Martin Logan Shower Cleaning PDF

[Hammerhead]

Excellent, so good to hear!

Thanks for posting your process and results. The pic is a good addition to this thread, illustrating the clamps.

Please check and report back performance and condition of the foam/adhesives in the panel a few months from now, just to see if the cleaner had any side-effects. Hopefully none other than a cleaner panel.

Will do. Just out of curiosity, what sort of glue or cement would one use? I already had a little separation along the long side of one panel before showering, so I might give a shot at re-glueing it if I knew what to use.

Sent from my HTC 10 using Tapatalk

 

[Tosh]

Those older models are not actually glued together along the long sides, but only top and bottom using the double-sided foam spacers. Then the panels are held together with the pressure of the trim/mounting rails. The diaphragm tension is only in the top to bottom direction, so it does not need to be glued together on the sides, as long as it's mounted securely to the cabinet.

 

[aburnham2]

Next step is using these instructions to wash my Sequel lls. First it has to stop raining here in Maine. I will take pictures when I do it, Thanks to Steve for his excellent PDF and to 2395 for the extra advice and to VanDaRo for his results. Also to all members whose advice is great!

 

[asindc]

Just an FYI to those considering washing their panels. Just spoke with a service rep at ML about this. I had searched the ML site for instructions on how to do this (by the way, I find the PDF in the original post to be very informative and helpful). When I asked the rep about the absence of washing instructions on the website, he said that they do not recommend washing except as a "last resort" because the washing "could" adversely affect the conductivity of the panels. He indicated that if your panels are showing signs of age, then washing might help extend their usefulness, but if they are working fine, then vacuuming 1-2 times a year should suffice.

 

[Mirolab]

Successful washing of my SL3 panels!! Small arcing problem solved.

Thanks to this thread, and the encouragement by an ML rep (with proper warnings!) I washed my SL3 panels last weekend and it worked out well... though with a bit of an interesting stumble, which I will explain. My SL3's were exhibiting the usual low output, rolled off highs that everyone describes, and no other problems. I couldn't listen to them anymore, and I couldn't sell them, so I fully understood that if I totally ruined the panels, I was then committed to spending $1400 for new panels. I finally decided it was worth the gamble.

After disassembly, I washed the panels outside with a garden hose sprayer (shower setting)..... fairly high pressure too... maybe subliminally i WANTED to ruin them just so I HAD to buy new panels?? Nevertheless, i was very careful not to stress the panels so they wouldn't separate or get misaligned. I did not clamp them like the previous poster showed. The next day I reassembled the SL3's, and waited another day to complete the dryout.

Success!! After 2 days drying, I powered them up, and was greeted with the glorious sound that they made 20 years ago..... well... very close anyway. I am running the woofer switch in the "Reduced" position, but in my room, I think I always needed to reduce the woofers. It VERY much depends on your amp and room. My SL3's are only about 15 inches from the back wall, and my amp is a Bryston 4B-ST, (recently restored (recapped) by Bryston). I've tried many amps over the years, and THIS is a great amp for the SL3's!

Anyway..... after about 2 hours of playing, and reminiscing with my "Stop Making Sense" Blu-Ray.... between songs I noticed a ticking sound from the left side. The left panel was arcing! It had never arced before, so i know it was something i did. I couldn't locate the position of the arc... It just seemed to come from everywhere. So the next day I popped off the rails, and powered it up to see if it was arcing at the edge of the panel... and there it was.... (see pic)... the red diaphragm wire was arcing to the front stator. The insulation is a bit pulled back there, so all i did was wedge a little piece of black electrical tape in the gap, and that stopped it. I put the rails back on, and everything is sounding good again!

I'll enjoy them awhile, but maybe decide to get a new pair of Expressions.... or maybe some used Summit X's?... we'll see how my budget looks next year! I love these SL3's, but I could use more control and resolution in the low end, and some improvement in dynamics and headroom.... that said... these are and always have been an amazing speaker, and a fantastic value!
Thanks to Martin Logan for such a great product.... and answering my questions.

 

[JonFo]

Congrats on getting them going again, and good job spotting and fixing the arcing issue.

A good tip for anyone removing and re-installing panels is to always double-check those connections to the panel, and then again, back to the ESL step-up board.

 

[Tosh]

Those older models are not actually glued together along the long sides, but only top and bottom using the double-sided foam spacers. Then the panels are held together with the pressure of the trim/mounting rails. The diaphragm tension is only in the top to bottom direction, so it does not need to be glued together on the sides, as long as it's mounted securely to the cabinet.

I just noticed that what I said earlier is wrong: Actually the tension is side-to-side, not top to bottom....

 

[MickyP]

Can you or should you lightly scrub-agitate them with a soft brush?

 

[MickyP]

Couldn't wait, so gave them a wash. ML quoted £1690 for new panels!

I made a wooden jig, so panels were horizontal in bath and I played a warm shower jet on the outward facing panel only, being careful to not soak the wired end section. Agitated gently with a shaving brush. Rinsed with demineralised water, dried on towel and used hair dryers on cold or warm to assist. Reassembled later in day and played next day and wasn't sure. Day after sounded quite brittle. Revisited it the next week and very good: detailed, smooth, effortless. Guess it still had moisture? And today I've been marvelling at the musicality of some old tracks I thought I knew.

I felt I had nothing to lose and can't justify new panels at the price quoted.

 

[TomDac]

Thanks for sharing your results. IMHO, this should always be done as a "last ditch" effort before shelling out $$$ for new panels. Nice job!

 

[18000rpm]

I have a pair of Aeon i that I'd like to try this on. The panels are completely done, the sound hopelessly muffled.

Can I wash the panels without removing them from the speakers, taping or wrapping the rest of the speaker so no water gets into the base or connectors?

 

[JohnA]

Be careful.
I've just taken off my SL3 panels and the side-trim panels had to tapped from the *top* instead of the bottom that this guide says.
There is also a youtube video showing how to tap SL3s from the bottom, so clearly they have made panels that fit the other way as well.

Well mine wouldn't budge, so I tried tapping from the top and they came off easily.
Had I kept trying to hammer them out from the bottom I would have damaged them most likely.

...so if they don't budge, try the other way round!

 

[TomDac]

I would not use a pressure washer. Use regular water pressure from your shower.

 

[roberto]

I have a pair of Aeon i that I'd like to try this on. The panels are completely done, the sound hopelessly muffled.

Can I wash the panels without removing them from the speakers, taping or wrapping the rest of the speaker so no water gets into the base or connectors?

Hola. No, you can not do that. You have to remove the panels. It is not a very difficult task. With the proper tools you are done. Try to get from the warehouse store a rubber mallet. This way, you will not harm the rails that are securing the stat panels. Observe the colours of the cables from the connector at the speaker cabinet. Usually the color are Blue, Red and Black. These cables should be connected taking care the colors. Take a pic with your cellular phone at the connector and put them back as the pic.

For washing, use mild water and no detergent at all. You not use high water hose pressure. Concentrate more at the front than at the back. The front is where the conductive coat is. There is no coat at the back. You have to clean first with the aid of a vacuum cleaner for absorb the dust into the diaphragm. Then wash it. Be sure that you are washing the total area of the stat panel. Also you have to leave it in your garage for almost three to four days until there is no water and the panels are totally dried.

You might be lucky and get them back alive again.

Happy listening!

 

[OKA]

Another happy result here.

I did the shower trick with my ML Vantage.

Removed the strator, shortcut the panels, washed gently in the shower with cold/tempered water. Although we have water low in minerals I used some liters of distilled water afterwards, just in case (from a dehumidifier).

 

[roberto]

Hola Oka,

Those are good new! And good idea to use that kind of water.

Happy listening!

 

[Tosh]

Be careful.
I've just taken off my SL3 panels and the side-trim panels had to tapped from the *top* instead of the bottom that this guide says.
There is also a youtube video showing how to tap SL3s from the bottom, so clearly they have made panels that fit the other way as well.

Well mine wouldn't budge, so I tried tapping from the top and they came off easily.
Had I kept trying to hammer them out from the bottom I would have damaged them most likely.

...so if they don't budge, try the other way round!

The metal clips screwed into the cabinet which retain the pins in the mounting rails can be turned around and mounted in the preferred way: so that tapping the rails upward releases the rails. This discourages the panel from slipping down under gravity (and pulling a wire loose -- another failure point) since the rails won't slide down too.

 

[Tosh]

Washing the panels is a last resort before buying new panels. The point of washing the panels is to get settled and condensed contaminants and dirt off the diaphragm and spacers, so that the diaphragm can hold a charge and so that 'dirt' doesn't short and leak away the HV.
Washing the front is more effective because normally they lean backward and catch most of the dirt on their front and on the top edges of the spacers. But if you've committed to washing, then wash both sides. Washing has nothing to do with improving connection to the wires or copper ring, although physically manipulating things in general can make or break connections.

 

[coherent]

I decided to try this on my reQuest today since i have removed the side trim panels to have them resprayed in a fancy red color.
My plan was to do one at the time, shower it and then wait a few days and then assemble the one speaker and see if there is a big difference between left and right.
Taking the speaker apart was easy and the showering went without any problems.
I dried the panel and used a hair-dryer with air-flow only, no heat, then left it standing in the bathroom.

After a few hours i decided to have a look and to my horror i found that the two metal panels, front and rear, are coming apart!
I think there is some kind of double sided tape holding them together and i could see a gap of about 1 mm wide and 200 mm long in the middle of the side part.
Since my side trim panels are gone for respraying i can not use them to apply pressure on the panel so i put a few clamps around it instead.

Any theories if this is really really bad or just really bad? I inspected my other speaker panel, the one that has not been in the shower yet, and it also has a few places where the double sided tape has gaps.

 

[Tosh]

You need to keep them from separating while out of their enclosures. Likely the rubber weatherstripping behind the panel has shrunken from age and will need an additional strip of rubber or foam to restore the original clamping pressure when reassembled.

A risk during any wetting of the ESL sandwich is that the adhesives (which are already old by this point) on the foam spacers will weaken still a bit further, so take care to keep the sandwich held or clamped together so there is no relative strain or slippage between front and rear stators during handling.(snip)