One of my Vader Maggies (may have) Died!!!!!!

ajzepp · « **on:** 18 Dec 2017, 04:32 pm »

Hey guys...

Long time no talk...I come to you with a heavy heart, but hoping for the best.

I just got off the phone with Brennan from Magnepan. I went to enjoy some glorious lossless music through my Maggies today on my day off, and I noticed that Air Supply (don't judge me!) seemed a bit one sided. I thought at first maybe it was just a mono recording or something wacky like that, so I tried a more contemporary track. Still the same. The R speaker sounded great, but the L one sounded very attenuated. I started swapping cables and speaker wire in an attempt to isolate speaker vs source vs amp, and I was able to confirm it was the speaker. I ran test tones through the speakers and still the same....all channels sounded perfectly balanced except for the L Maggie.

Brennan postulated it was probably either the fuse or the ribbon, and he had me do a fuse swap to start, then get back to him. I did that, and the problem did not follow the fuses, so still seems to be the speaker. Before I call him back, I wanted to check with you guys about something. When I run the test tones, on the good speaker, I notice that the majority of the "hiss" does seem to emanate (per my ears) primarily over the ribbon section vs the meaty part of the speaker. So I checked on the wounded side, and sure enough, the ribbon area on that one was dead silent...just a low hiss/hum over the main section.

So I will update Brennan here shortly, but I wanted to run this by you guys before I did. It sounds to me it probably is, in fact, a blown ribbon. Based on info I've shared, do you all concur with that? If so, I think Brennan said it was like $100 for a replacement and it's something that's easy to swap out on my own.

Thoughts?

PS: Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Festivus, Happy Kwanza, and everything else I missed.

thunderbrick · « **Reply #1 on:** 18 Dec 2017, 06:16 pm »

Which model Maggie? Do you have attenuating resistors in line with the ribbon?

ajzepp · « **Reply #2 on:** 19 Dec 2017, 12:15 am »

I guess that would help...lol These are 3.6r Maggies...8y.o

Everything on them is stock at the moment, save for the Cardas jumpers I added to replace the stock jumper pins. No changes were made to the speaker over the past year.

SteveFord · « **Reply #3 on:** 19 Dec 2017, 12:23 am »

That bites but it's easy enough to swap ribbons out.
Instructions on the swap can be found here:
http://www.magnepan.com/pdfs/manual/MG-3.6.pdf

Perhaps swap out the ribbons before ordering up a pair? Don't forget to take the protective metal strip out for optimum sound quality, ha, ha.

This may be God's way of telling you to buy some 20.7s, by the way. Mysterious ways and all of that sort of stuff.

ajzepp · « **Reply #4 on:** 19 Dec 2017, 04:52 am »

haha, I wish...I finally have room for 20s, but definitely not the budget...hoping these 3.6s still have a ways to go, but your point about the mysterious ways of the universe is not lost on me, Steve

That's a great idea about swapping the ribbons first...see this is why I rely on you guys

thunderbrick · « **Reply #5 on:** 19 Dec 2017, 05:01 am »

Will an ohmmeter damage the ribbons? Check for similar continuity, maybe?

66mgb · « **Reply #6 on:** 19 Dec 2017, 03:51 pm »

I replaced a blown ribbon on my 3.6 about a year ago. It is a very easy job, just be very cautious when handling the ribbon. Eben taking your time less than an hour. Good luck

ajzepp · « **Reply #7 on:** 20 Dec 2017, 12:04 pm »

Quote from: 66mgb on 19 Dec 2017, 03:51 pm

I replaced a blown ribbon on my 3.6 about a year ago. It is a very easy job, just be very cautious when handling the ribbon. Eben taking your time less than an hour. Good luck

How did you know it was the ribbon?

66mgb · « **Reply #8 on:** 20 Dec 2017, 09:58 pm »

Since it was making no sound and the fuse was good it seemed obvious it was the Ribbon, however I was able to have a visual on the ribbon break which confirmed it.

SteveFord · « **Reply #9 on:** 21 Dec 2017, 12:23 am »

Mine was popped in two on one of my 3.6s, it was an easy diagnosis.

ajzepp · « **Reply #10 on:** 21 Dec 2017, 04:10 am »

Quote from: 66mgb on 20 Dec 2017, 09:58 pm

Since it was making no sound and the fuse was good it seemed obvious it was the Ribbon, however I was able to have a visual on the ribbon break which confirmed it.

Okay cool, so that's basically what happened with me then. I was worried a bit, because I sort of expected more sound to still be coming from the speaker. It didn't make sense why it seemed like almost no sound was coming out if it was just the ribbon that blew. I'm going to call Brennan back tomorrow and get a plan going now that I've gotten some feedback from you gentlemen...many thanks!

ajzepp · « **Reply #11 on:** 21 Dec 2017, 04:11 am »

Quote from: SteveFord on 21 Dec 2017, 12:23 am

Mine was popped in two on one of my 3.6s, it was an easy diagnosis.

I guess that would confirm it lol. I'm not sure I'd even know what I'm looking at. Can the ribbon be visualized without taking out the cartridge thing? Like if I shine a light on it, can I see it? Or only if I remove it from the speaker?

SteveFord · « **Reply #12 on:** 21 Dec 2017, 10:20 am »

Go to the back of the speaker and it's the long strip of silver foil. No need to remove the housing to view it.

SteveFord · « **Reply #13 on:** 25 Dec 2017, 12:05 pm »

ajzepp · « **Reply #14 on:** 19 Jan 2018, 05:40 am »

Sorry for the delay..been on mandatory OT at work. I went ahead and ordered a replacement ribbon after talking with Brennan in greater detail. Then of course UPS delivers it to a neighbor WAY across the other end of the subdivision, who thankfully had enough integrity to go out of their way to track me down and let me know they had it. So as of now it's sitting in my living room in the box, and surgery is scheduled for this weekend when I'll finally have a couple days off from work.

Damn flu bug is making Fockers like me have to work OT, man! Great job on that vaccine this season, CDC...

Thanks again for all the feedback. If this doesn't work, I'm really going to be bummed out. But at least there's a plan in place to just ship Maggie back if it ends up being the midrange panel.

Will update post-op and let ya know how it went. Hopefully she won't leave AMA once she sees me with tools in hand.

ajzepp · « **Reply #15 on:** 21 Jan 2018, 07:32 am »

Well gentlemen...surgery was scheduled for much earlier today, but the donor patient became a tad unruly and...well...we had to get medieval on it. After getting him sedated and intubated, surgery went off without a hitch. The donor ended up being a near-perfect match, although we did find some worn threads on the medial aspect of the cavity. Thankfully it appears we have plenty of collateral stabilization points, however, so this shouldn't slow down the patient much at all. At the 17 minute mark we transferred the patient into recovery, and at this time all vital signs appear to be within normal limits.

All in all, a smashing success. Thanks again for the support.

SteveFord · « **Reply #16 on:** 21 Jan 2018, 01:36 pm »

They live once more!

ajzepp · « **Reply #17 on:** 21 Jan 2018, 10:09 pm »

Quote from: SteveFord on 21 Jan 2018, 01:36 pm

They live once more!

I'm so relieved...

*Scotty* · « **Reply #18 on:** 21 Jan 2018, 10:41 pm »

Now comes the important question why did the tweeter die and what kind of shape is the other one in.
Were any changes made to the speaker which altered it away from the stock configuration. To put it another way, were there any preexisting conditions such as necrosis of the ribbon, which would predispose them to a massive tweeter infarction requiring a complete resection of the tweeter and subsequent transplant.
Scotty

RichPark · « **Reply #19 on:** 22 Jan 2018, 01:22 am »

I know nothing about these speakers. In other speakers, it is customary to make sure both speakers are matched. Some speakers have to replaced in pairs.