound from top to bottom and from left to right, all the panel at the same time...if you have some portions of the panel that you can´t say it is sounding, then you should replace them...(please forgive my spelling)
Hope this can help,
Happy listening,
Roberto.

 

[Jeff Zaret]

Roberto is correct, actually, he is most of the time.

It is dependant on your environment. Where do you live, what is the climate like, do you smoke, have kids, pets, how often do you play your system, how "demanding" is the music on the speakers? I just replaced my CLSiiZ panels and the original ones where made in 1990 so I would say I got a good run on those panels. I still have the original woofers in my Sequel II's and they were made in 1989.

In my case the panels were exhibiting two different problems that could not be fixed, IMHO. I still have my old panels if anyone wants to make me an offer to see if they can fix them.

I would suggest listening to various mono recordings, if you can find one or music that has a few intruments. This way, the sound is presented the same to each side or relatively close.

Good luck and let us know. We are all here to help!!

Jeff

 

[sleepysurf]

Stethoscope to check panels!

Here's an idea... how 'bout using a stethoscope to check the panels! Using the "bell" part (rather than the flat diaphragm) of a dual-headed stethoscope, you can listen to the output from smaller panel sections, while the earpieces block extraneous sounds!

 

[Statman]

I've done the following

I just play as suggested a mono source for me it's my burn in disc with white noise playing. I place my ear next to the panel(low volume of course) and slowly go up and down and left to right on that particular panel. Worked for me when I discovered my Sequel panel was going bad.

Sears shop vacuums, the high powered ones work wonders on old panels also.

 

[SugarMedia]

slowly go up and down and left to right on that particular panel.

Sorry, I can't help but laugh at this one Oh the love we have for our speakers!