Do electrostatic headphones "arc" when overdriven?

[babyoh]

Does anyone know if electrostatic headphones will arc (membrane hits stator) like you will get on full size electrostatic speakers if overdriven by a powerful amp? Having an arc next to your ears is the last thing you want to hear.

 

[nikongod]

they can arc.

i doubt you will hear the arcing over the music. i doubt you will hear a jet engine at medium range over the arcing over the music.

newer electrostatic headphones go LOUD before they even get close to arcing.

 

[BigLu89]

what exactly is an electrostatic headphone as opposed to a, i guess, headphone?

 

[RedLeader]

different type of driver from your normal dynamic type. Do a search in this forum and you'll get all kinds of useful info.

 

[edstrelow]

It was my understanding that many new electrostatic drivers have a plastic washer between the stator and the membrane to revent the membrane getting too close to the stator and thus arcing. Prseumably even this could be overcome by really high voltages, but your amp would probably get fried too.

Some years ago a tech showed me an old B&W electrostatic speaker panel and how many holes had been burned in them by arcing. However the later B&W models had the washers added and presumably didn't have this problem. Apparently the holes in the diaphragm didn't matter that much to performance as long as they were cleanly burnt holes, without protruding edges which would arc to the stator.

 

[Carl]

I've yet to have an instance where a 'stat arced while playing music. The voltages they receive, even during transients, is just too low.

That said, arcing can still happen in other situations, as my 4070s found out much to their displeasure.

 

[nikongod]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carl /img/forum/go_quote.gif That said, arcing can still happen in other situations, as my 4070s found out much to their displeasure.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO what happened?

 

[Carl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikongod /img/forum/go_quote.gif NOOOOOOOOOOOO what happened?

Not exactly sure. All the electricity went to one stator for a bit (possibly due to faulty cabling or something), causing it to arc, and leaving a nice big hole in the diaphragm. A month later and they still haven't come back from repair. So much for Stax's great service...

 

[003]

What does arcing mean?

 

[Carl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 003 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What does arcing mean?

When voltage from one electric conductor "jumps" over to another conductor without the help of anything connecting them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_arc

In the case of electrostatic headphones you have electrodes charged with high voltages on either side of a thin sheet of plastic coated by an electrically charged substance (ie. graphite). If the voltage jumps from an electrode to either the diaphragm or the other electrode, then that is arcing.

 

[Zenja]

The voltage between two things becomes higher than the breakdown voltage of air at that distance. A spark goes from one thing to the other through the air. Basically, it's a spark, unless the term is used differently when talking about electrostatic drivers.

 

[babyoh]

Arc spot on Quad ESL electrostatic speakers.

 

[Hirsch]

You can get a different phenomenon with electrostatic headphones, short of arcing. If the voltages are too high, the membrane can actually stick to the stator. It's not "arcing" per se, although repeated events could wear out the insulation on the membrance, and allow arcing. You hear it as a channel dropout. One (or both) channel(s) simply drops in volume. Discharging the stators (unplugging the headphone and touching the pins) should be a temporary fix, but the main cause is likely to be a stator mounted too close to the membrane.

 

[artichoke]

I have Koss electrostats. I had a power outage and I heard some sharp sounds in both ears. Now my phones sound different, and there seems to be a midbass hump where there wasn't before (I don't like the hump; I used to love the lack of it) and/or there's some base reverb resonance I find annoying, and they seem more efficient (louder) and more "relaxed" sounding. This is true equally in both ears. Wondering if what I heard was arcing in the drivers, or maybe it was in the amp. I did a frequency sweep and there were no obvious humps or missing frequencies.