Well, I believe ones results with the CLS speakers will vary upon the type of listening one does. What drives ML's best in general has been beaten to death on previous threads about it. Do a search and you'll get the phone book of opinions.
Having owned the CLSiiz's, on my second pair now, my listening levels aren't demanding. I listen to acoustic jazz, and believe it or not I drove my iiz's to more than adequate levels for my modestly sized room with a 10 watt Class A SET 300B tube amp. The belief is these speakers require high current amps before they'll deliver the goods. That's not been my experience. I've used Plinius and Pass amps of modest power ranges with more than pleasing results.
I agree that it's foolish to expect a planar speaker of the CLS' magnitude to deliver high quality bass. That's not what the speaker was designed to do. Acoustic bass of natural tone and volume is the best one should expect from these speakers. But of course, being the jazz listener that I am that suits me just fine. Earshattering level listener's have far more demanding requirements of the speaker than do I. But I don't believe one has to spend countless or unnecessary thousands on attempting to acquire mega power amplification to gain a reasonable level of satisfying output from CLS's. Having owned a countless number of ML hybrid's the CLS's are the best of the lot as far as my ears are concerned and certainly worth whatever effort necessary to get them dialed in to your liking.
I highly second the poster who suggested tilting the speakers forward at a slight downward angle. I've got mine on a pair of Arcici stands at a slight downward angle which lines up perfectly with my ears at listening chair level. It doesn't get any better than this. Mine are mated to an SVS sub. Enjoy your new purchase!
Was that the walnut pair of CLS's recently observed on ad with brand new panels? Perhaps not, for I could swear those were advertised as CLSiiz's.
Having owned the CLSiiz's, on my second pair now, my listening levels aren't demanding. I listen to acoustic jazz, and believe it or not I drove my iiz's to more than adequate levels for my modestly sized room with a 10 watt Class A SET 300B tube amp. The belief is these speakers require high current amps before they'll deliver the goods. That's not been my experience. I've used Plinius and Pass amps of modest power ranges with more than pleasing results.
I agree that it's foolish to expect a planar speaker of the CLS' magnitude to deliver high quality bass. That's not what the speaker was designed to do. Acoustic bass of natural tone and volume is the best one should expect from these speakers. But of course, being the jazz listener that I am that suits me just fine. Earshattering level listener's have far more demanding requirements of the speaker than do I. But I don't believe one has to spend countless or unnecessary thousands on attempting to acquire mega power amplification to gain a reasonable level of satisfying output from CLS's. Having owned a countless number of ML hybrid's the CLS's are the best of the lot as far as my ears are concerned and certainly worth whatever effort necessary to get them dialed in to your liking.
I highly second the poster who suggested tilting the speakers forward at a slight downward angle. I've got mine on a pair of Arcici stands at a slight downward angle which lines up perfectly with my ears at listening chair level. It doesn't get any better than this. Mine are mated to an SVS sub. Enjoy your new purchase!
Was that the walnut pair of CLS's recently observed on ad with brand new panels? Perhaps not, for I could swear those were advertised as CLSiiz's.