Hi, I hope you can help me. I have a pair of AudioStatic ES100's that have been in storage for about 6.5 years. I now finally have a place that I can put them up again, but noticed some issues. First is that I need a lot of power to get them to play. That wasn't so much of an issue (tested a few power amps), but now I noticed that after a day playing I needed to crank the amp up further and eventually the music started to sound really bad, as if it was bad FM reception.
Could anybody give me an idea what might be going on (foil loosing charge??) and what I would be able to do about it? The panels were manufacturered in 1989 I think and had the panels replaced in '98.
Thanks, Rene
Could anybody give me an idea what might be going on (foil loosing charge??) and what I would be able to do about it? The panels were manufacturered in 1989 I think and had the panels replaced in '98.
Thanks, Rene
Hi, René.
I had a similar problem with a set of old AudioStatics I owned a couple of years ago. I am pretty sure that the diagphram gradually loses its conducting coating. As far as I know they used graphite rubbed into the mylar - and it simply falls off. (But I might be wrong, though). Since apparently it was either a matter of discarding them or buying new elements, neither of which I was keen on, I decided to try to re-invigorate the conductive layer and it did help a lot. This is what I did:
1. dismantled the speakers to get to the elements.
2. created a leather"brush" attached to a long piece of paper so that I could slide it in between the front stator and the diagphram. The height of the brush was equal to the distance between the stator and the diagphram + c. 1 mm.
3. Applied a small amount of conductive fluid to the "brush" and pulled it past the diagphram thus leaving a little coating on it. The difficulty is to coat it evenly. I tried to solve this problem by starting form both sides of the element.
The coating I used is this one:
MT Audio Design - ESL Repair Shop
The Audiostatics are only coated on the front surface of the diagphram.
I know it is unorthodox and quick-and-dirty but at least it made them sing again! And probabaly good enough because I sold them a year ago. Mats Törnqvist promises long life for the coating - and indeed I have used it on Quad ESL63 elements 5 years ago and they still play.
If you're interested I can post a couple of pictures of the procedure.
Greetings,
Hans Jørgen
I had a similar problem with a set of old AudioStatics I owned a couple of years ago. I am pretty sure that the diagphram gradually loses its conducting coating. As far as I know they used graphite rubbed into the mylar - and it simply falls off. (But I might be wrong, though). Since apparently it was either a matter of discarding them or buying new elements, neither of which I was keen on, I decided to try to re-invigorate the conductive layer and it did help a lot. This is what I did:
1. dismantled the speakers to get to the elements.
2. created a leather"brush" attached to a long piece of paper so that I could slide it in between the front stator and the diagphram. The height of the brush was equal to the distance between the stator and the diagphram + c. 1 mm.
3. Applied a small amount of conductive fluid to the "brush" and pulled it past the diagphram thus leaving a little coating on it. The difficulty is to coat it evenly. I tried to solve this problem by starting form both sides of the element.
The coating I used is this one:
MT Audio Design - ESL Repair Shop
The Audiostatics are only coated on the front surface of the diagphram.
I know it is unorthodox and quick-and-dirty but at least it made them sing again! And probabaly good enough because I sold them a year ago. Mats Törnqvist promises long life for the coating - and indeed I have used it on Quad ESL63 elements 5 years ago and they still play.
If you're interested I can post a couple of pictures of the procedure.
Greetings,
Hans Jørgen
Thanks guys, some good info! They did modify the panels of the ES100 at one stage and I have the 'newer' somewhat greener panels fitted.
Any other experience or tips?
Thanks, Rene
Any other experience or tips?
Thanks, Rene
yeha coating is lost, or ur panel is dirty. the FM reception is ur audio transformer getting into saturation. dont give them so much power or ur transformers are gone for good.
i once refitted the panels with new membrane and new mylar. still i got lower and lower output during the day. what i did whas clean the stator frames with amonia. there was allot of brown nicotine goo coming off. after that now more leakage.
only thing i dont know if you can do this with the menbrame in place. so maybe as a last resort give them a good rub with a brush and amonia under the shower.
it might disolve the coating on the menbrame so or either dont wett the whole thing or only do it if this is the last thing you can do before refitting the foil. as a last resort!!! puttig new mylar on these panels is no joke and not fun at all
i once refitted the panels with new membrane and new mylar. still i got lower and lower output during the day. what i did whas clean the stator frames with amonia. there was allot of brown nicotine goo coming off. after that now more leakage.
only thing i dont know if you can do this with the menbrame in place. so maybe as a last resort give them a good rub with a brush and amonia under the shower.
it might disolve the coating on the menbrame so or either dont wett the whole thing or only do it if this is the last thing you can do before refitting the foil. as a last resort!!! puttig new mylar on these panels is no joke and not fun at all
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