Martin Logan Shower Cleaning PDF

[Jazzman53]

How did your panels work out in the long run? I'm about to follow your steps on an ESL panel that's basically completely dead. This will be a massive life saver to bring it back to life. So you just sprayed the panels with the basic Simply Green spray cleaner first, then washed the simply green cleaner off the front and back of the panels with your regular shower head, then washed the panels front and back with distilled water? Did you put the distilled water in a spray bottle to spray it on the panels or just took a gallon jug of distilled water and slowly poured it on the panels? Sorry if these questions are stupid, lol I just really don't want to mess this up!


Is the kind of Simply Green you used?:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S4D8QQ8/ref=twister_B0BWV3TZTT?_encoding=UTF8&th=1

I want to caution anyone doing a shower clean with detergent, that most liquid detergents contain conductive compounds (usually a sodium compound), and any residue left on the panel creates conduction paths that can drain charge off the diaphragm, or worse... a shorting path.

In fact, a popular and cheap conductive diaphragm-coating used by DIY ESL builders is a 50/50 mix of water & dish washing liquid applied with a cotton ball. I've used it myself and it works quite well (very high output) but it also attracts dust. These days I use Licron Crystal.

Just saying... use at your own risk, and if you do, rinse it off thoroughly!

 

[jmanny]

I washed one of the two panels on Monday with water, simple green and distilled water. I let the panel dry for about two days and it works! There was zero sound coming from each panel and now the sound is working! I ended up buying a used ESL panel from someone a few weeks ago so I used the replacement panel as a comparison. The panel I washed doesn't seem to put out the amount of volume the replacement panel does, but it's actually working! This is probably far fetched, but do you think if I washed the panel again it would help it even more?

On a side note: if you know anyone that is looking to sell an ESL panel, definitely let me know!

 

[JJB]

Hello everyone,

I went through the process of Cleaning my Martin Logan Quest Stators in the shower.

I wrote the process down and created a PDF for everyone.


Hope this helps those interested in doing the same.

Cheers
Steve

Thanks to Tom for hosting for me

http://www.martinloganowners.com/~t...n Logan Quest Stator Panel Shower Washing.pdfhttp://www.martinloganowners.com/~tdacquis/forum/ML/Martin Logan Quest%2

 

[Mirolab]

Years ago, my SL3 panels were low and rolled off sounding... becoming unlistenable. I removed the panels and simply hosed them down with some moderate pressure. No soaps or detergents. This brought them back to life, to maybe 80% of nominal, and they sounded quite good for a couple years, when I finally decided to get new panels. The new panels are great, but the washing was definitely worth it, and made me fall in love with my SL3's again.

 

[Jazzman53]

I washed one of the two panels on Monday with water, simple green and distilled water. I let the panel dry for about two days and it works! There was zero sound coming from each panel and now the sound is working! I ended up buying a used ESL panel from someone a few weeks ago so I used the replacement panel as a comparison. The panel I washed doesn't seem to put out the amount of volume the replacement panel does, but it's actually working! This is probably far fetched, but do you think if I washed the panel again it would help it even more?

On a side note: if you know anyone that is looking to sell an ESL panel, definitely let me know!

If the diaphragm coating is still good (still electrically conductive) but its electrical charge is being drained away (faster than the HV bias supply can replenish it) by contaminants creating shorting paths to a stator, the panel's volume will be diminished.

Particulate matter (dust or other) can buildup along the spar edges and periphery spacer edges, combined with moisture from humidity in the air, becomes a conductive shorting path from the diaphragm to the stator(s). I believe this is why the ML panels I've seen do not appear to have a conductive coating applied in areas immediately adjacent to the spars, but only in the center area between the spars. Still, the conductive coatinig must extend to the panel edges, and so it is these areas that are prone to contaminant conduction paths.

Even a single piece of trash can short charge away to a stator and result in a localized dead spot or "sizzling" sound.

In the above scenarios, where the diaphagm is still good/conducting, shower cleaning can wash away the contaminant shorting paths, and volume is then restored.

If however the diaphragm coating itself has lost its conduction, shower cleaning cannot restore it, and the diaphragm will have to be replaced or recoated.