Speaker type for my Conrad-Johnson ET5/LP70S tube combo

bdp24,

For the time being, I'm not expecting to bi-amp or consider upgrading to a more powerful amp because I want to focus my spending into a pair of speakers only and hopefully make the right choice. I visited the Eminent Tech site and they stated the model you mentioned requires 75W minimum. It doesn't sound like a good match if what they say is accurate. Thanks!

bdp24,

Do you have much listening experience with ESL's? Do they produce the same or similar mids like the Maggies that I spoke of in my initial post? I never heard them in my large audio room. Only heard them at a friend's house with crappy amp; not that impressed.

@routeman21, that’s the thing about ESL’s. They are so transparent, you are listening through them as much as to them. Crappy amp + ESL = crappy sound. Magnetic-planars aren’t quite as transparent as ESL’s, imo, but as both are dipole planars they are similar in many ways. Each has it’s own, unique charms (I own both). It would be great if you could compare a m-p to an ESL, but not many dealers sell both.

The ESL I have "much listening experience with" is the original Quad. Your amp is more than enough for it, in fact far TOO much. It can’t take more than about 15-20 watts before the panels "arc". It is very maximum SPL limited, is missing the bottom octave, and is strictly a 1-person speaker. Other than that they’re great ;-) . Can you live with that? On the other hand, your amp’s power is about right for the later Quads---the 63, 988/989, 2805/2905, etc.

Other ESL’s are more universal speakers, like the Acoustat (long out of production), Martin Logan, Sanders (fantastic, if you have the dough), Sound Lab, and Kingsound. But here’s something you should know about all ESL’s: the impedance they present to the power amp is extremely variable, from less than two ohms in some cases, to as high as 50 ohms. That requires an amp with as low an output impedance as possible, and stable into the highly-capacitive reactive load an ESL presents it with. If your amp’s output impedance is more than about 10 ohms (not uncommon with tube amps), I believe is the figure, though that may be incorrect, it will cause the speaker’s frequency response to vary more than it will with a lower output-impedance amp, causing coloration; the timbre of vocals and instruments will become somewhat unnatural (assuming the recording itself sounds natural). If your amp isn’t "happy" with a capacitive/reactive load, it may become unstable, leading to oscillation. Do some research on your amp to see if it is suitable for use with ESL’s.