Martin Logan Repair and/or Rejuvenation?


I just sold a pair of Martin Logan Sequel II's to a fellow Audiogoner. One of the ESL panels had slipped down about 1/2 inch a long time ago, but did not affect the sound, (at least I did not notice it). I did put that in the ad, and the buyer knew about it.

I shipped the speakers from California to Texas via truck shipping.

When the new owner hooked them up, he noticed that one of the panels (of course, the one that had slipped) sounded a few db lower than the other panel. He said it was really noticable when the panel was run without the woofer hooked up. (The speakers are bi-wired, so this is easily accomplished, although it was something I never did, as I never really noticed it, and neither did my wife or my audiophile friend.) However, I will not call him a liar, as he seems honest, and it is possible, I suppose. (I am not sure how or when this db drop off happened. It might have happened during shipping (he does not think so though), or it may have been a pre-sale condition (This is his hypothesis, I don't think so). Either way, I am willing to help him resolve the problem, including reimbursement of part of the sales price.

My question is this: Have any of you Martin Logan ESL owners ever had this type of problem with a panel?

If so, is there a quick and easy fix or repair?

Or is replacement of the panel the only viable solution to the problem? (This is his solution). I worry that if we replace one panel, that given the age of the speakers (15 years old) that the other panel will then sound different.

I have read/heard of a couple of ideas which range from reasonable to pretty outrageous:
1. Vacuum the panels. I have done this in the past, although it has been years, as general maintenance. (This was originally suggested by a ML tech.)
2. Detach the panels and put them in the shower with warm water running over them to completely clean them.

I know the first idea is reasonable, but does that second solution sound viable? Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciately by both me and the buyer!
kurt_tank
Kaspn3, can you please let me know who you know of that does this?

Thank you so much,

Chris
cnhls at yah00 d0t com
Panel Recoating for $300 - Kaspn3, can you please let me know who you know of that does this?

Thank you so much,

Chris
cnhls at yah00 d0t com
I have the Odysseys and also had one panel slip down about one half inch. I called Martin Logan about this and they sent me two clips to keep this from recurring after I got the panel back in place. The trouble is that I have been unable to get it back where it belongs. I leaned the speaker back and placed a support under the panel and let it back down hoping that if it was left under this pressure for awhile, it would eventually return to its normal location. It's been two days and hasn't moved a millimeter. Any ideas?
I'm responding to my own thread because the issue of the slipped panel is in the process of returning to normal. My "fix' is working; the constant pressure created by the weight of the cabinet on the tranducer portion of the panel as described in my previous post, has resulted in its very slow but, seemingly certain return to its normal position. I've been using the speaker for the 3 days that it has taken so vibration of the panel is possibly a contributing factor.

This problem is not an unknown one, hence, the repair clips, but I hope this approach to solving the problem will be helpful to others. I had talked to Chris Cosgrove at ML and will forward this to him.