Newish to ML

[keat]

New to the forums, and somewhat new to Martin Logan ownership.

When I was in high school my parents tasked me with picking out home theater equipment and I ended up going to ML Ascents (front), Theater (center) and scripts (rear) with a Krell amp and home theater processor. Anyway, I played around with tweaking it for years . I fondly recall trying to eliminate some ground loop hum and successfully identifying and fixing that. It was fun and sounded fantastic.

Anyway, all that was great, I got to enjoy the speakers for several years and then periodically since then. Fast forward about 15 years, and my parents moved and gave all the speakers and electronics to me. A great little windfall and strong start for my own setup. I plan on using just the Ascents initially as a stereo setup. The problem is that both speakers have some panels slippage and the left channel Ascent is having bigger issues. The woofer works, but the panel is providing what I though was not sound at all, although I can hear the faintest levels of sound if I put my ear up next to it. I don't have a clue if a wire disconnected that charges the panels or what. The nature of the sound was similar to if you play it without the speakers plugged into power. I'll probably start on that project in the next month of so, and post more details in the applicable forum. I'm looking forward to reading the forums for insight and working on these. And maybe improving my setup down the road.

 

[TomDac]

HI Keat. Your best bet is to contact ML tech support and they can walk you thru some troubleshooting steps. Before you do that, vacuum the panels front and back after leaving them unplugged for 24 hours.

 

[spkrdctr]

Hi, welcome to ML. I would recommend buying some brand new and selling or giving away the old speakers. You would get fantastic sound from new speakers and they will work great for years. Just wanted to let you know that they have fantastic new ones available. Even the small ELS speakers do a great job or the Motion series.

 

[keat]

Tom, thanks for the welcome and tips. I plan on reaching out to ML soon.

Hi Spkrdctr, thanks for the recommendations. It has definitely crossed my mind to get new speakers. Do you care to elaborate on the thoughts behind the suggestion? Is it a performance based view or more along the lines of ease of use and don't mess with keeping older less reliable stuff.

If I hadn't stumbled upon this website and the resources it includes, I probably wouldn't have thought to try to troubleshoot or fix them. I still haven't started yet.

 

[R.I.P]

Welcome to MLO forum.

Panel is not charging because not receiving ac. Try switching power cords to determine if fault is in power cord. In addition, when changing power cord insert firmly power cable in loudspeaker socket. Check for dust on loudspeaker power socket and clean with brush if dusty.

Similarly try plugging problematic speaker into different ac outlet. If difficult to move speaker. Then plug any other electronic device into socket in which the problematic speaker was plugged in to check if ac outlet is functioning okay.

 

[AuBrisbane]

Welcome to ML forum Keat.

15+ years of usage + panel slippage is good enough reason to call for panel replacement or getting brand new ML ESL speakers.
Years of usage is main concern.
Check with ML what is the price for panels replacement ( if available at all after 15 years) and they come with install instruction, and compare it with the price of new set.

Decision should not be hard to make.

Kind regards from Australia.
Zoran

 

[Nuri58]

Happened to mine as well and they went to the shop as under warranty. Two new panels free of charge, even the working panel switched to ensure the very same sound from both ls

 

[keat]

I got these back up and running. ML provided the panel slippage bracket. It was all pretty easy. The non functioning speaker was just due to a failed connection, which easily soldered back. Finally, I extensively vacuumed them.

They sound pretty fantastic, certainly better than new/smaller MLs that I've auditioned. Certainly not a good as brand new large (comparable size) ESLs. But I have exactly $0.00 invested these at this point and will evaluate new panels down the road if these don't continue to meet expectations.