Hello, Bpheedeer. I was the factory rep. for Crown when the ES 212 speakers were still being made. I can help you with some information. I know, for instance, that the panels in the Crown were manufactured by RTR, and in fact were the same panels used in the Infinity Servo Static system. I was the Infinity rep. too, and I know that there were at least four updates on the panels (various colors, and stripes to designate) for both systems. The woofers in the ES 212 were troublesome, and did not match very well with the speed of the upper end. You may notice also that the "light bulbs" on the face flicker from time to time. This is a sign that the system is overloaded and is stressed. I owned a pair of these way back in the early 70's and preferred to keep my dynamic speaker system at the time. The infinity servo static was appealing as well, but audio equipment at that time was not well suited for the application on that system. It was not until about 12 years ago that I got interested in electrostatics again. Now, as stated in other postings, the Soundlab IS IT! Feel free to mail me if you need additional help on the Crown 212's.
Best Electrostatic loudspeaker?
Many of us have found that nothing make the magic happen like a pair of Electrostatics. It's been an evolutionary road for me, starting with various dynamic systems, then ribbon/dynamic hybrids, then full range planar magnetics (Maggies), then Electrostatics. So those of you with experience in Electrostatics, which do you think is (are) the best designed and executed example(s) of the breed?