Innersound ESL amplifier - good choice?

Innersound on Quad 989's: dynamic with sterile spatial presentation and hard upper mids. Not hard/glaring like a GE 6650 tube, but more subtlely threadbare, the kind of trait that is only noticed when you realize that you are not listening as much, i.e like with the Nordost SPM line of cables. Harmonically denuded. Moves great on rock recordings, but boring and homogenous, even on rock recordings, over time. Sounds like an evolutionary step from a digital switching amp, which is not good.

Get a Plinius with enough current to drive the panels. No tubes, more spatial and musical, and you can sell it easier down the road (and when all of this Innersound hoop-la by the young and exhuberiant necessarily dies down...).

By the way, never "trust" a magazine. A resource, yes, but one with a financial agenda that is best recognized.

1. One does not need absolute trust, i.e prostating like an acolyte, to read between the lines of an audio magazine. Trusting a mag much like you would approach a person is a good analogy. For example, you should always do an analysis that correlates how many full-page color ads a new manufacturer is running with the exuberance of a review and temper your own tendancy towards needing "absolute" truth accordingly.

2. Haven't heard the Innersound on the small maggies, but an opinion offered based on experience with another electrostat is valid, which is why I offered it.

3. Saying that any opinion can be discarded because each opinion involves unique experience and referent points is to deny any opinion - this is called radical subjectivism and it is an inauthentic argument because: it would deny all opinion, even yours that claims there can be no opinion. That is called a performative error and reveals the irrationality of that position. Some opinions are more true than others within their given contexts. All human knowledge is built upon this pretext and the denial of the pretext on radical subjective grounds is itself, in its very use, a confirmation of that same pretext. You see what I mean?

I would be very surprised if the Innersound sounded much better in another similarly sophisticated system (TNT/Graham,Supratek Syrah pre, Joule LA200 pre, SE Triodes, ESP spkrs, Electraglide PC's, NBS Pro IC's, Audionote KSL spkr wire). On a lesser sytem, yes, you may not heard what I did - but with some time I think you would anyway "IMHO".

Just a note: the box that the Innersound came in was shipped from Coda Technologies in Calif. Now, do any of you remember what a Coda amp sounded like? Hmmm, now there's something to chew on...

Hi Detlof.

I didn't use Nordost on the 989's. Frankly, even the thought of that makes me shiver. I only referred to Nordost as a sound analogy. I used Mapleshade Omega Micro Planar III copper and NBS Signature series 1 - hardly screamers as spkr cables go. If one needs Sander's cables to tone the amp down, if that's the case, then OK, but I understand Sanders believes cables don't make any difference (said a friend who talked to him), so I wonder whats up with that. The amp has great slam with clear space, charitably said, but long on nuance its not. Basic high current SS with minimal distortive artifacts, but you will never hear someone say that the sound enveloped them, not if they've listened around. In the progeny of sound from PS Audio 100 to Coda to Spectron to... Innersound - cleaner and clearer as you go - the artifact thing - but not what TAS says it is. (Months later, is it listed in any of their reviewer's systems, did Seydor use it in last month's reveiw, or HP in the Maggie 20.1 review?)

But here's the bottom line. Sanders honestly believes in his amp and I'm sure, Philojet, would ship one out to you with a reasonable deposit, so listen for yourself - which is always the way to go. Alot of people like the piece, so maybe you will too. Hey, if you started a Coda thread I'm sure their would be a lot of advocates then too. I just think the Maggies could be done better. That said, I'm hardly a Maggie expert. Maybe some experienced 20 and 20.1 owners could chime in with some advice? I think that would help.

I know that Maggies are designed with SS, so we can expect (respect) that synergy, but has anyone thought of the Berning ZH270 ($4K retail)? Its a one-box OTL that drove the hell out of some Acoustat 1+1's I heard - apart from Apogee Scintillas, a speaker recognized as a bear to drive, and a 'stat to boot. Also, since tube, you can experiment with different input tubes to your harmonic taste. The Berning has a very loyal following (see the thread going on now) and it is imminently preferable to the Innersound. If I was you, Philojet, I'd A/B the Plinius, Electrocomp. mentioned, and the Berning. After that, I'd run to buy a Supratek Triode Syrah pre ($2200)... and never look back. Good luck.