Electrostats

Sean,

You're talking a lot of theory and generalities, which says to me that you don't have specific experience with the InnerSound Eros Mk-III that Driver raved about above.

So just FYI, the Eros can play VERY LOUD without strain (I'm sure it's pretty clean up to 115 dB or so). Roger Sanders tests the panels by playing them for extended periods of time at SPLs exceeding 100 dB for an individual panel. And the panels produce about 98 dB at one watt, so they are robust AND efficient. The can reproduce kilowatt peaks without stretching the mylar or melting. So, yeah, they pretty much can reproduce a symphony orchestra playing full tilt in mid- and large-size rooms; and I've heard them do it.

Yes, they are beamy (very!), and it seems that the bass and the mids and highs blend properly at only one distance from the speakers and that is because the ESL line source maintains its loudness further out from its diaphragm than the point source woofer which falls off in dBs more rapidly as the distance to the listener increases.

I owned a set of the Mk-IIs, which are similar, and was sorry to let them go due to a move across country. Sean, if the ESLs you are trying to build perform half as good as the Eros, then I'd say you are doing well.

Now, for the first time in years, I'm using a dynamic speaker as my reference -- the Audio Physic Virgo II. My new room is smaller than my previous basement listening room and the Virgos seem to fit and work well in the smaller space. I still miss some of the dynamics and scale that the Eros presented so well, but the Virgos are not too far off the mark and are endearing in other ways. Certainly they have a larger sweet spot. I use them with a subwoofer, just as I had done with the Eros and that seems to fill in the last half octave of very low bass nicely.

Perhaps one day I'll return to E-stats, but from what I understand, the ultra-low humidity here in AZ is not the best environment for ESL panels.

Driver, if you can deal with the Eros' narrow sweet spot then they may be just the speaker for you.

Driver, I think the Eros is coming in some other finishes now besides the black, which could be the key to sneaking them past your wife. However, they are on the large side and as such would be hard to conceal.

I've taken my system to a spare bedroom because even though the living room is larger and has terrific acoustics my wife is just too critical of how things look in the LR. God forbid someone were to pay a visit and be forced to see unsightly speaker cables or interconnects -- and those outboard power supplies, just hideous!

So rather than having to pass her continual scrutiny I confine my gear to a somewhat smaller room where I can pretty much do what I like and not be concerned about how tidy things look or don't look. Women!

That said, I'm still going to try to slowly sneak some decent gear into our modest living room system... My wife likes the look of my Michell Gyro SE and luckily there is some really gorgeous equipment available. But I may need to find a nice remote controlled integrated amp and stick with the one-box CD player (got to minimize the number of boxes and the associated wiring)... ;)

Best of Luck to you!