Help. WTB Acoustat 8" panels
- Thread starter soidog2
- Start date
Very hard to kill Acoustat panels from actual usage, the transformers (typically the LF unit) fail first. If the panels have a slight rattling, they can be "shrunk" with hair dryer. The Acoustat was intended to be a very robust speaker; the stator wires are insulated and therefore cannot arc at any voltage that can be produced by the interface. The mylar is very thick. People at Acoustat said that, if necessary, you could take out the panel and hose it down with a garden hose. I have not tried that.
OTOH, transformer failure is too common. The transformers heat up gradually and can melt from sustained high current that is not high enough to blow the 5 amp slow blo fuse. I have done this. Instead of fuse, Acoustats should have had thermal sensor cutout.
Numerous individual Acoustat panels came on eBay this year. I snagged one for backup purposes. Ebayers will ship individual panels from a busted system but it's hard to get someone to ship a whole system. But it can be done. I received Acoustat 1+1 system through UPS in 4 boxes without damage. I paid seller $300 flat rate for shipping. Bigger systems could ship freight services. But usually people don't want to.
OTOH, transformer failure is too common. The transformers heat up gradually and can melt from sustained high current that is not high enough to blow the 5 amp slow blo fuse. I have done this. Instead of fuse, Acoustats should have had thermal sensor cutout.
Numerous individual Acoustat panels came on eBay this year. I snagged one for backup purposes. Ebayers will ship individual panels from a busted system but it's hard to get someone to ship a whole system. But it can be done. I received Acoustat 1+1 system through UPS in 4 boxes without damage. I paid seller $300 flat rate for shipping. Bigger systems could ship freight services. But usually people don't want to.
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You seem to leave out some info on this post.
From your post on A/A, you say they got wet.
As long as the Mylar is intact and everything dryed out they should be alright, maybe just retensioning of the Mylar.
Also HAVE YOU MEASURED the damaged panels?? Are they all 8".
Alot of Acoustat speakers used a combo of 8" + 9" panels.
You can also use the 3 wire or 5 wire Acoustat panel with no problem.
How did they get wet?? Chances are they are still good!
From your post on A/A, you say they got wet.
As long as the Mylar is intact and everything dryed out they should be alright, maybe just retensioning of the Mylar.
Also HAVE YOU MEASURED the damaged panels?? Are they all 8".
Alot of Acoustat speakers used a combo of 8" + 9" panels.
You can also use the 3 wire or 5 wire Acoustat panel with no problem.
How did they get wet?? Chances are they are still good!
I agree, the Acoustat panels are surprisingly tough. Do you KNOW that they are damaged, or just assuming that the water ruined them? It sounds like your Model 8 (rare and awesome speakers) got wet on the middle of the speaker where the four 8" panels live, while the outer four 9" panels stayed dry? I would guess a roof leak came down from above and the water stayed in the middle and ran down the 8" panels to the bottom? I suppose if they were turned on when the water came into play that they could get damaged but don't know for sure. You may be OK. My next thought is that if the panels got wet the transformer interfaces could also have gotten wet. Is this the case?
So you guys want to know everything.
I am one of those rare people that actually managed to kill Acoustat panels.
Context; I use 4 Krell KMA 200 & Wadia 861 for playback.
The amps put out a lot of power.
Out of the blue, one day I wanted to hear the difference between my Wadia & a pre-amp.
The sound is extremely clean at any volume level, usually I crank it up. Not realizing how high the volume was, I pulled out an audio cable and all hell broke loose.
One amp burned (http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/solid-state/142011-kma-200-output.html?postid=1799228#post1799228) , one Acoustat interface damaged.
I updated & upgraded the amps, fixed the interface, afterward one speaker sounded substantially lower.
A little while later there was a leak in the house, of all places it leaked on top of the weak speaker.
Now the speaker sounded extremely low, my guess; in the beginning may be one panel was dead, now they are all dead.
Yes, I took the speaker apart and tested each panel individually with a known, good, interface.
To hear anything you need to put your ear next to the panels and raising the volume doe not change output level in any of the eight panels.
Anybody can teach me how to bring them back alive, I am all ears.
Thank you.
Yes, we want ALL the info! 
Wow, what a sequence. Ouch. Sounds to me like the membranes are not developing/holding a charge. When you hooked the panels to the good interface, did you let them sit a while to develop a charge? Have you inspected the membranes with a bright light, or tried to re-tension the membranes with a heat gun? Might be a good idea to check continuity of the stators, as well.
What part of the country do you live in? There is a guy in Oregon selling a pair of Monitor 4 for $350, from which you could salvage four 8" panels:
Craigs list ad for Acoustats
Good luck!
Wow, what a sequence. Ouch. Sounds to me like the membranes are not developing/holding a charge. When you hooked the panels to the good interface, did you let them sit a while to develop a charge? Have you inspected the membranes with a bright light, or tried to re-tension the membranes with a heat gun? Might be a good idea to check continuity of the stators, as well. What part of the country do you live in? There is a guy in Oregon selling a pair of Monitor 4 for $350, from which you could salvage four 8" panels:
Craigs list ad for Acoustats
Good luck!
Killer Krells
I managed to kill one of the lowend transformers of my MK-121C medaillon interfaces with a Krell KMA-200 Mk II just by playing very loud without having to tear of one of the signalcables. The Krell did it just by itself.
Acoustat supplied me with a new lowend transformer because the original 5A sloblo fuse should have been burned instead of the transformer. Lifetime Garantee
I managed to kill one of the lowend transformers of my MK-121C medaillon interfaces with a Krell KMA-200 Mk II just by playing very loud without having to tear of one of the signalcables. The Krell did it just by itself.
Acoustat supplied me with a new lowend transformer because the original 5A sloblo fuse should have been burned instead of the transformer. Lifetime Garantee