How do you know if your panels are going out?

[Sotiris]

I took my panels to Russ and left them with him. He spent time looking them over and then called me. He let me know that there was a good chance that taking the panels apart would damage the film inside. Apparently on my panels they used a lot of the double sided tape to hold things together. Some panels aren't as bad. I got the impression that the older the panels, the less tape was used. He's done many panels and felt like mine were going to be especially difficult to do. He doesn't apply new film.
So I just had him mail the old panels back to me. I bought new panels from Martin Logan instead.

Thanks for your reply. Did you make measurements with the new panels using Audyssey? What were the results? Mine are both set at +12db when conducting calibrarion whereas my other speakers are set at-2 + 0db. And Audyssey no matter the connection I make detects a phase problem, My Requests are from 1997. Thank you

 

[Robert D]

Thanks for your reply. Did you make measurements with the new panels using Audyssey? What were the results? Mine are both set at +12db when conducting calibrarion whereas my other speakers are set at-2 + 0db. And Audyssey no matter the connection I make detects a phase problem, My Requests are from 1997. Thank you

My old panels had to be set at around +12 or more because they were so worn out and not producing much volume. At the same time, Audyssey had to cut the volume produced by the woofers so that the sound was balanced.
With new panels, the gain is set at +1 and the woofers are now able to produce nice bass without overpowering the panels.

 

[Robert D]

Thanks for your reply. Did you make measurements with the new panels using Audyssey? What were the results? Mine are both set at +12db when conducting calibrarion whereas my other speakers are set at-2 + 0db. And Audyssey no matter the connection I make detects a phase problem, My Requests are from 1997. Thank you

The phase problem is due to how the speakers radiate sound out the back too, and that creates the illusion of a phase problem. I'm not sure how other DSP programs deal with that. Does ARC not have a problem with this too? On Audyssey setup, just ignore it and go on.

 

[Robert D]

My old panels had to be set at around +12 or more because they were so worn out and not producing much volume. At the same time, Audyssey had to cut the volume produced by the woofers so that the sound was balanced.
With new panels, the gain is set at +1 and the woofers are now able to produce nice bass without overpowering the panels.

Correction. The front left and right Prodigy speakers are set at -2.5 dB. That's negative. With the old panels they were maxed out on my Marantz. I think it maxes out at +12 ,but can't remember. Huge difference!

 

[Sotiris]

Correction. The front left and right Prodigy speakers are set at -2.5 dB. That's negative. With the old panels they were maxed out on my Marantz. I think it maxes out at +12 ,but can't remember. Huge difference!

Thank you for your answer. That is the info I was looking for.That is absolutely correct - Audussey calibration maxes out at +12db. That's where it sets my Requests. A lot bass heavy and mid and low frequencies pretty weak as if they are not amplified correctly (as if you are listening to an old handheld radio...)I think it's time for refurbishment...

 

[Robert D]

Thank you for your answer. That is the info I was looking for.That is absolutely correct - Audussey calibration maxes out at +12db. That's where it sets my Requests. A lot bass heavy and mid and low frequencies pretty weak as if they are not amplified correctly (as if you are listening to an old handheld radio...)I think it's time for refurbishment...

Yep. Audyssey turns down the bass frequencies so as to not over power the treble. It sounds a lot worse if you turn off Audyssey. Have you tried doing that? It sounds HORRIBLE. With new panels my speakers sound like they should. So now my Prodigy speakers produce much better bass, since it's no longer held back.

 

[Sotiris]

Yep. Audyssey turns down the bass frequencies so as to not over power the treble. It sounds a lot worse if you turn off Audyssey. Have you tried doing that? It sounds HORRIBLE. With new panels my speakers sound like they should. So now my Prodigy speakers produce much better bass, since it's no longer held back.

Exactly. When I use Audyssey calibration all the bass is gone. That's why I prefer Pure Direct mode but the sound is as I described in my previous post. All in all I think I must proceed with the refurbishment of the panels and maybe upgrade the crossover in order to improve the bass performance

 

[Robert D]

Exactly. When I use Audyssey calibration all the bass is gone. That's why I prefer Pure Direct mode but the sound is as I described in my previous post. All in all I think I must proceed with the refurbishment of the panels and maybe upgrade the crossover in order to improve the bass performance

Well, Audyssey sounds great on my new Prodigy panels. Plenty of bass. Now when I turn off Audyssey to compare without, it doesn't sound dramatically different. Bass sounds the same, but imaging sounds better with Audyssey on. It's subtle.