Has anyone ever arced a panel?

[Tj Bassi]

Back in the early days of electrostatic speakers it wasnt uncommon to have a panel arc, but has anyone recently had it happen to a ML? I was trying a new pair of tube amps last night; had my back turned to the system for a moment and saw the whole room light up with a bright blue flash. First impression was that I lost an output tube, but that doesnt seem to be the case. No smoke, no apparent damage to the speaker, no 'boom', just a really bright (and blue), quick flash. First time in over ten years as a ML owner that has ever happened.

Was just wondering if anyone else has ever had that happen?

Thanks-
Tj

 

[Munster]

Uh-oh. You didn't happen to see a naked man running

away also?

 

[C.A.P]

I have had them arc in my hand and it was Shocking to say the least. But it was a fast small quick orange arc. Now Maybe my hand was stoping it from being a big blue one.

I would look over all areas of the panel with a flash light and look for any holes and such. If a bug gets in there it will arc . Had that happen too on a old set of Quest. Usually it dos not affect the sound quality but I could see the hole.

How is that KPS 25 treating you by the way ?

 

[Tube60]

Uh-oh. You didn't happen to see a naked man running away also?

Did he say "Give me your clothes."?:ROFL:
My Infinity 1000a's would sometimes arc, and it was a white/blue-white color, but not very big. Was the air very dry when it happened? Perhaps, if that were the case, there could've been some kind of static interaction with the panels?
In regard to your output tubes, once in awhile a bit of dust that happened to be in the tube can produce a flash like that and not make any, or very little, noise. It's happened to me. But I didn't have a naked guy ask me for my clothes when it did.

 

[Tj Bassi]

Uh-oh. You didn't happen to see a naked man running

away also?

Hmmmmm......you lost me on that one.......

No naked men, but my cat sure beat it out of the room pretty quick...

Someone clue me in on the naked man thing.........

Tj

 

[Shub]

Terminator --- when he arrives in the present -- wasn't there lightning and nekkedness??:ROFL:

 

[Tube60]

No naked men, but my cat sure beat it out of the room pretty quick...

I'll place bets, that for your cat, it was more than the visuals that got it to run. Probably heard a very high frequency squeak as well.

BTW did a chrome-looking figure ooze under your front door and start nosing around?:ROFL:

 

[Tj Bassi]

Ah, Terminator. One of my favorites.....just didnt get it at first

No naked man, no chrome guys, either. And man, my cat can run FAST.

As my audio room is upstairs, perhaps it is a bit dry up there, but so far I've been running SS amplifiers at 650 watts/channel and no flash with them, even when driven fairly hard.

Tonite I want to rethink what I did prior to the incident, and closely examine the panel again. I didnt see any damage, but its a big panel (reQuests) and difficult to see the entire membrane surface as its obscured by the stators.

Tj

 

[roberto]

Ah, Terminator. One of my favorites.....just didnt get it at first

No naked man, no chrome guys, either. And man, my cat can run FAST.

As my audio room is upstairs, perhaps it is a bit dry up there, but so far I've been running SS amplifiers at 650 watts/channel and no flash with them, even when driven fairly hard.

Tonite I want to rethink what I did prior to the incident, and closely examine the panel again. I didnt see any damage, but its a big panel (reQuests) and difficult to see the entire membrane surface as its obscured by the stators.

Tj

Hola TJ...when my CLSs did arc, was due to bad panels, and I was playing them too loud. When I changed panels, never had an arc again...long time ago did this...and yes, it was a light blue color the arc. I had at that time a Classe 400 driving them. Happy listening,
Roberto.

 

[amey01]

Never ever.......and I've pushed them pretty hard!

 

[reybent]

Maybe a stupid question, but what do mean by ARC?...

 

[amey01]

Maybe a stupid question, but what do mean by ARC?...

As in electrical arcing - sparks - basically shorting the panel.

 

[music again]

Yes I have seen the ARC and it wasn't Noah's

. . . whole room light up with a bright blue flash. First impression was that I lost an output tube, but that doesnt seem to be the case. No smoke, no apparent damage to the speaker, no 'boom', just a really bright (and blue), quick flash. First time in over ten years as a ML owner that has ever happened.

Was just wondering if anyone else has ever had that happen?

Thanks-
Tj

Yes, I had a pair of Summits arc once. Actually it was only one speaker. A very quick white electrical arc across the panel about 1 foot from the top. It made quite a noise as well. I was playing the Bon Jovi Lost Highway music DVD at the time and it was one of the last songs. It was a fairly "complex" (meaning a lot of instuments/vocals) going on at a fairly high volume.

I understand arcing happens when the mylar touches something. I also told that the "newer" ML's such as the Summits can't be driven to arcing. Well I say they may not have seen it in the ML shop, but I saw it!

 

[JonFo]

Only time I’ve ever seen an arc on a panel is when an insect got between a stator and the diaphragm. Nice little Bzzzt and light flash. No permanent damage that I could tell (at least not to the panel ).

I push my Monolith panels hard, with dedicated 800+ watts per panel, no passive crossovers in the way to suck power either and never seen them arc.
I feel the latest panel builds are pretty immune to arcing on their own, as the powered coated stators are pretty well insulated electrically.