Moving electrostatic speakers overseas?

Question

I have heard that air shipping electrostatic speakers (I have Martin Logans) can damage them, but I am more concerned with shipping them by sea for the mositure concerns. Any body know what to do???

Answer 1

Call the company and ask them how to ship the speakers.

Answer 2

Here is a post on the ML website about humidity (moisture).  

If that doesn't help, here are 2 ML dealers you can speak with:

773-935-8733

773-720-1542

ML didn't have a number on their website....just a link to contact via Email:

http://www.us.martinlogan.com/request/in...

Q. I have been advised that electrostatics do not fare well in the long term in the humidity of our tropical climate. Is this true?

A. We should tell you that MartinLogan indeed has a very substantial number of customers in tropical regions of the world. Our speakers have been serving them nicely for many years. This concern may have come from our earlier design of speakers, which were charged continuously.

Since 1993, all of our speakers have been designed so that they only charge the panel while music is being played. This improvement has made a tremendous difference in the consistent performance of our product. There may be a little more maintenance involved in humid regions when not in an air-conditioned environment. Simply enough, the concern is to keep the electrostatic panels dust free. Humidity will combine with any dust on the panel to make it slightly conductive. This will result in a slight pathway for the charge to leave the membrane of the speaker. The solution is simple. They only require occasional vacuuming with a strong vacuum hose.

Answer 3

You are correct that this was a issue that Martin Logan had a long while back with differential air pressure.

However newer models do not have this issue. Also if you contact Martin Logan they have a number of recommended shipper to use that will not void a warranty since they have determined their methods do not damage the speaker.