Effects Of Power Cords On Electrostatic Speakers

Power matters to ESL’s. I have upgraded my Quads’ power supplies to the premium version offered by Electrostatic Solutions, and the difference is startling.

I also upgraded the SUT’s (big improvement) and delay ladder (very small improvement). Perhaps the biggest improvement was removing the protection circuit - which I could do because my amps were designed so that they could not under any circumstances drive the speakers into the danger zone.

ESL’s are the great, but stock versions of all but the best examples can be improved. IMO

@piaudiol I've never had ESL's running less than a KV. Which ones were you thinking of?

@hsbrock Yes, I always replace the cones. An isobaric sub usually has a driver installed in the usual way in a cabinet of optimal size, plus a driver facing the other direction, the two drivers forming a clam-shell, and wired out of phase. The result is one cone compressing air inside the box, and the other cone driving air in the room, so that distortion is dramatically reduced.

Thinking of it another way, there are two motors to move the same amount of air.

I like drivers from Scanspeak. Their best are very clean and fast, and the isobaric configuration makes them faster. Also, you get another few Hz at the bottom end.

Another great thing about DIY - you don't have to use cheap amps with all their shortcomings. I began with cheap amps, but wasn't satisfied until I hooked up a Bryston 4B SST that I had lying around - BIG difference.

To keep this in perspective, most of my bass adjustment comes from Magnepan DWM panels, also Bryston powered. It's only a few notes every 20 records that need the sub, so it's not really worth the money unless you've got a lot invested, or you listen to a lot of organ music. IMO

@hsbrock If you haven't heard the specific speaker you were going to buy, with the electronics and source that you will use, do so before you make a decision.

I have used planars almost exclusively for 50 years. Every time I slide into cones, I have to replace them, with the exception of my isobaric subs, which make no sound on most music.

Glad to help, @hsbrock . I run 4 large modern Quads (modified) as main speakers, but find that my room needs a bass assist. The Magnepan DWM panels are just the ticket - magnets on both sides of the diaphragm provide a push-pull configuration for low distortion and FAST response.

I asked Bryston for advice for driving DWM's, and they immediately recommended the 20 year old SST design for bass augmentation. He opined that the latest designs were better, but I would hear little difference in my application. I LIKE the combination of Magnepan and Bryston - it's in my HT too.

@ghdprentice is always worth reading. I have never heard a really good cone system, but I’m sure that his is worth every dime and that I would love it.

By all means, get on a plane and hang out in a high end store for a couple of days. That’s where I heard my first planars, Magnepan Tympani 1a’s, back in ’73. Never went back to cones for very long - longest was a hybrid, but the marriage of the cone and ESL drivers was closer to a discord after a while - to my ears. At that time.

But - I’m really wedded to my ESL’s and Class A monoblocks (dissipate 110W, deliver about 30W). The great thing about solid state is that you can design amps which cannot overdrive the speakers - so you don’t need protection circuits or other devices, which always degrade the sound. Magnepans with Brystons round out the system, which my room needs

If you have the itch to improve, you can upgrade the crossovers. Not hard and definitely worth the money.

The new Grado Epoch cartridge gets me closer to live music, but my ears tell me that there’s still a way to go.

@ghdprentice Ah, coherence. Yes, that's the big one. After smoothness, though, IMO. The Quad 2905's do both well.

Very good points.

By 'coherence' I mean that all frequencies have the same character, which is hard to get when treble comes from a beryllium tweeter and bass comes from a paper cone, but easy to get when they all come from the same membrane. To get that in the HT I went to 6 MMW's, 2 DWM's, and 1 Quad 2905 (centre), with Bryston amps. These Magnepans are all based on the older planar-magnetic technology rather than the quasi-ribbons or ribbons, which may have been a mistake - but I knew that I loved that sound, and in the HT it's a wonderful, engaging, immersive, coherent sound.

Magnepan DWM goes down to a usable 37Hz in my room, so the big 20.7 or 30.7 should do that too - recall that they use the same bass technology as the DWM. I haven't heard the 20.7 or 30.7, so check that the ribbons integrate well with the planar-magnetic panels.

And of course, your room is its own study, so YMMV with the bass response. It's an ongoing journey, but you're starting at a very good place.

I would crossover to cones at a lower frequency. Actually, I cross over at 50 Hz with an 18Db / octave electronic crossover, so the cones are silent for anything north of 100 Hz.

The DWM’s don’t cost much and you can plant a swarm of them around your chair. I just needed two in the HT and two in the 2-channel room. Most of the bass came from them rather than the isobaric sub when I played "Power and Glory", which was recorded direct to disk in the stone cathedral in LA, from M&K records.

I've often wondered how horns would work - an excellent question. Do tell me when you find out.

@bugredmachine Good point! ESL's need low capacitance / high inductance cable, whereas magnetic speakers need the opposite. Otherwise is gone the HF !

Easy to get low capacitance / high inductance cables: just run two separate wires an inch apart. Save the bucks for better transducers.