Leave ESLs Charged or Switch ON/OFF?

wrl · 24th May 2007, 05:53 PM

Hi all,

I was wondering how many of you leave the ESL diaphram constantly charged and how many power it up every time you listen. In the past I have left mine charged, but I'm more concerned once I rebuild that my cat may decide to use the panels as scratching posts while I'm gone. Also a healthy dose of paranoia that I shouldn't leave diy stuff plugged in when I'm not around.

My problem is that I have 100 Mohm resistors in line with the diaphram so it takes quite awhile to fully charge (I'm guessing ~1hr). Can I safely decrease this value and cut down charging time? Also, is there any inherent advantage to leaving the panels charged (i.e. is repeatedly charging/discharging bad for the diaphrams?). I'm using perforated metal stators with mylar and coating from ER audio. I forget the exact description.

Thanks for your input,

WRL

oshifis · 24th May 2007, 06:32 PM

I leave mine permanently on (Quad ESL 57). It takes several hours to charge, they reach full performance after one day.

A hint: try a miniature neon lamp instead of the resistor. It has low resistance when the voltage difference between the diaphragm and the voltage source is higher than about 80V, but it has infinite resistance at low voltage difference, when the diaphragm is nearly fully charged. It does drop charging while maintaining infinite load resistance. It charges more quickly, and an added bonus: you can visually detect any leakege (then it charges permanently, and the neon is glowing or blinking).

maudio · 24th May 2007, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by wrl
My problem is that I have 100 Mohm resistors in line with the diaphram so it takes quite awhile to fully charge (I'm guessing ~1hr).

Even a very large panel (say 2nF capacitance) will charge in < 1 second through 100 Mohm. So decreasing that resistor will not make any difference, when they take an hour the problem is in your membrame coating or in the connecting between membrame and HV-unit.

My ESL's reach full charge in a matter of seconds through 66 Mohm (using the EC coating from MJ Dijkstra). I always switch them off when not in use, to extent life span and it makes me sleep better

bear · 24th May 2007, 10:17 PM

On.

Definitely on.

No good reason why that should be.
As the previous poster said, they would seem to be fully charged and functional reasonably quickly.
However they do not seem to work quite like that to the ears.

_-_-bear

Calvin · 26th May 2007, 05:51 AM

Hi,

usually the charging time is much lower than 1 minute, which would mean that You´d better switch off the ESL for energy, ageing, dust and dirt attraction and safety reasons.
On the other hand I feel that sounds improve with my panels over a period of ~2-3 hours. The effect isn´t dramatic and it might be illusionary or a matter of ´learning´, but since others report on the same effect, there might be something to it. This would imply to leave the speaker always on.

I switch it off, because the above named effect is really small and I don´t like to have many devices idling in a standby mode for basically no good reason.

jauu
Calvin

ak_47_boy · 27th May 2007, 04:38 AM

Leaving the mylar charged is slowly eroding it. After a few years of being left on the mylar will get holes, etc. in it.

24th May 2007, 05:53 PM	#1
wrl diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: USA	Leave ESLs Charged or Switch ON/OFF? Hi all, I was wondering how many of you leave the ESL diaphram constantly charged and how many power it up every time you listen. In the past I have left mine charged, but I'm more concerned once I rebuild that my cat may decide to use the panels as scratching posts while I'm gone. Also a healthy dose of paranoia that I shouldn't leave diy stuff plugged in when I'm not around. My problem is that I have 100 Mohm resistors in line with the diaphram so it takes quite awhile to fully charge (I'm guessing ~1hr). Can I safely decrease this value and cut down charging time? Also, is there any inherent advantage to leaving the panels charged (i.e. is repeatedly charging/discharging bad for the diaphrams?). I'm using perforated metal stators with mylar and coating from ER audio. I forget the exact description. Thanks for your input, WRL __________________ Anything worth doing is worth doing right... and redoing to make it better... and again to fix it back the way it was.

24th May 2007, 10:17 PM	#4
bear expert in tautology diyAudio Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: New York State USA	On. Definitely on. No good reason why that should be. As the previous poster said, they would seem to be fully charged and functional reasonably quickly. However they do not seem to work quite like that to the ears. _-_-bear __________________ _-_-bear http://www.bearlabs.com [...2SJ74 Toshiba bogus asian parts - beware! ] -- Btw, I don't actually know anything, FYI --

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24th May 2007, 06:32 PM	#2
oshifis diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Budapest, Hungary	I leave mine permanently on (Quad ESL 57). It takes several hours to charge, they reach full performance after one day. A hint: try a miniature neon lamp instead of the resistor. It has low resistance when the voltage difference between the diaphragm and the voltage source is higher than about 80V, but it has infinite resistance at low voltage difference, when the diaphragm is nearly fully charged. It does drop charging while maintaining infinite load resistance. It charges more quickly, and an added bonus: you can visually detect any leakege (then it charges permanently, and the neon is glowing or blinking).

26th May 2007, 05:51 AM	#5
Calvin diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: close to Basel	Hi, usually the charging time is much lower than 1 minute, which would mean that You´d better switch off the ESL for energy, ageing, dust and dirt attraction and safety reasons. On the other hand I feel that sounds improve with my panels over a period of ~2-3 hours. The effect isn´t dramatic and it might be illusionary or a matter of ´learning´, but since others report on the same effect, there might be something to it. This would imply to leave the speaker always on. I switch it off, because the above named effect is really small and I don´t like to have many devices idling in a standby mode for basically no good reason. jauu Calvin

27th May 2007, 04:38 AM	#6
ak_47_boy diyAudio Member Join Date: Sep 2006	Leaving the mylar charged is slowly eroding it. After a few years of being left on the mylar will get holes, etc. in it.