panel speaker purchase

Mrtennis, I have owned Apogees for the past 15 years (Slant 6s, Studio Grands) and was very satisfied until listening to a pair of Ambience Reference 1600 ribbon hybrids ($12,900) last year. They are 96 db efficient, easy to drive, and can play very loudly for those special occasions (much louder than electrostats auditioned) and are a true dipole so soundstaging is huge. They have a forward, clean, very detailed sound that I simply could not find with cone speakers even in the $30,000+ range and are a nice match with tube gear. The biggest problem is that they are made in Australia and there is not a large dealer network here in the States; it took 4 weeks to receive mine. Definitely worth checking out.

gentlemen:

i have two panel speakers on my short list:

the analaysis audio epsilon and the podium from england.

i am going to ces next month and will listen to both of them. i am not thrilled with the price of the analysis audio speakers, namely 13200.

i will be able to get a 45 percent reviewer's accomodation discount if buying the analysis audio speaker but it is an expensive purchase. the podium speaker is $7900 and therefore would cost much less. we'll see.

if neither pans out, there is a full range martin logan speaker on the horizon, the clx, expected introduction, june to december of 2008.

I would go with the 3.6's as they are an easy load to drive still you need a lot of good old tube power to drive them like AR vt-200.You will need at least 100 watts of tube power to drive anything bigger than what you have.

one of the reasons i am lookin for another speaker is the treble response of the 1.6. the 3.6 ribbon tweeter is more revealing than the quasi ribbon tweeter of the 1.6 .

i have heard the 3.6 speaker at dealer's and at ces.
i have heard it driven with audio research amps. the speaker is too revealing for my taste. i prefer an apogee-like presentation. a friend has the apogee duetta signature driven by a cj mv 125 amp.

i will be able to get a 45 percent reviewer's accomodation discount if buying the analysis audio speaker but it is an expensive purchase

How would you feel about writing a review in this case?

Upon reading this perhaps another manufacturer may up the ante and give you a 50% discount on a similar priced speaker....those Soundlabs are really good but they ain't cheap!

I like the way you play MrTennis ...the ball is in their court. Advantage MrTennis!