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This is kind of embarrassing, but hopefully it won't turn into a disaster story.
I bought a pair of Tympani I-C about 40 years ago, and eventually put together a nice bi-amp system + sub that I listened to for quite a while. Great speakers, as I'm sure many of you already know.
Anyway, during a period when we were doing some remodeling, I wanted to get them out of the way of random chaos and dust, etc. and so stood them in the corner of a room out of the way of construction. To make a long story short, water leaked in from a place that had never shown signs of water incursion before, and pooled around the bottom of the panels. As soon as I was aware there was a problem, I took them out and air-dried them. Perhaps that wasn't aggressive enough.
Anyway, the bottom 6 inches or so of the socks are stained (the water wicked up the fabric - it wasn't that deep), and the connector strip, bottom hinges, and panel interconnect wires all got wet. Once they'd dried out, I tested the panel resistances and found open circuits to all the mid/bass panels; one tweeter measures OK, but the other is twice what it should be (one open connection in the parallel circuit, I guess). The inter-panel connecting wires which got wet seem very stiff and brittle, and I don't remember them being like that when new. You can't see the crossover from the access cavity behind the connector strip, so I have no idea about it.
I'd been thinking about replacing the socks anyway, as they're sagging and a bit grimy after so many years (not from mistreatment, just 40 years of exposure to household dust and such); but now it looks like I have bigger concerns to deal with.
Should I just go ahead and remove the socks, so I can start troubleshooting? I'm an electrical engineer, so none of the electrical hardware worries me at all; I'm just concerned that if they do need to be sent back to the factory, the company might object to having had the socks removed before shipment. I'm hoping that this may just be oxidation/damage to the connections caused by whatever was in the water, and that I can fix it. They were never subjected to any sort of physical abuse that might have damaged the panels themselves, so if the worst involves a little cleanup and soldering, I'm game. I'm pretty sure I can replace the socks by myself too, for that matter.
Any thoughts appreciated!
Follow Ups:
I am sure the factory won't complain about you having removed the socks - and this, to me, is absolutely what you need to do to determine the full extent of the water damage.
Be aware though that it may not turn out that " the worst involves a little cleanup and soldering ". Possibly, the glue has failed and the wiring has lifted off the mylar?
Please post some pics and a description of what you see, when you've done this - we may be able to provide some useful advice.
How far you want to go of course depends on:
* how much you love their sound (or what you remember of it! ;-)) ), and
* how deep your pockets are!
For instance, if the MDF/chipboard frames are ruined down the bottom because they absorbed water ... it would seem to me to be a good idea to have the original frames replaced by hardwood frames (rather than simply getting new MDF/chipboard frames). But that will cost more.
Andy
OK, then it looks like de-socking is the next order of business. Looking into the cavity where the terminal strip wires exit for parts unknown, there is no visible water damage to the MDF; nor does it feel misshapen or swollen at the corners of the panels, so I remain hopeful.
At this point, I can afford to have a repair done by the factory, if necessary. I'll see if I can "undress" one of the afflicted panels and scope it out.
The terminal strip is in the tweeter panel if I remember correctly, and so is the crossover, right?
Don't really know if the XO is in the tweeter panel but that is where the space is so that is very likely.
If you intend to send it off to magnepan then don't bother taking the socks off and just do so. Your measurements already indicate that some wire repair is necessary on the drivers. Moisture is very hard on the wiring. Mind you that the tweeter repair is difficult since it is a push pull design so has magnets on both sides.
If you feel comfortable doing the wire replacement yourself then order the wires from magnepan and go do it. It is time consuming and tedious and you need space where you can use significant quantities of acetone without inhalation or fire problems.
Sorry, don't know. I only have experience of T-1Ds owned by my friend.
Andy
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