Recommedation to drive Electrostatics? ML, Inner?

I drive Magnepan 3.6's with a Spectron Musician II. Your ML's will require a lot of clean power too.

Well, the good news is there are quite a few amps that can drive a pair of Martin Logans well. The bad news is, they tend to be big and expensive.

Among amps that will work well are models from InnerSound, Parasound (JC-1), Levinson, Wolcott, Convergent Audio Technologies, Atma-Sphere (probably with Zero autoformer), Accuphase, Boulder, Jeff Rowland, Audio Research, and Pass Labs. These are amps I've either used or auditioned and found to work well on electrostats yet still have the low-end current delivery to work well on a conventional woofer. I'm sure there are many others. Disclaimer - I peddle some of these. I'm a Sound Lab dealer but have owned Martin Logans as well, and have customers who are Martin Logan owners.

Offhand, I'd say that a used InnerSound ESL amplifier would be a very high bang-for-the-buck solution. In tube amps, you definitely don't want one with a wimpy output transformer, and unfortutely that's the most expensive part so it's where compromises are made when the manufacturer is trying to keep costs down.

In my opinion, getting an amplifier that works well is much more critical with electrostats than with conventional speakers. If you have further questions feel free to e-mail me; I won't try to hard-sell you.

Best of luck,

Duke LeJeune
AudioKinesis

Contact Terry/Western Reserve Audio Design:216-521-0900.He built the i-tube amps for Innersound.He is producing this amp himself,and available for auditions.6moons has his amp for review-presently.KT-88 based at 160/ch (WRAD-300).

I have used the EAD Powermaster 2000 and CAL MCA 2500 with great results when biamping. I have also used Bryston PP120's, Linar Audio 250i, and Sim Audio W10 monoblocks with good results. It depends on your liking and pocketbook.

i drive SL3s with a rowland model 10 and I think it is a good match

High current SS amplification with good tube pre.

Refer to Audiokinesis's recomendations.

Good luck!

As a former Innersound Eros owner, I would have to say that the Innersound ESL300 amp will be one of the best "bang for your buck" amps you could find. As Bignerd recommended, I would also use a tube preamp. I would stay away from tube power amps. I'm not sure of the model of ML speakers you have (hybrid, full range), but if they are like the Eros, they will be a very difficult load for the majority of tube amps since the impdence drops to very low levels in the higher frequencies.

If you are on a budget, and don't like the Innersound amp, look for some of the older Thresholds (T400?) or Krells (KSA-KST100 or 200) out there with big power supplies capable of "doubling down" into at least 2 ohms impedence.

If you are not on a budget, you may want to consider bi-amping.

The Innersound ESL amps are great with digital sources.With a good analog front end,you will know something fas been overlooked.
The older Krells will have problems with their output transistors-test fine,but can leak or malfunction.
As a note:the WRAD 300/i-tube was designed specifically to drive the unusual impedances of an ESL.

with my Innersound Eros I use the Innersound Bass amp 200w
and I use an older Proton Dual Mono amp with 200w@4 ohms and I need no more power, I dont listen at ear splitting levels but I also feel that in some cases these amps that are being suggested are over-kill, no such thing as too much power but there is a point where you can get great performance without alot of cash. I strongly suggest you add a tube pre as others have also suggested.

Almost any amplifier will drive any speaker,how well that amplifier does its' job can be the difference between night and day.Many solidstate amps become a little thin when dealing with the complex load.2-100 ohms.
On the cheap:Many are having good results with slightly modified ART SLA 1/2s (100/200w).
Or you could wait for a fellow audiophile to give you an amp.

Take a look at the 200 series from Blue Circle with the Tube pre-amp. The 204 and 206 are great with the ML's.