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LONG: Update/and a Public Thank You

Posted by paul3 (A) on July 18, 2015 at 17:37:12

In Reply to: RE: New to me: MMGs posted by paul3 on July 2, 2015 at 23:10:23:

I was pleased with my "new" MMG's until I heard the dreaded "buzz." It was especially apparent in one of the speakers. The music which revealed the flaw was the acoustic bass lines in "Kind Of Blue". In 20-20 hindsight, - I should have brought that CD when I auditioned the speakers. In my eagerness, I pretty much neglected the maxim: Caveat Emptor.

I was pissed- mostly at myself. It was a Craig's list purchase after all. The seller blamed me for the problem and refused to talk further about it.... But life goes on....

I pulled the socks off and saw that one speaker had been significantly "whacked", causing the wires to not only pull away from the mylar, but to also stretch. The other speaker was not as bad- the lifting of wires was on the ends. I called Magnepan and was quoted upwards of $550 plus shipping to and fro, to repair. Not viable.

I took a few deep breaths, chanted a few OM's (no pun) and started to research online. Fortunately, many of my brethren have been down this path before. There was a wealth of information on how to repair Maggies. Thank you all- you know who you are. But I want to especially thank Mr. Peter Gunn, who was beyond gracious in his help. I could not have done this otherwise. Not only was PG extremely helpful but his good cheer alleviated my feeling of being foolish (stupid) for making a bad purchase. He basically said: "Join the club...."

My technique was to first clean up the damaged areas as best I could using acetone. Then, I lightly sprayed both panels with Krylon Fusion clear gloss. This clear coat eliminated any residual tackiness. Next, I gently tried to take up the slack in the stretched wires by putting tiny "z" or "s" shaped bends. This was a PITA but was about 70% effective. Once I had the wires as straight as I could get them and parallel, working with the speakers horizontal, I applied a coat of DAP water base contact cement using a small foam brush. I did a section at a time and used small washers to hold the wires in place while the adhesive set. I'm very glad I used the water-based product because it gave much needed working time. If I ever do this again, I'll use a spray gun and compressor to apply the contact cement- it would make for a much neater job.

I finished both speakers, let them dry overnight and hooked 'em up. NO BUZZ! WhooHoo! I happened to have some Dynamat and figured as long as the socks were off, I'd apply strips to the area where the speaker wire panel meets the MDF frame, pushing the material into the joint. I then applied black Gorilla Duct Tape over all the Dynamat. I played them for a couple of days before replacing the socks and the wood side trim, which I refinished while they were off. I cleaned the electrical contacts with Deoxit and treated them to Deoxit Gold.

In short, they now sound terrific, look virtually new, and the upside is that I learned a hell of a lot in the process and the speakers are now truly worth at least what I paid for them.

Ours is often a wonderful community.

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