Mag 3.6R or 20.1 , Sanders & Montana EPS2


After 20 years of void & darkness, I set out this new audio venture thinking Maggie 3.6R is all I ever needed.

But after driving 200 miles to listen a pair of Maggie 3.6R, my soul wasn't satisfied.

So, I went to Las Vegas T.H.E. show.
I wanted to listen to a pair of Maggie that is well matched up by a manufacturer themselves. (which was Bryston 28BSST with new Mag 1.7 & center piece)

Even the manufacturer's demo didn't convinced me...

So I looked around, and found two speakers that standed out.

One was Sanders Electrostatic Model 10 speakers and
the other was PBN Montana ESL 2. (Both are around $10K per pair.)

Sanders speakers were stunningly clear and focused. Imaging was incredible. All I can say is Clean, Pure & deliver excellent sound from high note to low.

The sound was so clear, it almost made me uncomfortable.
Never heard nothing like this before...

The other speaker I really liked was Peter's Montana ESP 2.
Just a wonderful speaker that moved my soul...
The music flowed effortlessly. I don't know how to describe.... just beautiful.

Maggie, Sanders, and Montana... each has a different character and taste. Like wine... Cab, Merlot & Zin all have different charcteristic...

Maggie probably has most warmth and air, like Renoir's painting not sure where the line starts and ends.

On the other hand, the Sanders speaker was probably most accurate and clear but somewhat lacking in warmth and naturalness (for my taste anyway)

Peter's Montana - comes in some where inbetween the two... well balanced, opening up nicely,... just made my heart warm in satisfaction...

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Sorry for the long intro...

Anyway, here is my question.

If anyone had these speakers over the long period of time, could you give your likes and dislikes? (especially weakness or problems if any)

TIA

Jon
jonk78

Showing 1 response by angela100

Hey Jon,

Glad you got by Roger's room while at T.H.E. Show. (Full Disclosure - I've been a member here for almost 9 years and am now married to Roger 3/3/9 [square root day] ;} ).

Roger has additional options with crossover control these days and when you want to know more, you should just call him. You can have virtually infinite control over how the speakers sound.

Harry Pearson came by on Saturday and wants to review the speakers, so you can look for that sometime this year. We'll be shipping things out in the next week or so to him. Harry has reviewed Roger's earlier products (Innersound Eros in 1998 and ESL amp in 2000); so he is very familiar with what Roger's products can do. We are excited to see what he thinks of all the improvements that have been made over the years.

One last thing of note: There are a lot of Martin Logan owners that now have Roger's ESL amp. We feel that their forum is a proponent of Roger and we have a really good relationship with Tom and the guys over there.

Cheers,

Angela