Hello,
Has anyone had contact with the Shackman ESL site;
Reromanus Shackman Electrostatic Loudspeakers Online Catalogue
Back in the fall of 2009, I corresponded with the owner of the site to get some of my Quad ESL 63 panels rebuilt - now, I can't get hold of the owner and am still waiting for my panels.
I tried phoning and sending emails.
Perhaps the owner is ill or the site is no longer supported.
Thanks for any information.
Greg
Has anyone had contact with the Shackman ESL site;
Reromanus Shackman Electrostatic Loudspeakers Online Catalogue
Back in the fall of 2009, I corresponded with the owner of the site to get some of my Quad ESL 63 panels rebuilt - now, I can't get hold of the owner and am still waiting for my panels.
I tried phoning and sending emails.
Perhaps the owner is ill or the site is no longer supported.
Thanks for any information.
Greg
mister reiner romer has a bad record when it comes to fair information.
He already has been discussed in some other threads where you can find some bad experiences of other costumers.
I've collected a photo of his laboratory equipment for coating production which clearly shows equipment which will never work because it is connected in a way only an unskilled person would do.
I could go on but you probably got my point now.
This is unfortunate - back in 2009 I sent 8 Quad ESL 63 panels to Shackman ESL in exchange for their firm rebuilding 2 panels.
I received an email confirming that the panels were received and now my emails to Shackman ESL are not answered nor are phone messages.
I am out about $300 CAD (ie. cost of shipping and panels).
Unfornately, I live in Canada and Shackman ESL is based in Germany.
I am still open to giving Shackman ESL a chance to send me my panels - this is the first bad experience I have had dealing with companies on the Internet.
On another note, do you know of a diaphram coating that is available from a reputable firm that will work on the Quad ESL 63's?
I received an email confirming that the panels were received and now my emails to Shackman ESL are not answered nor are phone messages.
I am out about $300 CAD (ie. cost of shipping and panels).
Unfornately, I live in Canada and Shackman ESL is based in Germany.
I am still open to giving Shackman ESL a chance to send me my panels - this is the first bad experience I have had dealing with companies on the Internet.
On another note, do you know of a diaphram coating that is available from a reputable firm that will work on the Quad ESL 63's?
Hi Greg,
Sorry to hear that. I also had a bad experience with Mr. Römer from Shackman. See this post. I have offered to give away his coating for free. But til today nobody wants it.
It would be interesting if Mr. Römer has ever repaired Quad panels. Maybe someone can comment his experiences.
I have used the EC coating from MJ Dijkstra. It is pretty good for the Esl-63.
Harry
Sorry to hear that. I also had a bad experience with Mr. Römer from Shackman. See this post. I have offered to give away his coating for free. But til today nobody wants it.
It would be interesting if Mr. Römer has ever repaired Quad panels. Maybe someone can comment his experiences.
I have used the EC coating from MJ Dijkstra. It is pretty good for the Esl-63.
Harry
I am very interested in purchasing some of this coating - do you have link to the website?
What system did you use to tension your Quad ESL 63 diaphrams?
I've rebuilt Quad ESL 63 diaphrams in the past using a stretcher-type jig - what I found was that the diaphrams lost tension after about 1 year resulting in the oscillating diaphram (motorboating).
From my understanding, Quad thermoset their diaphrams (ie. part of the process of tensioning the diaphram involved heating it) and I suspect this prevents the diaphrams from losing tension.
This is the reason I sent my Quad ESL 63 panels to Shackman - I thought they had a handle on properly rebuilding Quad ESL 63's and now after reading up on DIY Audio, I am ready to write off the panels I sent to Shackman.
esl coating
I have had an excellent experience with Rob Mckinlay of ER Audio Australia. He sells an entire kit for rebuilding Quad ESl's or the individual parts such as the film and the coating. ER Audio's instructions are excellent and Rob will communicate by email if you have queries during the rebuilding process.
ER Audio tends to treat its customers like you would a friend and fellow enthusiasts; to the extent that I have been in receipt of Christmas cards for the last few years although I think my most recent purchase was some 18 months ago.
My ESL 63's have been given a new lease of life after their rebuild. If not for ER Audio I would probably have had to spend considerable sums of money to get them working again.
I have nothing but praise for ER Audio. They come highly recommended, not only by me but by several other persons. I have come across a couple of blog sites where the owners of the blog had effected repairs using ER Audio's kits and/or had built the designs by ER Audio. These blog sites have also had similar praise for ER Audio's service, kits and helpfulness.
ER Audio has a website and can be found by a google search for ER Audio.
I have had an excellent experience with Rob Mckinlay of ER Audio Australia. He sells an entire kit for rebuilding Quad ESl's or the individual parts such as the film and the coating. ER Audio's instructions are excellent and Rob will communicate by email if you have queries during the rebuilding process.
ER Audio tends to treat its customers like you would a friend and fellow enthusiasts; to the extent that I have been in receipt of Christmas cards for the last few years although I think my most recent purchase was some 18 months ago.
My ESL 63's have been given a new lease of life after their rebuild. If not for ER Audio I would probably have had to spend considerable sums of money to get them working again.
I have nothing but praise for ER Audio. They come highly recommended, not only by me but by several other persons. I have come across a couple of blog sites where the owners of the blog had effected repairs using ER Audio's kits and/or had built the designs by ER Audio. These blog sites have also had similar praise for ER Audio's service, kits and helpfulness.
ER Audio has a website and can be found by a google search for ER Audio.
The Maestro for this coating is the man behind post#2 in this thread.
I have a stretching jig similar to the one from Quad (including an oven for the heat treatment). See attachment.
If the panel was stable for a year and it lost the tension after this time, then something is wrong. With Mylar C or Hostaphan RE, there shouldn't be such a problem.
Every panel will lose some tension in the first weeks, but then it should be stable. This loss is higher when the diaphragm is only mechanically stretched. A diaphragm which gets a mechanical and thermal treatment at the same time will lose not so much tension. But it will. Also Quad did slightly overstrech their diaphragms to compensate this loss. So the Quad technique is not there to prevent the diaphragms from losing tension, it's for sound reasons.
Harry
Attachments
Hi Harry,
That is an awesome stretcher jig!!!
Where did you get the clamps to hold the film - I've experimented with clamps and 3 micron film, however, the film slipped through the jaws of the clamps.
It seems that weights/gravity with the constant tension on the diaphram is the way to go - the "frame type" jigs with wing nuts for tightening seem to be a compromise (from my experiments).
I'd be interested in reading more about your stretcher jig (I mean if you are ok with making the details available to the public).
I am a newbie here - how do I contact The Maestro (MJ Dijkstra) on this site regarding the coating (ie. what is the etiquette).
Thanks for sharing your knowledge regarding Quad ESL 63 coating/stretcher - it is making it worth while to have lost those 8 panels to the Shackman firm and now I can pursue rebuilding my Quad ESL 63's via the DIY route.
Thank you.
First I stretch the diaphragm in the jig and then afterwards it gets the heat treatment. But during the treatment the weights are always pulling. So it's a mixture of mechanical and thermal treatment at the same time.
Please stop imagining.
Yes, it is not possible to put a 2 meter long stretcher into an oven. BTW I have never liked to do it that way.
Harry
Click to his contact info and send him a PM or email and ask if he still produces the EC-coating.
I would also recommend the Esl-63 kit from Rob Mackinlay. Much easier to do it that way. Especially for beginners.
Here a link to someone who has used this kit successful for repairing (the original link is down, but I have found it in the Wayback Archive).
Harry
I have seen that two pictures are missing in this link (especially the one where the diaphragm is stretched with the help of a spring balance). See attachment.
Working with 3 micron film is tricky. Try these clamps. They are looking slightly different than the European ones, but should be the same.
Harry
Attachments
Update...
I finally received my refurbished panels from the Shackman site/firm!
The items were extremely well packaged.
I have yet to try the panels and will be looking into trying them during the Easter long weekend.
I will update this thread once I have the panels in my Quad ESL 63's for a while.
One Thing Audio in England for example. They have 2.8um film (from Germany).
Harry
Good news!
But it is still very strange from Mr. Römer not to answer a customer phone call or email.
Harry
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