Trouble with a Theater I center channel

[sphynx]

I recently bought some used ML speakers. I picked up a Theater I and a pair of Prodigy speakers. The theater I sounds great but the woofers are making a strange sound at certain lower frequencies. I have the speaker now at a local dealer and they are going to take a look and figure out what is wrong then get the parts. I am writing on here to see what kind of luck some of you have had with ML providing replacement parts and how the cost works out. The dealer said that ML is really good about parts and the shipping is quite fast. What kind of experiences have some of you had? I don't know how old the speaker is, all I have to go on is this info. http://www.martinlogan.com/products/theateri

The sound they make now is not very frequent, but when it does happen its loud enough to disturb me. Both woofers sound like they bottom out, make a rattle. At first I thought some screws were lose or something but that wasn't it. How likely is it that the previous owner "blew" the speakers? The previous owner was in his 70s so I doubt he was blasting the stereo! How reliable are the speakers? The electrostatic part of the speaker sounds fine as do the tweeters.

I bought a new depth subwoofer a few years back and it had a problem with the switch that puts the speaker into standby. The switch was bad out of the box. My local dealer came to my home and picked it up, repaired it quite fast really. I was impressed with Martin Logan then and I am hoping that I will have the same experience with this used speaker I bought.

 

[GaryG]

The ML service department has always treated me great. I bought several Theater woofers a few yeas back. I couldn't find the email regarding price but I think they were somewhere around $150 each. It is very possible that the woofers are damaged. By the way, when I reach 70 I hopefully will be blasting the stereo.

Gary

 

[sphynx]

That is good, I can handle about $300 for a set of woofers for that speaker. I am concerned that it is discontinued but I guess that doesn't matter. I also wonder if they could just put in the woofer from the new electro static speaker since they are both 6 1/2 and the cabinets are similar size. So why were your old ones bad?

I agree about the comments t on being 70. The man loved his music for sure because he had a lot of top end equipment.

 

[GaryG]

I bought My first Theater in 2002 along with a pair of Prodigy's. If you have a big enough room the Prodigy's are a great speaker. So I know that your system is very capable. I moved the Prodigy's to the rears a few years ago when I acquired my CLX's. There wasn't an instant where something happened and I heard the woofer go. I was just listening one day. Said that doesn't sound right and sent an email to ML to order a new woofer.

As far as using the woofer from the electro static speaker as a substitute I can't really say. There are many variables so I would try to stick to Theater woofers if possible.