Magnepan MMG, panel odor
 

I lent my MMGs to my brother in law over weekend and he called me and tells me he's getting an odor from the panels. He says its not a burning smell but an odor nonetheless. Here's what worries me; he was driving them with an Accurus amp that is 8 ohms and is clearly underpowered. He said the amp got very hot before he turned it off. According to him, the speakers sound fine but the odor is still there. Is it possible that the speakers are permanently damaged or its just the odor from the mylar that got warm and it'll be fine. Anyone heard this before?

kalali.......Rule #1: Don't lend gear to anyone. It will never be cared for like you take care of it. Maggies on a low powered amplifier equals a recipe for trouble.

Well, learned my lesson. Do you guys think/know if an underpowered amp can only damage the tweeter, e.g., blow the fuse I assume/hope, or it can also permanently damage the woofer area as well? I'm thinking the "odor" he's talking about is from the overheating mylar since the fuse is still apparently okay. I'm going to lose some sleep before I have it back next weekend..... I'll see if I can reach out to Wendell tomorrow and ask him too. Thanks for the input.

Don't sweat it until you get them back and can hook them up. Life is too short.

Fair point.... that calls for a cocktail...

Cheers!!!

I would think his amp would have taken the brunt of the abuse.The capacitors and inductors are the only thing I can see getting hot on the panels.

That's a great point. I didn't think of the crossover components being stressed. My concern was more centered around the mylar being "burnt" by the driver wire strands.

I have driven many Magnaplaner speakers with my Acurus A200 power amps, and still drive the bass panels in my modified MGIIIa's with one. They have never even been more than warm to the touch, so something is amiss in his unit. FWIW The smell may have been with his amp and not the Maggies!
Regards,
Jim