Review: Acoustat Model 2 Speaker

I just stumbled upon this blog by good fortune wondering if there was any chance of finding replacement socks for my 27 year old 1+1's which as glorious as they sound, are really looking shabby. My good fortune to learn about the Uphostery Company just a few miles from where I just moved to (Chandler, AZ). I am curious about the suggestion for servicing the transformers. Aside from replacing them, what can one do for transformers? Also, what about capacitors? I know they go bad in old equipment, but aside from looking for swollen canisters, what else would one do? One of my concerns is just degradation of the insulation in wires. I am the original owner of the speakers, and did assemble the bases 27 years ago, but my memory is not so good that I remember every detail. Aside from giving them a few hours to discharge, are there any special instructions?
I noticed a few comments about amplifiers and thought I might add a comment about my experience: I originally bought my 1+1's to work with a complete suite of Hafler electronics I had built, and it was VERY disappointing. Aside from the fact that the panels are 'tight" when new, the DH 220 amp just could not drive the panels and the subwoofer with passive crossover. I eventually took out the passive crossover, bought a Hafler XL 280 to drive the panels, bought a Richter Scale active crossover and used the DH 220 to run the subwoofer. WOW! OK, that's not high end stuff, but it really works. Eventually, I grew weary of the imaging problems with a single subwoofer. I don't care how many audio experts tell you that you can't hear the location of a subwoofer, well I can, so I bought a pair Klipsch powered subwoofers and put the DH 220 on the shelf. I am listening to KBAQ right now through my Hafler tuner, and it is just glorious. I should add that back in the mid 80's, I went out and listened to everything-Quads, Magneplanars, ML's, and aside from Apogees, which were prohibitively expensive, nothing came close. I should add that I used to be a professional classical guitarist and lutenist, and that I spent a lot of time listening to real instruments in concert halls. That's how I know that Acoustats sound more like the real thing than anything else.

Hi here is where you can get ORIGINAL socks for ALL Acoustat's models have a look at my 1984 1+1s do they look like 28 years old speakers ????? of course not they where modified in 2010 - 2011 - 2012 - by Jocelyn Jeanson Quebec Canada here are a few photos of his work.

[IMG]http://i814.photobucket.com/albums/zz61/MrAcoustat/KeepItSimple1000X750.jpg[/IMG]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mracoustat/

My first pair of Acoustats, was the model thre with the Medallian mod.I powered it with a Conrad Johnson MV75A-1, and the CJ Premier 2 pre amp.
I have fond memories of that system, my first foray into Highe end audio which included the Oracle Dephi table ,FR arm and cartridge,and the huge Fulton Gold speaker wires and interconnects from Audio technica and a nice Janus sub.

You could walk thru the soundtage.
Never before nor since have I had the same magic, not even with my present set up -SME 10, Steelhead, Esoteric,Nordost, Shunyata, dedicated lines blah blah.

But my present Acoustats are the original model X, and I use the srvo tube amps.
Granted they have been tweaked and modded and most of the cheap parts have been replaced with better ones from Furutech,but the tube amps should not be dismissed.

If anything they are THE perfect amp for the Acoustats, because they were made just for the Acoustat panels.

All the other Acoustat speakers that use the transformers, medallain modded or DIY, share the common probelm that transformers bring to the party.
They add something to the sound.
Also, pairing up the panels and transformers to just the perfect power amp can be hit or miss.
The problem is, that, the Acoustats sound good no matter what you power them with, so the search seldom gets too elaborate.
Good enough rules the day, but great sound could have been just around the corner if only one had soldered on.

The servo amps, when modded and backed up with a nice supply of power tubes(no failures 2 years later)I feel is better than my old non powered 3 panel Acoustats.

The rest of my gear is also better now than before, but somehow that 3D eerie illusion has vanished somewhat.
Perhaps it's age related hearing issues, perhaps it's some magic that was in the old pre amp,or perhaps I've just had too many decent systems over the years and the novelty just wore off.

I miss those golden days of audio discovery.

Back in the early 80's I had a pair of Acoustat III's that I drove with an ARC Classic 60. I sold the III's and bought a pair of Acoustat IV's. Removing the grill cloths really opened things up. I still drove them with the ARC CL60 ... nice, but not near the power requirements of the speaker. But within the power range of the amp, the speakers sounded really ... really good. Then one night, a friend who was really into the Van Alstine equipment brought over two of VA's big 250 watt amps with VA's bridging devise. Well, after hooking things up with the best interconnects I had available, we ended up with 800 watts per channel. All I can say is Holy S**t!! The sound was enormous and never ended. The entire room became a pair of giant headphones ... and the sound was glorious. We cranked things up and couldn't stop laughing. The Acoustats with the grill cloths removed looked like two giant industrial radiators of some type. Plain ugly. Huge and ugly ... but what sound! The only mods I made beside removing the grill cloths was to change out the binding posts for Cardas copper. I do that for all of my speakers and have always experienced an improvement by doing so. But alas ... the Acoustats are history. We moved into a smaller home and I no longer had a dedicated listening room. Take it from me, there is no way the Acoustats with with the grill cloths removed, sitting in the living room, are going to pass the wife test. If you have the room, and plenty of power ... this is a fun way to go.

I have owned a pr of 2s for quite some time..the transformers have been updated and mods made by my friend Kevin Ferry.we both use Crown Studio Reference esoteric version amps as I had been the rep for Crown when they first introduced this amp.Kevin has the 4s and uses 4 amps in mono..while I use a single amp..that puts out about 750watts into a 4ohm load ..pleny of power to make the 2s really sing..in mono they put out 3500 watts...that right 3500 watts..not a typo....and boy do those amps sing in mono...nothing like um..I use a Conrad Johnson Pv 7 pre amp..now I must say I have done a lot of work getting my electric right..but this alone made all the difference in the world..love these speakers