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Eminent Technology LFT-8b in Harry's system

I recently signed up for the V.P.I. Industries newsletter, and today received my first such. In it, Harry Weisfeld reviews a Grado phono cartridge, but this post concerns one of the speakers he listed as being those he uses to listen to music and evaluate recordings through. All but one are traditional dynamic cones/domes in a box designs, only one being a planar/dipole. That planar is the Eminent Technology LFT-8b. I'm pretty sure Harry could, if he so chose, have instead as his sole planar a pair of $6000 Magneplanar MG 3.7i's, or even $14,000 20.7's. But nope, he instead chose the $2500 ET LFT-8b, imo the greatest value in a loudspeaker on the market. I compared it to the 1.7i, and the difference was dramatic.
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brucefrederick
11 posts
 
bdp24

I read through many threads regarding the copper foil wax inductors before pulling the trigger. Actually Danny was a fan of Erse inductors FWIW. The Erse’s are a stock item at parts express and cheaper than the copper foil in wax . I forgot to mention that the ET’s sound a lot fuller at low volume levels..... also the new coils tamed the slight harshness in the treble with female voices in many of my cd collection.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
9,788 posts
 

Thanks again Bruce. Say, where inside the woofer bin is the x/o located? I haven't removed a woofer to have a look inside, though I have the parts for the "Davey" mod (to remove the woofer's resonance in the 1200-1500Hz range), just a cap and resistor.

I am also considering moving the x/o to the top of the woofer bin, right behind the LFT panel. Shorter runs of wire (maybe silver) soldered onto the driver terminals, eliminating the stock spade connectors.

brucefrederick
11 posts
 
the crossover is mounted on a cross brace(L to R) maybe 8" back from woofer opening.   I replaced all the caps  and have no resistors in the crossover since I am using the hi setting on tweeter.  I would just replace all the caps while the hood is up.


brucefrederick
11 posts
 
I did try bi amping during the stay at home order and maybe noticed a little more clarity and less smearing of nuances and detail.  Overall I think bi wiring gives me  more of an improvement than biamping.  I guess if covid comes back in the fall I'll try an outboard crossover as I have loss some real estate inside the woofer cabinet with the large sized film caps.  Hats off to Bruce Thigpen for putting up with me as I play around with his genius design.  Every email has been most pleasant and gracious.

bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
9,788 posts
 
Likewise Bruce, every time I have spoken with BT on the phone he has been very relaxed, not like he is trying to get off the phone as soon as possible. In my opinion, to realize the full benefits of bi-amping requires the employment of a filter on the inputs of each power amp, to keep the bass out of the m/t amp and drivers. As the x/o is a fairly simple symmetrical 1st order at 180Hz, that can be accomplished with a single cap on the input jacks of each amp, though a means of balancing the two amp’s gain is still required. A volume control on one of the amps (the bass amp being a good choice) works fine.
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