Little love to my Martin Logan Stage Center !

Johan K

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2022
1,112
1,484
165
53
Sweden
Dear Martin Logan friends,

This morning I gave my Stage center speaker a great deal of love and affection. The Stage has been sounding a bit strange for some time and has given off some distorsion sound from the tweeter, but not directly and not all the time I’ve been playing, so it has been a very diffuse kind of fault, and very hard to locate.
In my effort trying to locate the problem I have been thinking that it’s been something wrong with my 3-channel amp (which I took immediately for a service and a recap, which works great now) - (and it was no fault with the amp in the first place). Then I thought of if it maybe could be some weird sound coming from my preamp, or something wrong with the interconnects or maybe bad connection from the speaker cables….

All of these questions has made me do more A-B, C-D, D-B, C-A tests between my preamp / processor / amplifier / centerspeaker -then all the alphabet combined. It resulted in a conclusion, that I thought that the tweeter was broken, or at least, were giving off these weird distorsion sounds.
However… one day I thought: Lets demount the tweeter and see on the backside what it is and if I maybe can replace it…. so I did… First I found was that the tweeter connections were quite loose sitting, which I thought was kind of strange… but anyway.. I did take the serial no. and so on… Then I’d just did reconnect it and screw it back onto the speaker again.
After that I did some playing - and whoops - the bad distorsion sound was actually gone:eek:!! Then I understand that the tweeter was not bad or broken - just a very bad connection on the inside of the speaker.
So like I said: This morning I went loose on the Stage center speaker.

F2C677FD-E8C1-4E4E-9FED-B258D24A2897.jpeg 1418AF77-8988-486D-990A-7CB5DDE7EA8A.jpeg 5259D522-0712-4018-A3B8-53234721470D.jpeg 613A3112-96BB-42D8-A7F3-0936CCE736D5.jpeg

I found actually a lot of cabling sitting quite loose, which I now have tighten, and sprayed all the contacts and joints with highly professional oxidation spray for better connections.

477FBB95-F13F-4473-9BDA-96D2378EFBD8.jpeg

Then I found a big standing component on the crossover board were the glue in the bottom had come loose, and it just stod there swaying freely…. Well not anymore.. I glued that sucker firm to the board?;)!

60BBBC4E-5F52-49E4-B242-C94A616CFAC4.jpeg
65A1CB0F-811E-4D69-ACA4-8CB21361190D.jpeg


While getting the speaker back to NASA-Standard, I did have my well deserved coffee break with a fresh danish to it!
No one can ever jump away from a decent ”hifi-coffee” right?!

BC576E0D-D17E-4E44-88B6-469DB4CE9144.jpeg

Well…. Now it’s up and running again, and it works as good as the day it arrived here in my hifi-headquarter;). It sounds amazing!

B313AC9C-B1BC-433A-88A4-3DAE150C4B34.jpeg

All of you out there - you have the best hifi weekend now, okay..!!

All the best

/ Jk
 

Big Dog RJ

Well-Known Member
Feb 2, 2012
1,242
463
1,155
Melbourne
Dear Martin Logan friends,

This morning I gave my Stage center speaker a great deal of love and affection. The Stage has been sounding a bit strange for some time and has given off some distorsion sound from the tweeter, but not directly and not all the time I’ve been playing, so it has been a very diffuse kind of fault, and very hard to locate.
In my effort trying to locate the problem I have been thinking that it’s been something wrong with my 3-channel amp (which I took immediately for a service and a recap, which works great now) - (and it was no fault with the amp in the first place). Then I thought of if it maybe could be some weird sound coming from my preamp, or something wrong with the interconnects or maybe bad connection from the speaker cables….

All of these questions has made me do more A-B, C-D, D-B, C-A tests between my preamp / processor / amplifier / centerspeaker -then all the alphabet combined. It resulted in a conclusion, that I thought that the tweeter was broken, or at least, were giving off these weird distorsion sounds.
However… one day I thought: Lets demount the tweeter and see on the backside what it is and if I maybe can replace it…. so I did… First I found was that the tweeter connections were quite loose sitting, which I thought was kind of strange… but anyway.. I did take the serial no. and so on… Then I’d just did reconnect it and screw it back onto the speaker again.
After that I did some playing - and whoops - the bad distorsion sound was actually gone:eek:!! Then I understand that the tweeter was not bad or broken - just a very bad connection on the inside of the speaker.
So like I said: This morning I went loose on the Stage center speaker.

View attachment 103936 View attachment 103937 View attachment 103938 View attachment 103939

I found actually a lot of cabling sitting quite loose, which I now have tighten, and sprayed all the contacts and joints with highly professional oxidation spray for better connections.

View attachment 103941

Then I found a big standing component on the crossover board were the glue in the bottom had come loose, and it just stod there swaying freely…. Well not anymore.. I glued that sucker firm to the board?;)!

View attachment 103942
View attachment 103944


While getting the speaker back to NASA-Standard, I did have my well deserved coffee break with a fresh danish to it!
No one can ever jump away from a decent ”hifi-coffee” right?!

View attachment 103945

Well…. Now it’s up and running again, and it works as good as the day it arrived here in my hifi-headquarter;). It sounds amazing!

View attachment 103946

All of you out there - you have the best hifi weekend now, okay..!!

All the best

/ Jk
Nice one JK, that's a fine job well done!
I'm sure it's sounding mighty fine... enjoy those fine tunes! or pics...

Oh! btw those Danish pastries are looking even better! I'm a real sucker for sweat treats. The wifey always says "a moment of bliss on the lips, a lifetime on the hips!" Just this arvo, I went to a pastry shop and picked up six Canolies, two pieces of French vanilla slices, two choc éclairs and two almond Florentines... then of course I did a tremendous work out! but I still feel faaat!
Cheeers, RJ
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Johan K

Johan K

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2022
1,112
1,484
165
53
Sweden
Nice one JK, that's a fine job well done!
I'm sure it's sounding mighty fine... enjoy those fine tunes! or pics...

Oh! btw those Danish pastries are looking even better! I'm a real sucker for sweat treats. The wifey always says "a moment of bliss on the lips, a lifetime on the hips!" Just this arvo, I went to a pastry shop and picked up six Canolies, two pieces of French vanilla slices, two choc éclairs and two almond Florentines... then of course I did a tremendous work out! but I still feel faaat!
Cheeers, RJ
Thank you RJ,

I think you were well worth all the goodies :p ;) !! You can’t be without the goodies when putting on good record, right, hahaha.

Yes, I think I nailed it with the Stage. It sounds amazing on all levels now and the distorsion noise from the tweeter is completely gone. I’m so happy it turned out great?:).

Well the Danish has the opposite effect on me.. sorry… but after the ”hifi-fika” I went to the mirror… and what do you know… The fat was all gone :eek: !!!

But don’t tell anyone, hahaha:p

/ Jk
DD2651C4-8842-4EF1-AA9B-CEAE2260FA3E.jpeg
 

brad225

VIP/Donor
Nov 22, 2012
293
258
970
Nice job Johan,
It's always fun to see other peoples projects

Brad
 
  • Love
Reactions: Johan K

Johan K

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2022
1,112
1,484
165
53
Sweden
Thank you Brad for your kind words.
Yes, my little project turned out very successful. The Stage center/surround speaker sounds like if it was new again.

Here is a follow up project I did last week, that also enhanced the sound for the center and surround speakers. Check it out?:


It turned out very successful also… so my sound is really up to date now. Very nice indeed.

All the best

/ Johan
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing