I've been doing this my whole life and thought I'd seen it all. That guy is on crack.
Essence Electrostatic Speakers...A Bold Statement
I found this on their facebook page...A Bold Statement!! Their "entry level" $$$3500 system can't be outperformed by ANY other SYSTEM on the PLANET...at ANY PRICE!!
http://www.essenceelectrostatic.com/the-frugal-audiophile/
http://www.essenceelectrostatic.com/the-frugal-audiophile/
38 responses Add your response
"09-22-15: Cleeds It's just hype, which is nothing new, and no worse than the "Perfect Sound Forever" claim." I don't know about that one. At least Sony was talking about the actual product they were trying to sell you. And back in 1982, they probably believed that statement to be true. With the company the OP mentions, it sounds like they make audio equipment as a platform to push their political agenda. You can't help but think they would rather have you read their sales literature than buy their equipment. |
I clicked on the website and was surprised to see a picture of the exact Dynaco 400 amp that I had in the 70's. My set up at that time was the 400, a Dynaco pre-amp, an Acoustic Research FM tuner, and a pair of Acoustic Research 3a speakers. It had great sound and impressed many. As far as price, only you can decide where the law of diminishing return sets in. |
Joefish: If you plug the 1975 prices for your rig into an inflation calculator it comes out to $8000-10,000 in 2015 dollars, especially if you add a commensurate turntable, e.g., AR, Dual, or Technics DD. Those modest and simple rigs we fondly remember actually took a pretty good chunk of change for a college student or recent grad. |
... And if you want speakers that can reproduce the full realism, weight and power of an orchestra playing The Pines of Rome or of the Basie band in full tilt, what speaker marks that point of diminishing returns? Among other things, it would need to reproduce bass linearly down to about 18 Hz and be able to hit 115-120 dB distortion free. It would also have to have uniform power response throughout the room. I also want it to resolve the inner harmonies of Mendelssohn's 8-part vocals with orchestral accompaniment. Show me a $3500 speaker that can do all that at live concert levels. |
The dealer believes that the room predominantly determines the sound quality. Ergo, put in cheaper gear in a fine room and you have state of the art sound. I disagree. If you put mediocre gear in a fine room, you will hear the mediocre gear the best it has ever sounded, but you are still light years away from SOTA. :) |
Zd542: Nothing can be done with these problems you made your bed now you have to lie in it! The "ROOM" rules! and box speakers sound boxy and close-in no matter what you do!!! "Electrostatic speakers get "out-of-the-way" from the "ROOM" more so than any other type of speakers period"! Think.. headphones without the ROOM! We can go forward or backward! |
They just came out with a all new Electrostatic speaker that will go down to 20 Hz! for $2K! http://www.essenceelectrostatic.com/product/model-1200/ |
Without comment on whether Essence sells wonderful or terrible (or anything in between) gear, I can say that the linked article is pretty close to outright ridiculous. What is their point? Well, per their own text: "The real question comes down to this; can you actually hear the difference between a $50K system and a $3K system and if so, is it worth the difference? IMHO no, you cant. " Why is that the real question? Why isn't the real question "Can you hear the difference between a $3k system and a $300 system?" or a "$300 system and a $30 system"? Or, if (as I understand their reasoning) the room is the critical element - Why isn't room treatment/room correction the key question? Further, given that different rooms present very different issues, why is this particular design the best solution for every room? As to the last link - the model 1200 'stat that is being touted there is listed as "discontinued/no longer carried". By the way - assuming that it's available (or available again) - it's a very different design than the one touted in the first link. This one is an electrostatic dipole. Is THIS approach better at taming the room than the line source design, which is supposed to be the best? Look, this stuff may be great or it may be awful - but there is just about zero in either of the linked texts that makes any sense, much less a decent case for these products. |
And you make wild swings sideways time after time: Chasing after the Essence electrostatics (no longer distributed in the US), Bose 901 (40-year step backwards), Yamaha Soavo NS-F901 (came and went in less than a year), and speculating that they're pushing TAD R1's off the market, "Modified DCM TFE200's......World Reference Now", ... and more breathless be-all and end-all product rhetoric than I am willing to track any further. BTW, your link to Princeton U's measurements of the Essence 1600 show that they start rolling off in the "bass" at 320 Hz and are down 16dB at 100 Hz. I don't expect any better bass performance from a stand-mounted electrostatic, let alone 20Hz at -3dB. |
Johnnyb53, the last time I checked...{"we all hear things very differently"} SO what I think sounds amazing, somebody else will always think it sounds very bad! That's what makes this hobby ...SO GREAT!! I do believe the $$$$ Yamaha Soavo NS-F901's pushed the TAD R-1's out of the market!!...Yamaha can make "Reference products".. when they want to!! |
They will not have these new Audiostatic speakers in stock until December 2015 and they say these new Electrostats are a major breakthrough that do not need any ac power! http://www.essenceelectrostatic.com/new-audiostatic-electrostats-need-no-ac-power/ |
Some members from Space Coast Audio Society in Central Florida is going to go Demo these all new Audiostatic speakers when Essence gets a pair in to demo!.. I found out about this on another forum. The Space Coast Audio Society E-Mail is vgl@cfl.rr.com and their phone number is 386-423-4650 So.. "it's all going to come out in the wash.. SOON"!!... |
Ben Peters newest design is based off of this former Audiostatic ES-500...more info about this in the thread below. http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1374183292 |
Maybe Ben Peters is bringing back a improved version of his Threshold ES-500 Electrostatic speakers... http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_5_2/thresholdes500.html |
According to that review, 20 Hz response was down -10 dB relative to 1 kHz at 80 dB. First of all, that is not loud to begin with and due to our decreased auditory sensitivity to low freq, I doubt anyone would notice. I don't think he's anything new that can overcome low freq limitation of electrostatic speakers. |
