Electrostatic Speakers

I've been a stat fan since the late 70's when I heard the original Acoustat3 with the provided servo tube amps.
Later I bought the medallion 3 panel versions and used a CJ M75A-1 amp.
Sold them, moved on to cones, had several good pairs but whenever I listened to my pals with the tubed Acoustats I felt something was lacking with my speakers.
So back to panels, first with ML Sequel, then Quad 63, then two pairs of ML CLS 11z, then stacked Quad 57's.
I tried some Tannoy Ardens, Grand Veenas, and then I found a pair of the original Acoustat monitor 3 with the servo tube amps.
I got the amps modded and updated, braced up the cabinets and fed them with dedicated power and good gear upstream.

This is closer to the "dream" sound that I've been chasing.

But, I've done a lot of room treatment, and tweeks to get to where things are sounding good.

I would agree panels won't work for everyone.
I have friends who have been loyal to the same pair since the middle 70's and others who flit from cone speaker to cone speaker on a monthly basis.

I've been happy to be back in the stat fold for a few years now and ,though they aren't perfect, nothing else is either.

Try some good solid state amps with the ML's.
I found a pair of Classe DR 8 in mono worked very well.
Tube amps not so well.

Brian I just moved from Soundlab m2's to Nola KO's; so far only 1 weekend listening.
I am still playing with positioning of the KO's but I like what I hear thus far and I still have the nola blue thunder speaker cables to install as I am still running my transparent musicwave super's.
I would encourage anyone to at least try and hear a ESL speaker (especially the soundlab's) and see for yourself; ESL speakers are quite awesome.

This is an old thread. but I love electrostats. I have heard the MLs but really only liked the very high end ones. Years ago a European company named Final Sound was selling electrostats in the US. They since have retracted to Europe. I ended up listening to theirs and bought them. Have had them for many years as they sound and look great. I ended up with a full home theater setup with center and rear also. I finally got the itch to try something different and went to conventional drivers but have been holding onto the Final Sounds. My wife likes the size of the new speakers more so am getting rid of the electrostats. Going to definitely miss them.
There really are not a lot of good electrostat alternatives any more. I still own a set of Apogee speakers are are some of the best speakers I have heard. I wish both Apogee and Final Sound were still around to provide some good alternatives.

You should try to hear the newer model Martin-Logans XStat type loudspeakers, quite an improvement and easy to drive. Time is still progressing for electrostats and a LOT of changes have been made to make them easier to live with. Sanders has a very good (though boutique) loudspeaker. 

I have been a fan of panel speakers since the mid-1970s. My love for them started with a pair of Crown ES-212s I purchased used when I worked at Crown. Recently, after not having an audio system for decades, I auditioned several components at various high end audio stores and one of the mass market electronic stores. To say that the demonstration at the mass market store was underwhelming is an understatement. I just wanted to experience it, though.

Anyway, for my recent purchase, I admit that I only auditioned panel speakers and tried some of the Maggies first. They seemed OK but didn't wow me. I went to another store and listened to a pair of Martin Logan Impression 11A speakers. Wow! I had never heard a more precise sound stage in my life. The detail and precision of the sound was just phenomenal. I wasn't ready to purchase, so I waited until I was and went back to the store with my music list in hand. I almost had tears in my eyes.

Having lived with the speakers in my home for many months now, I agree with what others have said, that these speakers (and the whole system) are so revealing that they will tell you (literally) how poorly miced and mastered some recordings are. I used to record myself and have taken graduate level acoustics courses, so I understand much of the inner workings that goes toward recording and reproducing a performance. When listening to a nice performance that is well-recorded, the sound is exhilarating. The downside is that I will no longer be able to listen to some of my favorite recordings that it is now revealed how poorly recorded they were. I'll live with that because the joyous moments exceed the disappointing ones by a large margin. I do understand and have heard what people describe in the transition from dynamic woofers to electrostatic mid-range and high panels, but the Martin Logan engineers seem to have figured out how to do that seamlessly.

I have listened to many horn speakers over my lifetime, and while, as others have noted, they are sharp, clean, and crisp, they are too dry for me. I've listened to piezos and lots and lost of cone speakers, but I keep coming home to panels. I've blathered on enough now...