ML Aeons washed - oh joy!

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My Aeons had been sounding dull for sometime and I had almost convinced myself that the dullness was age related hearing loss. To be honest, they were very dusty and resistant to vacuuming.

Then I came across the threads describing washing the panels in the shower. I was dubious but nothing ventured, nothing gained and a new pair of panels was over £1000 ($467 each + shipping in the US + a 12 week lead time).

So I removed them, stood them in the shower and rinsed them both sides with the shower head removed and with tepid water for a couple of minutes. Then they were placed in front of a fan heater for 4 hours and then left overnight.

Today I refitted them and I can hardly believe the difference. Gone is the dullness and over inflated bass (due to having to run them at a higher volume to compensate for lack of treble). They sound like they did 6years ago.

I thank Ron at ML for emailing me the panel replacement instructions and also for not frightening me off washing them, (whilst being careful to say that they did not endorse the process and it can result in disaster or only a temporary reprieve)

On a bum note, I am still waiting for ML's UK distributor, Absolute Sounds to reply to my enquiry for the UK cost of the panels...Fortunately, so far I don't need to replace them.
 
Excellent. Was any reason given to use just plain water without any surfactant agent to help dissolve dust? Did the water look dirty?

I did come across the use of detergents on this or the ML owners forum but decided not to use any. The run off was not dirty although there was quite a deluge from the shower hose as I worked my way from top to bottom & side to side which would have diluted any dirt very quickly.

It was like buying a new pair of speakers and listening to my CDs all over again.

Also, one of my favourite classical Youtube channels - 'Voices of Music' sounded even better via my astounding LG Oled smart tv & Pioneer AV amp. I was able to reset the tone controls from bass -4bd/treble +6b to flat - that's how much difference there was after the wash.

CDs are played via a passive preamp & Quad 405-2, (I have amp changeover switches on the rear of each speaker.)

The 'Voices' are instruments but they do have guest singers and the superb recordings are well made, with more recent ones in 4KUHD. The acoustics of the recording venue are also superb (or reverb has been added!).

YouTube
 
Great result.
Its interesting that pre-wash the bass was more attenuated then the treble. I wonder why?
Im not surprised vacuming didnt do much. Compressed air might do better to get sufficient air velocity and flow to dislodge dust?

No, you misunderstood what I meant. The bass had to be reduced by -4db because I had to increase the volume, and the treble level (by +6db) before the washing.

Afterwards, both were reset to 0db due to needing a lower volume setting thanks to the louder mid/treble. (woofer xover is 450hz).
 
I have readabout the wonders of taking my old Martin Logans with me in the shower, and I am tempted to try it. But I wonder how long does the improvement last? I have only read "immediately after" reports , and wonder why no long term reports seem to appear. Anyone have an answer?
 
Hi Grunnet,
I've done the shower thingy though it does work, it will not bring it back to as new state.
A re coating & a new copper bias strip as I've discovered lately is the way to go. Now my panels are sounding as good as new. Depending on the vintage of your ML speakers, splitting the stators can be a scary thing but with patience it can be done without killing the mylar.
 
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