Steve Guttenberg finally reviews the Eminent Technology LFT-8b loudspeaker.

@harryz: have you tried disconnecting the woofers and just evaluating the volume from the mid/treble panel? How about vice-versa? Are the impedances equal, R-L? And I assume you've swapped speaker cables R-L and the 3dB drop is still present on the same side? Last, have you panned the balance R-L and found the same imbalance?

I have had a pair of LFT8b speakers for over 3 years and recently updated them to the LFT8c versions with the DSP bipole woofers.

The panels are welded up and assembled in Florida, not China. I don’t know if the ribbons are made in the US or not, but remember - this until recently was a $2,500 pair of speakers with superb sound quality.

We had a problem with buzzing in the right side midrange ribbon, and Bruce sent two offset cams to better adjust them. Eventually, the buzzing returned, so he had a brand new panel (welded steel frame that holds the neodynium magnets and ribbon assembly) made and shipped to me at no charge since the problem surfaced while under warranty.

Last year I blew out the tweeter ribbons accidentally when hooking up a new electronic crossover incorrectly, and Bruce sent me new ribbons and some tweeter fuses and fuse holders at no charge (I replaced them myself). His customer service is excellent and he has always been prompt to reply with answers and solutions.

The speakers are hand-made, and the fit and finish do reflect that, as well as the very low price for the performance. Meaning, they aren’t perfect, but they are very attractive and mostly well-built. I’d prefer some refinements, particularly in the wood trim and metal threaded inserts in the woofer boxes for the panel attachments, though the new 8c woofer cabinets have a nicer, more refined look and finish than the original.

I don’t think these are the best speakers for the listener who doesn’t have some mechanical/technical abilities, because they do require assembly and over time, the ribbons are likely to need small adjustments as the material stretches or shifts in the panels.

The sound quality is excellent and well above the price range, in my opinion. I’ve listened to some very expensive speakers at our local shop, including Maggies, and these are better than many/most of them, and better than my MTM+subwoofer Seas Prestige-loaded box speakers. The efficiency is not a problem for any of our amps, including a 100wpc Mark Levinson, several 200-250 wpc high-quality amps we also have, and our 125wpc KT120 tube monoblocks. There is no problem driving the speakers with the tube amps, and the volume level is almost as high as with the more powerful SS amps.

For my tastes, the 8b didn’t have enough tight, low bass (though it was never flabby, just lacked power and dynamics to our preference), so I supplemented them with subwoofers with SEAS drivers, which I found to integrate nicely with the LFTs. After updating to the 8c, I used them as intended by feeding the preamp into the DSP amps, then splitting the processed signal to the amps. Even with the various settings for phasing, etc. of the rear-firing woofer, I didn’t feel the bass was quite up to what I was used to, so the subs went back into service, but adjusted for frequency and volume.

After a month or so, I decided that the sound of our amps without the DSP was more appealing to me, so I hooked up our active crossover and now the system feeds the low frequencies into the DSP amps and dipole woofers, and the mids/highs to the amps, which I feel handle those frequencies with more clarity. I can still adjust the DSP for woofer response, but choose to let my nice quality amps provide an analog signal instead of going through the DSP amps.

The speakers are in a fairly large room but with plenty of clutter. They are toed in a bit so we have a sweet spot for listening, but the sound coverage is much better than my 40" tall box speakers. The ribbons are tall, so the vertical coverage is great.

Do doubt there are better speakers, but not for the price as far as I have found. Not sure what I’d have to spend to get better sound, but judging these without hearing them properly set up, or assuming that because the efficiency is fairly low they require a lot of power would be an error.

The way ours are set up, the sweet spot is actually about 2' wide and 6-7' long. Our couch is closes to the speakers, and our dining room table is inline with the centerline of the converged speaker output. My wife can sit inline on one side and I on the other, and we are still in the sweet spot for great frequency response. 

The same is true whether sitting or standing within that roughly 2' wide path.

@bdp24: No, the 8c is not as long, front to back. The width and height are the same, but the terminal blocks have been moved and one sits where the rear grillcloth frame rests, so I my rear grill sits up about 1/8" higher than with the 8b woofer cabinet. 

I like the dipole woofer, but don't use the DSP for the mids/highs, as I explained previously - my signal is split into an active crossover (Bryston 10B).

Regarding the Sound Anchor stands, I think I've missed why there is an interest in modifying it with additional struts. They are very stable as-is - is there a concern about small vibrations from the woofer box?

@bdp24: So that we are being clear, the LFT8b/c do not have a wood frame. The frame is entirely welded steel. There are narrow strips of wood that screw onto the steel frame, but they add no structural rigidity - that’s all up to the steel frame. The wood is there for appearance (and I wish they were a bit nicer, to be honest).

I can push against our frames (panels) and they flex a little due to the leverage, but there is no such pressure against them at any other time. An earthquake bad enough to cause the panels to bend would bring down the house, so not really sure there would be an advantage to added rigidity. I can MIG, TIG or gas weld my own stands and modifications, but saw no reason to do so. I considered it when I was replacing the panel with the buzzing midrange ribbon with the entire new panel sent by Bruce, but my real interest in future mods was to install threaded inserts into the wood woofer box for the steel panel frame to screw into more securely.