Hi bdp24,
I just saw your post and thought I would respond.
There is a reason Harry Weisfeld chose the LFT8B's for his planar choice. Bruce Thigpen, the designer of the LFT8B has been designing "out of the box" (no pun intended) audio for decades, just like Harry Weisfeld whom I would imagine has great respect and admiration for Bruce. Bruce, if I'm not mistaken, has 7 patents for his various designs and you can't say that about most audio designer. The LFT8B's have been around for over 3 decades and in all that time I believe he has made only one change to the design, the tweeter was changed to the same exact material that he uses in the midrange driver and extends out to 50K! In other words, he got it right the first time. It's simply a brilliant design. In my opinion, the clarity and transparency is unsurpassed at any price (as long as the equipment upstream is up to the task). When they are set up properly (easier said than done) they are stupid good for the money.
I bought a pair of the LFT8B's a few years ago and thought they were very good and as I look back at old photos of my system back then I can't believe how good they were with the mediocre equipment I was using (it was all I could afford then). Cambridge stereo amp and preamp which is good gear but not really considered high end by most. I thought I needed the 200 wpc that the Cambridge amp offered. I was wrong.
Like most audiophiles, after a few years of enjoying them I wanted to try something "better" so I sold them (big mistake) and bought some good box speakers. The speakers I bought were box speakers with dynamic drivers that cost about 4 times what the LFT8B's cost. They were different, that's for sure. They had more slam and socked you in the chest and maybe imaged a little more precisely and they were certainly fun but they lacked that certain musicality that the LFT8B's had and I missed that unbelievable clarity in the midrange and high frequencies. So, after about two years, you guesses it, I sold them and bought the LFT8B's again! I thought, if I liked them back then, I should love them now as my equipment has improved a lot over the years since I had the LFT's. I now own a Pass Labs XA30.8 stereo amp that only has 30 wpc class A and before you all start wining about that not being enough to drive that speaker, let me tell you, your wrong. Not only does it drive them effortlessly but it always remains supremely musical. The moral of that story is, as long as the amp you're pairing them with has a great power supply (like all the Pass Labs amps) with the ability to deliver enough current into a difficult load, properly, don't worry. That XA30.8 amp is a giant killer!
So that, in my opinion is why why Harry Weisfeld uses the LFT8B's. There are not many speakers out there that are that clean, clear and open sounding and transparent and revealing WITH the musicality that they bring to the party. The low Q woofer in that sealed enclosure blends beautifully with the midrange and tweeter as well. Hats off to Harry for hearing their special quality and the fact that they cost $2500.00 pair is simply a gift. Stupid good!
Scot
