Best Electrostatic loudspeaker?

Here is my e mail address for responces regarding the soundlab ultimate II speakers. Thanks for your reply in advance. Shane Hofkamp hofkamp585@home.com

Best speakers I have ever heard are the ones I own quad els57s,these are full range and not hybreds like alot of others mentioned,I find site very good and informative as are alot of american sites I have visited,A friend of mine owns the devas these on his system are amazing,call me biased if you will but I am from the home of quads England.

When I was, by one of my advisors, presented with the opportunity to purchase Soundlab's A-1's and decided to do so without knowing very much about them, if you will, imagine being presented with two of the most beautiful pieces of furniture one could imagine. When I hooked them up it changed my life. I have subsequently found the proper way to drive them full range; everything Albert Porter reports above is beyond truth, and this end of my quest for appropriate sounding Jazz and Chamber Music is over. I may change the front end line source, but to have finished looking and longing for amps and speakers is the reward for thirty years of effort. Dr. West deserves a medal; his (small) staff, when I reached them, were very responsive, leading me to pleasurable experience in dealings/ queries; and if this combination is going to be surpassed somebody is going to have to come out of hiding from somewhere.,

I have heard most of the Martin Logans, and the Apogees. I have owned two pairs of Maggies, and a pair of Acoustats, and lots of dynamic speakers. The Maggies are the best deal for the money of any speaker today. But, the best sounding speakers are without any question in my mind the Sound Labs. Presently, I own the "Pristines", which I believe I will always own as long as they last. They simply sound more like real music in every way. They do not sound like "Electrostatics" in the manner of Martin Logan, and they do not have the really fine, but nevertheless, "Maggie" sound. They simply sound more like music. I have used the Pristines with many different amplifiers and I do not find amplifiers to be critical, except they must be very good amps. Pristines are very revealing of poor components. Set up of the room is however very critical with Pristines and is probably the most important thing to do. It is more important than with dynamic speakers. But, then room set up is the most important factor that I have ever found for getting the best sound from any speakers. If I had to rate the Pristines on their best characteristic, I believe it would be tonal balance, which itself seems an unusual "best characteristic" for electrostatics. They also position bass sounds properly in the orchestra, which combined dynamic/electrostatic speakers never do, and dynamic speakers do less well. I hope my experience is informative, and well taken. There are many speakers I have not heard.

To Albert Porter: One thing that puzzles me is how restrictive are fuses, and your observation of using a different fuse or wiring around it think is aligned with this thought. Good contact and signal transfer (either at interconnects, speaker cables or power plugs, wall plates you name it) really influences the system output. Any recommendation of a high quality fuse supplier that you might know of that is indeed good in this. Your comments please. Regards