This thread is out of date but I may as well chime in. First, pay attention to Kentaja, he fixed my Stax F83's (which did indeed have blown resistors and consequent panel damage). This is a man who knows his business. Second, the amps I've been using to drive them are the Futterman OTL3a.s They are a magnificent match, but the amps run out of steam in the bass, where the impedance drops (unusual for an ELS). I ended up using a subwoofer, with a steep crossover at 100Hz. I couldn't be happier now. These amps are still available used if you try hard. An incredible combination.
Stax stax ESL-F81 - please help
I am trying to figure out what amps would drive F81 best. I have a Class A 20W custom made ECC88/MOSFET Amp that works great with high sensitivity speakers but fails badly with Stax, McCormack DNA-1 Deluxe that drives Stax fine but is not as fluid as Aleph 3, Pass Aleph 3 works fine but clips at higher SPL and Symphonic Line RG11 that works nicely but does not bring anything special to the table. These are very demanding speakers.
Frequency Characteristics: 40Hz ~ 20KHz (-10dB)
Impedance: 4Ω or full band
Sound pressure level: 73dB (equivalent 8Ω 1W/1m)
Maximum input instantaneous: 300W (equivalent 8Ω)
With impedance all over the place from 2 to 32 depending on the frequency. Any suggestion for under 2K tube or sand amp?
Frequency Characteristics: 40Hz ~ 20KHz (-10dB)
Impedance: 4Ω or full band
Sound pressure level: 73dB (equivalent 8Ω 1W/1m)
Maximum input instantaneous: 300W (equivalent 8Ω)
With impedance all over the place from 2 to 32 depending on the frequency. Any suggestion for under 2K tube or sand amp?