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Martin Logan Repair and/or Rejuvenation?

I just sold a pair of Martin Logan Sequel II's to a fellow Audiogoner. One of the ESL panels had slipped down about 1/2 inch a long time ago, but did not affect the sound, (at least I did not notice it). I did put that in the ad, and the buyer knew about it.

I shipped the speakers from California to Texas via truck shipping.

When the new owner hooked them up, he noticed that one of the panels (of course, the one that had slipped) sounded a few db lower than the other panel. He said it was really noticable when the panel was run without the woofer hooked up. (The speakers are bi-wired, so this is easily accomplished, although it was something I never did, as I never really noticed it, and neither did my wife or my audiophile friend.) However, I will not call him a liar, as he seems honest, and it is possible, I suppose. (I am not sure how or when this db drop off happened. It might have happened during shipping (he does not think so though), or it may have been a pre-sale condition (This is his hypothesis, I don't think so). Either way, I am willing to help him resolve the problem, including reimbursement of part of the sales price.

My question is this: Have any of you Martin Logan ESL owners ever had this type of problem with a panel?

If so, is there a quick and easy fix or repair?

Or is replacement of the panel the only viable solution to the problem? (This is his solution). I worry that if we replace one panel, that given the age of the speakers (15 years old) that the other panel will then sound different.

I have read/heard of a couple of ideas which range from reasonable to pretty outrageous:
1. Vacuum the panels. I have done this in the past, although it has been years, as general maintenance. (This was originally suggested by a ML tech.)
2. Detach the panels and put them in the shower with warm water running over them to completely clean them.

I know the first idea is reasonable, but does that second solution sound viable? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciately by both me and the buyer!
kurt_tank
broadstone's avatar
broadstone
310 posts
 
I have the Odysseys and also had one panel slip down about one half inch. I called Martin Logan about this and they sent me two clips to keep this from recurring after I got the panel back in place. The trouble is that I have been unable to get it back where it belongs. I leaned the speaker back and placed a support under the panel and let it back down hoping that if it was left under this pressure for awhile, it would eventually return to its normal location. It's been two days and hasn't moved a millimeter. Any ideas?
broadstone's avatar
broadstone
310 posts
 
I'm responding to my own thread because the issue of the slipped panel is in the process of returning to normal. My "fix' is working; the constant pressure created by the weight of the cabinet on the tranducer portion of the panel as described in my previous post, has resulted in its very slow but, seemingly certain return to its normal position. I've been using the speaker for the 3 days that it has taken so vibration of the panel is possibly a contributing factor.

This problem is not an unknown one, hence, the repair clips, but I hope this approach to solving the problem will be helpful to others. I had talked to Chris Cosgrove at ML and will forward this to him.
nuttingdvd
1 posts
 
I am having a problem, both of my scenarios stopped producing any sound from the panels. I live in a distant island with no reasonable repair facility? Any idea as to problem?
broadstone's avatar
broadstone
310 posts
 
Nutting, I've never owned the Scenarios but have used 6 different models of ML's Over the last 35 years and am now using the Ethos. I don't remember exactly how the Scenarios are constructed but assume them all to be similar. If your panels have slipped significantly the possibility exists that the speaker wires could have separated as they are only held in place with double sided tape, I believe. It's not likely, IMO though, because the mass of those panels wouldn't be enough to break that joint and it also seems unlikely that they would both fail at the same time. Do they have fuses? I assume that would have been your first thought.

Another problem that I've had is several step up diodes in the high voltage circuit were fried. A pain in the neck to replace because they are installed on a circuit board but a package of diodes cost less than $2 from radio shack.

Call Martin Logan customer service; they are very helpful and nobody could know their speakers better. The bottom line may be, because repairs to them can get pricey and used ones have become very reasonable, to replace them.
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