My electrostatic headphone would not sound loud enough the first 15-20 minutes I turn it on. It sounded OK last night, but when I turn it on today the sound is a lot softer. Then I leave it on for a while and come back to listen. The sound grows louder after a while.
I start to wonder if it could be because of the humidity. The weather is getting a lot warmer here and so is the humidity getting higher.
Wachara C.
I start to wonder if it could be because of the humidity. The weather is getting a lot warmer here and so is the humidity getting higher.
Wachara C.
Hi,
the described phenomenon is quite typical for ESLs. By theory the time to charge the diaphragm up to 90% of the maximum value is defined by the capacitance times the charging resistor of the bias supply. This condition should be fulfilled within a couple of seconds.
But in praxis it seems that even quickly charging ESLs take up to a couple of hours to perform best. Normally it doesn´t sound louder but more ´liquid´. Like a sportsman needing to warm up his muscles before beeing able to reach 100%.
Humidity might play a role in the time the ESL needs to perform top. This could be due to a membrane coating which is sensitive to humidity, as well as spacer construction and material which shows increased leakage under humid conditions.
Changing to a different coating and siliconized spacers (or pure silicone-spacers) might change the issue to the better.
With my ESLs the Bias is not turned off completely, but reduced to ~ the half in standby-mode.
jauu
Calvin
the described phenomenon is quite typical for ESLs. By theory the time to charge the diaphragm up to 90% of the maximum value is defined by the capacitance times the charging resistor of the bias supply. This condition should be fulfilled within a couple of seconds.
But in praxis it seems that even quickly charging ESLs take up to a couple of hours to perform best. Normally it doesn´t sound louder but more ´liquid´. Like a sportsman needing to warm up his muscles before beeing able to reach 100%.
Humidity might play a role in the time the ESL needs to perform top. This could be due to a membrane coating which is sensitive to humidity, as well as spacer construction and material which shows increased leakage under humid conditions.
Changing to a different coating and siliconized spacers (or pure silicone-spacers) might change the issue to the better.
With my ESLs the Bias is not turned off completely, but reduced to ~ the half in standby-mode.
jauu
Calvin
Hi Calvin,
I didn't have this problem last week when the weather was much cooler. I coated the diaphragm with graphite. What do you coat your diaphragm with?
About spacer material, where can I get silicone spacer? I'm using PCB at the moment.
Wachara C.
I didn't have this problem last week when the weather was much cooler. I coated the diaphragm with graphite. What do you coat your diaphragm with?
About spacer material, where can I get silicone spacer? I'm using PCB at the moment.
Wachara C.
Hi,
sorry but I won´t disclude what I use for our commercial products.
For DIY I normally recommend the glue formula. But since this is a water based coating, it probabely won´t help in Your situation. Think that the EC-coating which has been mentioned in some other threads before could be the right thing for You, since it doesn´t rely on water to conduct.
jauu
Calvin
sorry but I won´t disclude what I use for our commercial products.
For DIY I normally recommend the glue formula. But since this is a water based coating, it probabely won´t help in Your situation. Think that the EC-coating which has been mentioned in some other threads before could be the right thing for You, since it doesn´t rely on water to conduct.
jauu
Calvin
I second Martin-Jan's EC coating (he's a member of this forum). Surface resistivity is about 10E8-10E9 Ohms/square and rock stable (no change in SR in 6 months, diaphragm in open air), sticks well to PET film, easy to apply and makes a nice thin layer. In short: a very good coating.
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