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Electrostatic Speakers Vs. Horn/component Tweeter

I’m curious… when a horn or tweeter goes bad, it’s clearly obvious.  The driver is shot and the audio sounds clipped and distorted.  Electrostatic however, have massive surface areas and use static electricity to vibrate the material…. So when an electrostatic speaker goes bad, what actually happens to cause it to go bad, and does it go bad like a tweeter, where it goes from sounding fine to sounding like crap in a split second?  Or will an electrostatic speaker slowly decay over time, so you don’t notice it initially, and then one day, it just doesn’t sound as good as you remember it sounding?  If an electrostatic speaker goes bad, what causes it?  Is it torn material?  Is it something where you can replace a single small part?  Or do you typically have to replace the entire panel?

I’ve come across plenty of blown regular speakers in my life, but never a blown (if that’s even possible) electrostatic speaker.

maverick3n1
spatialking's avatar
spatialking
610 posts
 

Electrostatics can go bad, and yes, you can blow them up, too.   They can 'arc" between the panels, which sounds kinda like a gunshot or they can have other issues, all of which degrade the sound.  Depending on the failure, you may have to replace the panel, or perhaps, a part inside the unit if it is powered.   If you own an electrostatic speaker, then your manufacturer can tell you what you will need to do for repair.  I don't believe there is a "typical failure mode" for electrostatics in general, but certainly for a given manufacturer and model, they can have common failure mechanisms. 

maverick3n1 OP
26 posts
 

I have some Martin Logan ESL’s.  I guess what I’m asking is.. if they get “damaged” from over or under powering them, should I expect catastrophic failure, or slow degradation of quality?

I had some issues early on with my receiver overheating while powering them and them clipping/sounding distorted.  It’s a surround sound receiver, and while high end, not intended for stereo.  I’ve since added a subwoofer and gotten my full surround sound setup going.  I’ve set them to small size in the receiver settings, so bass gets sent to the self powered sub, and reduces the strain on the receiver to power the speakers.  Obviously, that change means the speakers don’t sound like they used to.   Eventually, I hope to get a nice 2ch amp specifically to power this pair, but I’m just wondering if the reduced qualify is because I changed them to “small” in the receiver settings, or if I’ve already potentially damaged them.

Since I’m used to damaged speakers being blown, I’m wondering if these can be partially degraded without being destroyed, or if damaged electrostatic speakers are about as clear as regular speakers when they’ve been damaged.
 

gdnrbob
4,447 posts
 

Since I’m used to damaged speakers being blown, I’m wondering if these can be partially degraded without being destroyed, or if damaged electrostatic speakers are about as clear as regular speakers when they’ve been damaged.

 

Hmm, interesting questions. I think the people to ask are Martin Logan. 

My 2 cents:

Perhaps you should get an amp/receiver that can power your speakers properly.  You mention setting the receiver to 'small size'. Perhaps this be a workaround, but  a sub will only lessen an amps power demands if it is run with a high pass crossover (ala Vandersteen).-Perhaps this is what ' Small size' does, but it probably impacts sound reproduction.

B

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