Recent content by Jazzman53

Remotely diagnosing ESLs is speculative at best, but I will ask some questions and see where it leads: How old are your speakers? Are both speakers sounding equally bass heavy? Is either speaker emitting any static, intermittent pops, or other noises? Put your ear close and listen from...

Nice system, Dan! Just curious; are you bi-amping the Logan's thru their passive crossovers? If so; you might want to consider bypassing the passive crossovers entirely and controlling both the Logans and subs thru the Behringer DCX2496. The DCX 2496 has six output channels, and you could...

Zenit may be fully competent to rebuild ML panels. I don't wish to disparage any rebuilders, just pointing out the pitfalls. Matching the tension would involve measuring it directly on an intact panel, or inferring it from measuring the resonance of an intact panel, and then tensioning the new...

I couldn't agree more, Leporello. Your comments are thoughtful and on point, in my opinion. I would like to expand on your points a bit, if I may. Although my experience is mostly building wire-stator ESLs, I recently refurbished a Martin Logan panel, which was a learning experience for me...

I want to add to the above information: The double-sided tape adhesive on the front stator forms two bond lines. One being stator-to-adhesive and the other being adhesive-to-diaphragm. The separation method most likely to save the diaphragm is to cut thru the adhesive tape with a sharp...

Actually, you want the tape on the front stator to remain bonded to the stator but you want it to release from the diaphragm. When I did the Theater panel, I inserted a butter knife between the diaphragm and front stator tape. Unlike your Sequel panel, the Theater panel's stators were...

You may not need any tape at all. If the stators were only bonded together at the top & bottom edge bands, then the only tape that would conceivably be needed would be the tape along the top & bottom edges of the front stator (only). If that tape is intact and still tacky after separating...

It will be interesting to see if the front spars are bonded to the diaphragm in your Sequel panels. There is no compelling reason why the front spars would need to be bonded to the diaphragm, or for the stators be bonded together at all. Functionally, the stators need only be constrained...

Yes, I get the tapes from McMaster-Carr. At the end of my write-up for the Theater panel is a parts list for all of the materials. Different speaker models may use different tape thicknesses but I'm guessing they would be the same. You would want to measure before ordering, to be sure...

Yeah I see Bob every year at CarverFest. He's a smart guy who thinks outside the box. We affectionately refer to him as the Bobfather. Regardless of whether ML used a full periphery charge ring or a local contact only, I would add a full-periphery charge ring on any rebuild.

The sketch shows how the diaphragm was coated in the Theater panel. I understand why ML did it this way, and I would guess most panels are configured this way. There's no real loss of output where the coating was omitted because the diaphragm is anchored and can't move at the spars. The...

Yes, you would have coated islands connecting to the charge ring on both sides, as shown in the sketch below. Note that the spars are unevenly spaced to breakup the diaphragm's drum-head resonance into multiple smaller peaks. When you are measuring the deflection to gauge the diaphragm...

As a weak panel loses output over time, there is a tendency to compensate by cranking up the amp. If pushed hard enough, the transformer will short-out, and possibly take out the amp with it. A string-saw made from 50-lb braided fishing line will cut thru an acrylic adhesive glue-line with...

I'm over 70, retired from building ESLs and have moved on to other things. I was happy to post the Theater panel rebuild but I don't want to make a business of it.

I don't know what you have. If you deem your panels unusable as-is, then there is not much to lose by dis-assembling one to find out what it needs for restoration. No one can advise you on that... it's your call. On the Theater panel, the stators were bonded together around the entire...