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Positioning full range electrostatic speakers

I’ve been using all forms of ESL’s (mostly Martin Logan) for over 40 years so am familiar with many of their characteristics. I have a question, though, that involves an issue I’ve not been faced with yet. Like many of us in this hobby mine is not a dedicated listening room so we’re dealing with a living room that we want to keep looking like a living room. Starting with a pair of ML CLS speakers already compromised that goal to a pretty significant extent but I’ve mostly kept the upstream equipment fairly well hidden in our entertainment console. The only pieces on top, mainly because of the heat issue, has been the amplifiers. Now the issue…..I recently took delivery of a new vacuum tube amplifier which Is HUGE and heavy at over 100 pounds and everyone in the house except for me, thinks it’s obnoxious and ugly so I’d like to get it out of sight somehow. I can’t put it on the floor because we have a dog that we’re attached to so the only place left would be on a small table behind one of the speakers. Because of the dipole nature of these speakers, or for any other reason, might this be an issue? For reasons of space issues a while ago, I temporarily stored a pair of stand speaker behind these panels and I wasn’t able to discern much, or any, difference in sound. Thanks for any comments. 
128x128broadstone
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
a while ago, I temporarily stored a pair of stand speaker behind these panels and I wasn’t able to discern much, or any, difference in sound.

I'd say that about covers it. 
ghdprentice
7,038 posts
 
Sounds like a good solution. You would hear a problem right away. 

Sorry to hear about having to hide your amp. I’m lucky enough to have a separate floor (man cave) for my stuff. But when my partner comes down (once ever six months), she complains about my big tubed headphone amp on my coffee table… she just can’t help herself.
broadstone's avatar
broadstone OP
310 posts
 

In the end I decided to make the commitment to leave it on the entertainment console where it rightfully should be in the first place. Because it's a relatively high wattage class A vacuum tube amp it needs all the air circulation it can get. Also, because it has is an integrated amp I need an unobstructed pathway for the IR signal from the remote unless I decided to use a separate preamp. Because of its size alone it becomes a prominent feature so it'll take a little getting used to. I just wish the manufacturer hadn't decided to chrome plate the large transformer cans. 

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,841 posts
 

Because of the dipole nature of these speakers, or for any other reason, might this be an issue?

None at all. Plus this allows you to run shorter speaker cables, which is a big deal when using tube amps with planar speakers of almost any kind.

 

broadstone's avatar
broadstone OP
310 posts
 

Atmasphere, I'm always glad when you enter a conversation especially when I have a vacuum tube question. In several other posts I've mentioned concerns regarding the Martin Logan CLS2 speakers and amplifier power needed for their best performance. The issue is important to me because I'm so much in like of these old things I essentially plan the around them which are my second pair. Anyway, I was using the Cary SLI80 in triode mode with them which were very musical but not very dynamic. Based only on its reviews I decided to buy a used Ayon Triton one amp with 35 more class A watts than the Cary in triode. I don't know how many times I've said "Wow, I finally have the setup I'll keep forever" but this time I really mean it (as if I hadn't thought that before) but this setup is not only musical but now has the dynamics I thought I was missing before. At least partly I assume that the extra power is a factor but there's something obviously beyond that. The bottom line is that, based on this experience as well as on the consistently outstanding reviews, I'd recommend this amp, though somewhat expensive, to anyone. 

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