I mustered up the courage to do it. I dismantled my 2002 Aeons and... showered... the panels in my bathroom. >_<
The speakers have been in the family for 12 years now, and I wasn't around to attend to their care for most of that time. I'm certain they have been hit by unattentive cleaning services spraying lemon pledge, boisterous pets, and twelve years of dust and pet dander accumulation. Thankfully no smoking. They had lost the magic somehow. Not that they sounded bad, just average. We picked them out at the audition room because we liked their sound the best, even though we had the budget for more expensive models. I remembered the first time we brought them home and turned them on, the experience was transcendent. But now they just sounded like decent full range speakers. A little pile of dust was clearly visible smack in the center of each hole in the metal grill. I found myself considering electrostatic headphones when I realized how crazy I was being-- I hadn't tried everything to revive the Logans yet...
Now that I have deflowered the aeons and gained knowledge of their insides, I have to compliment ML on the quality of their engineering. At first I thought I would have to disconnect the panel wiring inside the woofer enclosure. I removed the screws and gently pried off the back plate to discover a beautiful series of components in neat little rows, masterfully soldered together. But what was this? The panel wiring leading to the fist sized transformer came out through a sealed hole in a block of wood? I fumed loudly to myself at this setback until I discovered the convenient access door on the front of the enclosure behind the LED light. You see years of experience with poorly designed consumer electronics led me to expect the worst... kudos to ML for putting a separate access point to disconnect the panel wiring!
I brought the removed panels into my shower and sprayed them liberally with warm (~37 C) water, front and back. When I was done, I rinsed them off with cold RO-treated water (dissolved solids 78 PPM) just to ensure no development of any kind of film or scum from my hard well water. I gently manipulated them to let as much water run off as possible, before moving them on to the bed to towel them off. I dried them for four hours under my ceiling fan and with a hair dryer which I very carefully modulated the heat of. By now the panels were mostly dry except for the regions underneath the clear plastic pieces on the rear of the panels.
I moved the panels back to the speaker enclosures and mounted them. I noticed that one of my panels was beginning to separate a little bit, which made me very scared that I had destroyed them. I don't know if they are designed to do this, or whether the water wash had weakened the adhesives. Once I got the side rails on, they looked fine though. They were as clean as the day they came out of the box. I proceeded to vacuum out as much water as I could and generally gave them a final once-over. I couldn't restrain my curiosity anymore... I just HAD to know if I had destroyed them, especially after reading a warning on this thread not to wash the back of the panels (OOOPS). I plugged them in, knowing they were still carrying some water...
I plopped down in my sweet spot couch, hit the play button, and prepared for the worst. What I heard absolutely took my breath away. The magic was back. Not simply the ineffable clarity and resolution of a hi-fi sound system, but the eerie sensation of the musicians' presence in the room with you. An invisible wall of sound brought to life before my eyes, as though the back wall fell away into outer space and was replaced by a recording studio. An illusion so powerful, yet delicate, that simply holding my hand up in front of my face was enough to break it. The Martin Logan magic was back, as if I had brought these speakers 12 years back through time.
I reluctantly turned my system off after listening for about 10 minutes, concerned that any conductivity due to water still on the panels could push the electronics past their limits. This procedure is no joke. It really works, if you have years of accumulated dust on your mylar this will refresh them like they're brand new again. I auditioned the speakers before and after and the difference was clear. It also fixed what appeared to be a channel imbalance, with centered signals appearing to come a little left of center. Now they're dead center again. I don't have any experience with other ESLs but this is a very worthwhile procedure to revive your MLs before you think about selling or replacing the panels.
I'm back in sonic heaven again thanks to a little warm water. If any problems develop I'll report back in this thread.
