Posted by MARCOS AUGUSTO on January 30, 2003 at 01:45:23:
hi everyone,
i just contacted sound lab concerning recent problems i had with my pair of A-1's and received an e-mail from Dr. West explaining to me that it appears that i left the bias control "maxed" for too long a period of time and that such action has caused permanent damage to my speakers !!!
i was under the impression that it was good for the speakers to go periodically through a "maximizing" of the bias control for the purpose of "working out" the membranes as well as "cleaning them up"....
now Dr. West has told me that it appears that i have removed the conductive coating on the membranes due to an extended period of "crackling sound", which was exactly what i did a couple of weeks ago when i left the speakers "crackling" for well over 1 hour !!!!!
as i pointed out to Dr. West NOWHERE in the owner's manual is there a mention of the dangers of "crackling" the speakers for too extended a period of time, and now i am paying the price, literally !!!
so, to other owners of sound lab speakers, caveat emptor: DO NOT EVER USE THE BIAS CONTROL AT MAXIMUM FOR AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF TIME OR YOU WILL PAY FOR THE CONSEQUENCES.......
~~~it's just unbelivable to me that such a warning wasn't posted in the owner's manual.!!!!~~~~
meanwhile, i am now stuck with a pair of useless room dividers that cost me a pretty penny two years ago when i could afford them....i am now unemployed and really should not spend well over $2.000,00 dollars for repairs plus shipping of these monsters to Utah, especially considering that i threw away the wooden crate that the speakers came packaged in as i did not have that much storage space for placing such a huge box.
i never thought that two years later i would have to either ship them back to the factory, sell a pair of useless A-1 speakers or just have to throw them away and accept the loss (i purchase the speakers used but in excellent condition for $5.000,00 at AUDIOGON)!!!
i figured, maybe i could remove the electrostatic panels from their wood frames and ship only them to the factory, instead of the entire speakers, which should be easier and less expensive, so i tried today to remove one of the electrostatic panels from its wood frame but i found out that the panel is also screwed through the bottom of the frame and i really didn't know how to remove the bottom screws, so i contacted sound lab again asking for some instructions on how to correctly disassemble a pair of A-1's.....
i have always been a "sucker" for that electrostat sound and i owned two pairs of Acoustat electrostats speakers for over twenty years and never had any problems whatsoever with them. if only i could have known what lie ahead with my purchase of sound lab speakers, i would have never done so, as incredible as these speakers sound !!!!>>>>>!!!