My right speaker plays louder than my left
I estimate that the right speaker plays about twice as loud as the left. What could be the cause of this?
What I already have ruled out:
Other observations:
Conclusions so far:
My first thought was that there was something wrong with the coating of the membrane, but to me it looks more like something acts like a slow 3000V zener diode? Please, challenge my conclusion? All ideas are welcome! Could it be the coating anyway?
I estimate that the right speaker plays about twice as loud as the left. What could be the cause of this?
What I already have ruled out:
- Nothing is wrong before the speaker, because when I swap the speakers it’s the same speaker that plays louder.
- Nothing wrong with the 4000V PSU, because now when I use one PSU to both speakers I have the same problem as when I used two separate PSU.
- I have with air pressure carefully blown away every little dust/hair that could have made some kind of connection between the membrane and any of the two stators on the left speaker.
Other observations:
- If the speakers have been disconnected from the power outlet for a day or so when I start playing music through the amplifiers the speakers plays very weak of cause but with perfect balance. When I then connect the 4000V PSU to the outlet the speakers plays louder and louder and keeping the perfect balance for about 10 minutes then the sound starts moving to the right and after about an other 10 minutes the middle have almost moved all the way to the right speaker.
- I have observed the speaker without any input and in total darkness and no visible or sounding sparks.
- When I disconnect the 4000V PSU from the outlet and continue to play music the balance point starts moving from close to the right towards the middle slowly after about 10 minutes and after about 10 more the balance is perfect. The sound is not super dynamic but it stays enjoyable for hours.
- I have also added 10 multiplication links to the PSU enabling it to give 6000V. The dynamics, details and sensitivity is vastly improved but the balance problem remains.
- No observed sparks with 6000V PSU either.
Conclusions so far:
My first thought was that there was something wrong with the coating of the membrane, but to me it looks more like something acts like a slow 3000V zener diode? Please, challenge my conclusion? All ideas are welcome! Could it be the coating anyway?
Testing with a neon bulb probe between the membrane and the 6000V PSU gives different results for left (the faulty one) and right speaker when connected to the mains outlet:
Left: Starts with one spark every 15s then faster and faster until steady state at one spark at every 4s.
Right: Starts with one spark every 2-3s then slower and slower until steady state at one spark every 60-120s.
A result in line with how the speakers perform, but what could be the root cause?
Left: Starts with one spark every 15s then faster and faster until steady state at one spark at every 4s.
Right: Starts with one spark every 2-3s then slower and slower until steady state at one spark every 60-120s.
A result in line with how the speakers perform, but what could be the root cause?
Hi,
there must be a serious leakage problem within Your left speaker.
The membrane looses its charge (unusually quickly) or the HV-supply is faulty.
In a first step, connect the right HV-supply to the left Panel.
Problem soplved? -->left HV-supply faulty
Problem still existant? --> left panel faulty
jauu
Calvin
there must be a serious leakage problem within Your left speaker.
The membrane looses its charge (unusually quickly) or the HV-supply is faulty.
In a first step, connect the right HV-supply to the left Panel.
Problem soplved? -->left HV-supply faulty
Problem still existant? --> left panel faulty
jauu
Calvin
Thanks for your interest, Calvin. I agree with you that it must be some kind of leakage problem. I have already ruled out the PSU as you can see above and it is not a normal leakage because the faulty left speaker plays for hours after disconnected from the outlet. The tricky thing is that the leakage starts over a certain voltage level; my guess is about 3kV because with the original 4kV PSU my right speaker plays a bit louder but with a 6kV PSU it plays a lot louder.
SM7: Switching the audio transformers was one of the first things I tested.
I have just separated the membrane assembly from the MFD-frame and electronics. I connected my 6kV PSU via the neon bulb probe between the membrane and the stators with the same result; first sparks every 15s and then every 2-3s forever.
Anyone knowing if the coating of an ES-100 is water resistant?
I have just separated the membrane assembly from the MFD-frame and electronics. I connected my 6kV PSU via the neon bulb probe between the membrane and the stators with the same result; first sparks every 15s and then every 2-3s forever.
Anyone knowing if the coating of an ES-100 is water resistant?
Yesterday evening I used a steam cleaner to clean both sides of the membrane. I let it dry over night. But I was waste of time, because when I connected it to the 6kV PSU via neon probe… still exactly the same frequency of sparks in the bulb. I tried to connect the ground to only the back side stator respectively only the front side stator, but still the same result in both cases.
Next I tried to connect the 6kV with a separate wire directly to the membrane on the top of it to see if that made any difference, but unfortunately no.
All ideas are warm welcome!
Next I tried to connect the 6kV with a separate wire directly to the membrane on the top of it to see if that made any difference, but unfortunately no.
All ideas are warm welcome!
Hi,
Try leave the power on overnight and see the difference.
It might take longer time for one panel to charge up than the other.
Wachara C.
Try leave the power on overnight and see the difference.
It might take longer time for one panel to charge up than the other.
Wachara C.
Thanks Wachara, but as you can see above the steady state was 2-3s between sparks in the neon probe (steady state is the same for several hours). And before I started my “investigation” my speakers were always connected to the outlet.
What I have done since last post was to remove some glue and silicone on the bottom short-end of the membrane frame and where the high voltage is soldered to the copper foil. Finally some change! Now I only get sparks every 15s in steady state. I will connect in to the amplifier tomorrow and see if it works okay now.
What I have done since last post was to remove some glue and silicone on the bottom short-end of the membrane frame and where the high voltage is soldered to the copper foil. Finally some change! Now I only get sparks every 15s in steady state. I will connect in to the amplifier tomorrow and see if it works okay now.
Re-coating original membrane?
No unfortunately the left speaker was even weaker sounding now. It looks like I had a combination of two errors; leakage and poor coating. The leakage is now cured but the coating problem must be fixed. What makes it obvious that I had a problem with the coating, probably accentuated by my steam cleaning, was that midrange and treble can only be heard from two small spots of the speaker.
Anyone being successful with re-coating an Audiostatic ES-100 membrane?
No unfortunately the left speaker was even weaker sounding now. It looks like I had a combination of two errors; leakage and poor coating. The leakage is now cured but the coating problem must be fixed. What makes it obvious that I had a problem with the coating, probably accentuated by my steam cleaning, was that midrange and treble can only be heard from two small spots of the speaker.
Anyone being successful with re-coating an Audiostatic ES-100 membrane?
i just did my ES200, and had/have same problem left one is playing softer. also recoating is really hard without ripping the membrane, i had to put new foil on it 🙁 and now the left one is stil playing softer and runs into the stator wires with bass tones. at a lower level then the right speaker. i have to do it all over again but this time i spray the coating with an paintbrush hope this will work. but tension/ or resonance frequency is still difficult.
WrineX: Sorry to hear that you have the same problem, but hopefully we can help each other. A couple of question areas:
1. Dis-assembly: What method did you use to take apart the membrane assembly? I have just started on the top end using a hot-air gun to make the silicone softer and then bending them apart with a knife.
2. Assembly: Could you see how the original film was fastened to the frame? Was it double-sided tape? Was it fastened to the wider or narrower frame?
3. Membrane tension: How did you stretch the film? Did you use some kind of jig or did you just use a hot-air gun? Our speaker are rather tall so to do a stretching mechanism is a project by it self.
1. Dis-assembly: What method did you use to take apart the membrane assembly? I have just started on the top end using a hot-air gun to make the silicone softer and then bending them apart with a knife.
2. Assembly: Could you see how the original film was fastened to the frame? Was it double-sided tape? Was it fastened to the wider or narrower frame?
3. Membrane tension: How did you stretch the film? Did you use some kind of jig or did you just use a hot-air gun? Our speaker are rather tall so to do a stretching mechanism is a project by it self.
to get the pertinax frame out of the wooden enclosure i used the thing you use for putty ? putty knive ? put it between stator and wood on the places where the silicone is vissible. then grab a hammer give it few poundings , do this for the whole frame front and back, now it whas pretty easy to get them appart, before this aproach i tried pulling them from eachother but that is not possible at all!! used somethign like the thing you use to get your car up for tire replacement. did not wanna destroy the nice glossy finish so when the wood i had in between for protection broke i thought well this is not gonne work 🙂 better stop now.
then the mylar is glued on i believe the smaller frame but i really dont know it for sure anymore, so pls check. problem is its glued good verry verry good to both frames ! so when i tried with a knife peeling them appart it ripped. i was verry pissed. but after that it did not matter how to remove it 🙂 so i just removed it and then used benzin to let the silicon soak a bit, then you can scrap it of almost in one go with the putty knife. and you have a nice clean stator again. for the tensioning i used the tape technique. not the most reliable, also do both frames at once. i did one by one because i ran out of space (table or something). then again you never knoe what the tension is gone be exactly in this way. so i myself need some help with that as well. by the way i dont know what the resonance frequency should be with this speaker in the first place, if we can put on stator under the mylar while streching we could give it a tick and measure it with a mic.
then the mylar is glued on i believe the smaller frame but i really dont know it for sure anymore, so pls check. problem is its glued good verry verry good to both frames ! so when i tried with a knife peeling them appart it ripped. i was verry pissed. but after that it did not matter how to remove it 🙂 so i just removed it and then used benzin to let the silicon soak a bit, then you can scrap it of almost in one go with the putty knife. and you have a nice clean stator again. for the tensioning i used the tape technique. not the most reliable, also do both frames at once. i did one by one because i ran out of space (table or something). then again you never knoe what the tension is gone be exactly in this way. so i myself need some help with that as well. by the way i dont know what the resonance frequency should be with this speaker in the first place, if we can put on stator under the mylar while streching we could give it a tick and measure it with a mic.
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