Aerius Revival


Hi All,
Last time I wrote I was not sure if I was a ML fan or not because my Aerius speakers had failed just before my new amp had arrived. To recap, one ELS panel was dead and the other was just barely audible. The advice I received from my inquiries and from Jim Power of ML suggested that the panels were given a very strong vacuum. I had vacuumed them before but this time I spent about 15 minutes on each panel. The faint panel sprang into life but the dead panel only improved slightly. Believing that I had nothing to lose the panel was uncoupled and held under the a warm shower for about 2 minutes. The panel was dried off with a towel and then gently dried with a blow drier, taking care not to over heat the membrane(I am not suggesting that anyone else try this but).

The result was amazing, both speakers are now producing clear music over the full spectrum. The music just hangs in the air and gives a wonderful feeling of being there. I spent about three hours listening to a wide selection of music and not once was I disappointed. So am I a Martin Logan fan – you bet.

How did the Aerius compare with my previous Quad ELS 57. It is hard to remember exactly and I am sure that some of my memory is tainted with nostalgia. The Quad obviously had less bass and this gives the Quad a more natural sound, to my ears the Aerius is still a bit bass heavy but the Aerius has a better sound stage and better clarity. The vocals on the Aerius have to be heard to be believed.

My system is fairly basic:
Meridian 506 CD player
Primare A30.1 integrated amplifier
Martin Logan Aerius speakers (cones upgraded to Aerius i) bi wired with Kimber cables
mlogan

Showing 1 response by willhitx2eb4

I emailed Jim Power last night on the subject and here is his response:

That is true. Sometimes it works. I honestly have no experience with washing panels from a smoking environment however. Our previous experience is that tobacco tar is really hard on the panels. Whether or not running water would help, I don't know. Sorry I don't have more information.
My guess is that the combination of your humidity (quite high) and the stuff on the panel will easily account for the 3 db. If you try it, let me know how it works. I don't think it would do any harm.
All the best,
jp

Needless to say, I'm going to try it.