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

I have been listening to the 8C for six months now, upgraded from 8b. For $1500, the upgrade is a no brainer, absolutely!

The plate amp / DSP is from Dayton Audio and houses a 250W amp, class D (? ). The initial concern was that the A-D and D-A conversions would degrade  SQ. I know there are person here who claims to be able to hear and dislike a DSP in the signal path. I had some problems initially with the sound from the vinyl side of my system whereas the CPD played wonderfully from the get go. But now as I listen to records, I cannot tell what the DSP is doing negatively to the sound. 

There are a couple of settings that Bruce has left to the listener's discretion: the volume of the woofer is adjustable relative to the panels and there is a Time Delay setting to time align the woofer and the panels. I have left the other adjustments ( a total of 7 ) as factory settings. But a fellow over at the AudioKarma forum who is a sound engineer has fine tuned the other settings with measuring software, and he claims the quality of the bass goes up a few notches. 

Compared to the 8b, the  8c is a new speaker. It is  full range, holographic in soundstage, blends better with the my room, and much more matured  / sophisticated.

It would be very interesting to see what Steve Guttenberg has to say about the 8c since he mentioned that a follow up to the 8b will be in a future installment. 

The comments regarding tube amps being a good match with the LFT 8 correspond with my own experience. With the 8b, I preferred a 100W triode tube amp with 6550's. Now a 20W amp with 300b's in push-pull mode is sounding better than the higher watt amp. And in my 250 s.f. room, they can go over 100db without stressed. 

@mrdecibel I think the comment you found objectionable should be be qualified as follows: " there aren't many speakers that can reproduced all of the properties of sound and music...... with such a high level of competence at a price of $3200". La Scalas' retail for $ 6,500 and up depending on the vintage...just saying.

And the 8c at $4200 goes further. 

It's interesting the tone of this thread expressed by non-ET owner....kinda negative and questioning in general....something about the LFT 8's that just don't get no respect.

Yes, looking forward to the release of LFT-18LS. The videos links provided by @ricevs really gave a good glimpse of the new speaker. Did I hear correctly? It is a fully powered DSP speaker system, without the need of amps? 

I wrote to Bruce asking him about the use of DSP. He replied that deploying DSP tech is the lesser of two evils, the other being passive x-over. And digital tech has advanced such that he could do things that he couldn't just ten years ago. I personally find the DSP part of the 8c a quandary. How can a plate amp / DSP digital processor that retails in the $250 range make such an impact? I am in effect putting analog play back through a A-D and D-A conversion every time I use the speaker. And analog still comes out sounding like analog!? I guess my question is if 'cheap' digital tech can be deployed to such good effect in speaker design, then why are we chasing digital playback tech in the $10k + realm. Or is it that Bruce is in fact moving up the digital chain with the LFT-18 for even more superior sound in addition of the neodymium magnets?

Sanders Sound System also uses DSP, though a more sophisticated / expensive kind. And Robert Greene in his review of the Sanders speakers claims not to 'hear' the DSP degrading SQ. In fact, he felt it would be the future trend in speaker design. I did not understand that part of his review But having lived with DSP, I can honestly say it woks without degrading SQ, having 8b as a compare.

@ricevs What you are describing for the 8c ' Extreme' is certainly interesting. I already have the 8c; however, I would be interested in knowing if Bruce would be willing, at a minimum, to provide a neodymium mid range panel replacement. Please keep us posted. 

What will be the benefits of the neodymium upgrade? The lighter weight of the neo is moot as the moving part is the mylar in a planar system.  Will the more power magnetic field generated translate into more clarity and detail?

@bdp24 It certainly would be informative to listen to your set up vs 8c. The main difference being DSP vs electronic x-over. But as @mijostyn mentioned you are a purist on this issue. While I don't always agree with @mijostyn, especially his adamant refusal to accept the merits of under slung tonearm ( he he ), digital signal conversion, even on analog source, is something I have come to accept. I don't understand why it works, but......

@ieales The timeline of your 8b upgrade around 2021-2022 coincided with Bruce's upgrade work on the 8c. Did he mentioned anything to you about it? It seems such a coincidence!

@bdp24 Could you elaborate on the Mye stands? I wrote to Grant last month. He did not have any visuals of the LFT stands. From his descriptions, they clip onto the panels at the mid point of the tweeter, and screwed to the sides of the woofer units. They work  together with the Sound Anchor stands, correct?

From what I understand, they prevent the front to back swaying  of the panels and thereby increase image stability. 

@bdp24 Just PM my email to you. Thanks!

@bdp24 Eric, thanks for the photos. I would like to keep the SA stands, so I may end up fabricating a set of struts with a local metal worker.

@chowkwan Very impressive set and twin LFT 8a's! What is a ' Super Lumi ' phono?

It is clear that LFT 8's suffer from a lack of brand identity and a lot of disinformation. Some of the un-truths have been floating around for ages, and despite continuous attempts to correct, still persist. Refuting  some of the un-truths : They are made in the US of A; they are tube amp friendly, 20 W min; they have a wide and deep enough sweet spot; .......etc

What I don't understand is this: The ET 2 linear tonearm from the same brand enjoys a very healthy reputation and respect. A thread here on Audiogon on the ET arm has over a million views. However, the speaker from Eminent Technology seemed consistently under-rated. Is the speaker world much more competitive with many more choices? Did the ET arm established itself  in an era of less good tonearms , and hence garnered good reviews and established a fan base  early?

@harryz Just looked up the Starkrimson Amps, 500W class D, very interesting! I believe you will be happy with the 8C, unless you want to hold off until the LFT 18s' are released. 

There are folks here with tube amps from Music Ref. - 100w @bdp24 and @chowkwan with 400W Manleys.  I have a pair of Von Gaylord Nirvana 100 W with 8 Tung Sol 6550s'. However, I really like the LFT 8C with a 20W Mactone MH-300b, a little known Japanese amp with 300Bs' in Push-Pull configuration. It is harmonically richer, with better bass and slightly wider / deeper soundstage. A 20W tube amp would be quite comfortable driving the LFT 8Bs', and most definitely 8Cs'. I think Manley makes a pair of 300b monos' that can be switched into a 20W P-P or a 10W SE mode. in my estimation,  that would be a good fit with the ET. I guess I am the low power advocate for the ETs'.

@bdp24 Grant quoted CAD$ 900 for the Mye stands. I initially thought they were quite steep for two structs. Now I understand that it is the entire stand + struct combo. 

Someone on Audiogon posted the use of Townshend Pods  in lieu of the SA spikes to very good results. With both Towshend Pods and the Mye stand, that would take  the LFT 8s' into another level. The only thing i don't like about the Pods is that they raise the speaker several inches. And the alignment of the tweeter and my listening height is rather critical. If a bit off axis, details suffer. 

@harryz Hi Harry, just a reminder that the cable compliment is very different between the 8b and 8c. In the 8c, it is a set of line level cables from preamp out to the DSP / woofer  units, then another set of line level cables from the woofers to your amps, and finally speaker cables from amps back to the speakers. The amps only drives the mid range panels and the tweeters. And all signals go through A-D and D-A conversion before it goes to your amp. 

Regarding the 3 db differential in your speaker output, if you are dealing with vinyl playback, then I'd check azimuth. If not analog, I would still check the output of digital source component. My vintage Wadia CDP experienced a L-R imbalance which got fixed.

@tonnesen I think the correct cabling in an integrated amp is: CDP line in to integrated amp; integrated line out to 8c woofer: and then speaker cable from integrated to 8c panel. You will be saving a set of cables from woofer to amp. I am using two sets Duelund silver foil cables with Duelund gold plated paper cup connectors.

And as @bdp24 mentioned, Bruce is available for queries. Although my two recent emails have gone unanswered. I guess he is busy with the 18SL.

@iansr There are plenty of used LFT-8b's for sale now, no need to wait!

Also, there are a few threads over at Audiokarma on the ET LFT-8c's with actual user experiences which are very informative:

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/eminent-technology-lft-8c-latest-version-impressions.1021996/, and 

https://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/anyone-else-upgrading-to-eminent-technology-lft-8c.999286/

@harpo75 I concur that placement is super important with the 8b's. I never got to your level of perfection in terms of placement. I had them out 76 in. from front wall with quite a lot of toe in. And I was never quite satisfied with the soundstage. But I believe if I had persisted, I'd get there as there are many of you who have achieved it. 

I now use the 8c's and with slight toe-in the speakers disappear. The recording venue is palpable. Mind you, I am still fiddling with it, but I  can now appreciate what you mean. 

@rotarius If the panels were visibly rattling, then you would hear dullness. The panels handle the mid-range and the ribbon tweeters the high frequencies only. They do not receive low frequency signals.  If they rattle with bass heavy music, then it must be the physical connection with the woofer enclosure that is the problem. If you read earlier posts by @harpo75 , he has installed stiffeners to reinforce the swaying of the panels not to correct a mistake but to enhance the stability of the sound field, a project that is on my bucket list.