check this out:...active...triamped.....room correction....optionally you can use your own amps on the mids and highs.
Steve Guttenberg finally reviews the Eminent Technology LFT-8b loudspeaker.
Over the past few years I and a number of other owners of the Eminent Technology LFT-8b have on this site extolled the virtues of this under-acknowledged loudspeaker. I myself have encouraged those interested in Magnepans to try and hear the LFT-8 before buying. That is not easy, as ET has only five U.S.A. dealers.
I am a long-time fan of Maggies, having bought my first pair (Tympani T-I) in 1973, my last (Tympani T-IVa) a few years ago. But the Tympani’s need a LOT of room (each 3-panel speaker is slightly over 4’ wide!), which I currently don’t have. So I gave a listen to the MG 1.7i, and didn’t much care for it. As I recounted in a thread here awhile back, I found the 1.7 to sound rather "wispy", lacking in body and tonal density (thank you Art Dudley ;-).
Brooks Berdan was (RIP) a longtime ET dealer, installing a lot the company’s linear-tracking air-bearing arm on Oracle, VPI, and SOTA tables. After Brooks’ passing his wife Sheila took over management of the shop, continuing on as an ET dealer. I knew Brooks was a fan of the LFT-8, and he had very high standards in loudspeakers (his main lines were Vandersteen, Wilson, and Quad). The shop had a used pair of LFT-8’s, so I gave them a listen. They sounded good enough to me to warrant investigate further, so I had Sheila order me a pair, along with the optional (though nearly mandatory) Sound Anchor bases.
I wouldn’t waste your time if I didn’t consider the ET LFT-8b to be just as I have on numerous occasions (too many times for some here) described it: the current best value in all of hi-fi. Hyperbole? Well, you no longer have to take it from just me and the other owners here: Steve Guttenberg finally got around to getting in for review a pair (the LFT-8 has been in production for 33 years!), and here is what he has to say about it. After watching the video, you can read other reviews (in a number of UK mags, and in TAS by Robert E. Greene) on the ET website.
Showing 13 responses by ricevs
When the 18LS Protos were unveiled the info sheet said " features new push pull neodymium planar mid and highs".......and the guy there said they were 90db efficient.....and the speaker could play super loud (110db). You can see/hear what what I just stated in the above first video posted.....so, everything is new with this new Proto. The mid/high planars look the same.....but apparently....are not. $15K for everything. We will see what might change when it hits the streets. |
I am going to contact Bruce about creating an updated LFT-8b and C......like an EXTREME version: the new 90db Neo drivers, new woofer to match and all upgraded parts: WBT posts, cryoed wires and super xover parts. Probably would be at least 2-3K more......but can you imagine?......Way, way more transparency and dynamics!!!...add the C part and super bass too......would not need another speaker.......ever! The older ones could then be upgraded to the latest since all the drivers are the same size as the older ones (I am assuming here). Yes, the new 18LS would be even more dynamic.....but who has the room and money?.....and you can always add super subs to the 18b Extreme or C Extreme. Will see what he says.....certainly what I would do if I were him.......it would blow the roof off the industry.....90db....easy to drive maggie beater.......send one to Steve Guttenberg and he will use it as his reference for years. |
I am a super freak.....er....I mean..super tweak....he he. You REALLY WANT to upgrade ALL the crossover parts, jacks and wiring in these things.......The speaker posts, caps, wiring and coils are NOT serious stuff. Change the posts to Nextgen WBTs.....change the caps to best Clarity, Mundorf, V-Cap, Jupiter copper, other copper caps, etc....bypass with smaller values for more speed and clarity. Make sure you put the outer foil of the cap to ground or to the load (speaker). Change all coils to copper foil wax paper 12 gauge Jantzen coils. Make sure you go "into" the inner winding of the coil....and "out" the outer winding. Change the wires to VH Audio, Neotech Litz or other great wires. If there are any resistors in the xover then change them to Path Audio resistors or the latest Mundorf’s....or power Caddock’s bypassed by a nude Vishay. The difference will blow your mind. I would not use the DSP in the C version on the panels......just for the woofs. I personally would get the B version and make a baffle next to the speaker and use a couple of 12 inch Acoustic Elegance dipole drivers on an open baffle......and then get a separate crossover/amp to drive them. These are the same drivers used in the $120K open framed IO speakers from Italy that Jason of AudioJunkie fame went crazy over. |
2 years ago Ron at New Record Day stated the Spatial M3 Sapphires with their passive bass woofs were "faster" than Danny’s servos......he compared them several times. He talks about this starting at 28 minutes in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFQKGaxfIJk The servo subs are great.....but they are not state of the art. The guy at GT Audio was using the servo subs and is now using Acoustic Elegance woofers in his H-frames. The servo subs also cannot play that high and have limited tunability. Using a xover/amp you can set the xover anywhere you like with the AE woofs and equalize to your hearts content and get rid of all bass nodes. Please read this review on the Kryon speaker using AE woofs.....the guy said it was the best bass he ever heard in his room. Of course, you need to make a serious baffle and brace it well. Kryon uses the AE woofs in all their open baffle designs including the monster one without any baffles. https://6moons.com/audioreviews2/kyron/1.html https://kyronaudio.com.au/gaia.html Joe Cohen of the Lotus Group designed the two Granada speakers shown here (using the same AE woofs).....way over 12 years ago. You can search for reviews.....they were loved. Don’t know if any were sold. |
When I used the servo subs I found the bass much better with the fuse bypassed in the amp and the binding posts all bypassed on the drivers. You might want to call the guy at GT Audioworks and ask him why he changed from the servo woofs to the AE drivers.......certainly wasn't to save money. What I would like is for Bruce to sell the new 90db neo drivers mounted in the new panel by themselves with just wire hanging down (the mid/tweeter thang shown in the 18LS proto). Then make an external super passive xover for the panels and then run two AE drivers on an open baffle next to it running with full digital electronic crossover and eq and solid state bass......I bet that would be killer......and a lot less expensive than the 18LS thing. Another cheap alternative would be to get a minidsp crossover and 4 channels of amps.......make an open baffle speaker and bi-amp it with two AE 12 inchers on the bottom and 4 series parallel GRS 8 inch planar drivers ($60 each from Parts Express) mounted above the woofs.....all on the same baffle. The crossover would be used to equalize and time align.....Crossover, wires, woofer amp, drivers (AE woofers are over $500 each delivered!) and wood would be less than $4500. ......you just add a source. This would be killer. You would use your existing amp on the panels and buy a cheap class D amp for the woofs. I am pretty sure the ET drivers (especially the new neo ones) would be better......but, this would be way cool. You could use the GRS drivers passively but they might need some eqing.....so some crossover design knowledge might be needed. If you use the inexpensive digital xover....then anyone can get great sound in an hour. The series parallel GRS drivers would be around 96db sensitive.....so even low powered tubes could drive them.....cross over set at around 400 hz. Of course, you could use just one AE driver, two cheaper 12 inchers, one $60 planar.....etc. to infinity. https://www.parts-express.com/GRS-PT6825-8-8-Planar-Mid-Tweeter-8-Ohm-272-126?quantity=1 SO MANY POSSIBILITIES!!!!! Life is grand! Love is in the air.....spring has sprung.....wishing you all joy and beauty. |
If you want to take it to another level......here are some suggestions: 1. Hardwire everything......no spades on your speaker wires.....hardwire your speaker wire right to the xover parts. Remove the connectors from the xover to the panels. Hardwire the wire to the woofer right to the voice coil wire.......where it is attached to the tab on the speaker. 2. Make an external xover and mount it either behind the speaker (damped and isolated from floor or isolated from the woofer box on top of the woofer box). Use cryoed 12 gauge wax coils from Jantzen and make sure you go into the inside of the coil and out the outside. Hardwire all the xover parts together. Use the best caps and resistors you can afford. Check out this custom xover (bottom of page) I made for some Apogee Duetta speakers a couple of years ago: http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/Speaker_ideas.html 3. Put felt all around the front of the tweeter.....overlapping a hair over the inside edge that the tweeter sees. Way more focused and pure. Please share with everyone the xover for the speaker.....so we can all do mods and help each other. You cannot hurt ET by doing this. These are custom drivers.....he cannot lose anything by you sharing the xover schematic. He can only win....if people tell him what sounds better that what he uses......he can then build a better speaker and we won't have to mod it. Its a win-win. Be Happy......it is your birthright......Be a smile Billionaire......its free!.....S M I L E ...Start My Internal Love Engine........rev it up! |
Actually, the tube connectors are not that great. You still have two solder connections and a connector.....it may have a shorter connection than most connectors but not as pure as a WBT Nextgen with low mass pure copper connections. My plastic clamp system is the purest sounding of all...and you can clamp wires together without any connectors.....less is more, most of the time. The main problem with the tube connector is just what you stated: you have to use a banana into it and you cannot jumper to another connector or add more goodies like Music Purifiers. What if you have an expensive speaker cable with spades on it?.......then you cannot use your cables without a terrible signal distorting adapter. Using cables with no connectors and clamping together sounds like a hard solder....the purest sound. Here are three pics (bottom of page) of my plastic connectors (which cannot take bananas): http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/Digital_amp_mods.html You can also see my plastic clamp system on the xover for the Apogee speakers in the last link......two posts above. He loves them. He uses the Fidelium bi-wire adapter and has Music Purifiers and Ground Enhancers on each set pf posts for best sound.......so, is clamping the Fidelium cables directly to the wire going into the xover. His speakers sound amazing!
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Harpo75, So glad you are tweaking everything in your system......Here are a couple more things I have experienced: 1. 12 gauge Jantzen wax paper coils sounded WAY better than 14 gauge Jantzens on my Neo 10 planar midrange driver. 2. Going into the inside of the foil and coming out the outside is noticeably superior sounding......so, outside to driver or to ground (if used as a shunt). 3. Bypassing an inductor with a very small value cap results in more transparency. My friend with the modded Apogees put one of my modded .15 Wima caps across his big copper foil coils to ground on the tweeter circuit.....more clarity. He also has a Wima cap across his Mundorf copper foil iron inductor on the woofer panel....However, he never removed it to see what difference it is making. Would be good to get some feedback from you using it on a series coil on your midrange. I no longer have the Neo 10.....so cannot try it. For the woofer, I would use the largest gauge coil I could find......you could also use the Mundorf iron core copper foils: https://www.hificollective.co.uk/inductors/mundorf_CFS_range.html Would love it if you posted a detailed pic of the xover with values.....so those with the speaker could tweak easier. The ET panels are custom, so there is no lose for Bruce by sharing the xover. In fact, he could learn what other people have found work good and incorporate those parts in his future speakers.....I want a 90 db single panel version with more woofs on the bottom.....done with all state of the art parts, base and bracing.....me drooling. Have fun, Ric |
bdp24, Thanks for the info. Yes, the manual for the 8b has the schematic and values....and lots of measurements and details......incredibly detailed for a manufacturer......thank you Bruce. So, guys.....get to work. The stock execution is just average. Do what Harpo75 has done (tricked out base, bracing, super xover and super jacks and wire) and you will have one of the best speakers in the world....at least for mids and highs.....Add my Music Purifiers and Ground Enhancers for even more detail and musciality.......One 8 inch woofer ain't goin to be that exciting. I would mount a Lii Audio 15 inch open baffle woofer next to it and bi-amp.....maybe use two 15s......he he.....knock down the walls. I want this.......Harpo75's system must sound outrageous! |
The Ground Enhancers are a copy of the original Audio Prism Ground Control (no longer available). Please do a search.....you will find rave reviews and more information on those. The Ground Controls were sold for $150 a pair and my better sounding versions were $30 a pair (now a big $40 a pair....actually now FREE with a pair of Music Purifiers). You can see the latest nude version on my website. They are a sonically tuned bunch of damped OFC litz wire. No one really knows why they work as they cannot be measured but the theory is that they act as an electron storage device.....like having a great ground plane. You can find reviews of my Ground Enhancers on line as well. The Music Purifiers are an rf fliter.....it is a resistor and capacitor in series. They filter the noise on your speaker wire.....that is why they need to be put right on the speakers. The original version was made by Enacom back in the 90s.....then Walker Audio had some expensive ones, then Merlin Audio sold them with his speakers and now Stein Music sells very expensive versions and there are some other clones as well. These things can be measured. But why would filtering the speaker wire abouve 200K make a sonic improvement? Who cares.....it works. Every tiny thing you do makes a difference so I spent a lot of time tuning these and sent 2 or 3 versions to a couple of people to get feedback. The final version uses a modified small Polyprop cap that has its leads removed and the resistor is 5 parallel surface mount resistors that are soldered directly to the body of the cap (also super glued down). The wire on the ground is also soldered directly to the cap body and the hot wire is directly soldered to the 5 resistors.....no leads on any parts. They are suspended in a thick paper tube and the wires are superglued to the tube. The wire is cryoed OFC with Teflon foam insulation. No connectors on the wire......just the ends tinned with Wonder Solder and bent into a U shape to mount on a binding post. In the US they sell for $125 plus $10 shipping and right now I am giving away a set of Ground Enhancers with every pair of Music Purifiers. These are sold with a 30 day money back.....I will pay you $135 if you send them back.....you are only responsible for the shipping to me (maybe $10). BTW.....no customer has ever sent them back. Both these things are super hand made and you can tell by the pricing that I am making billions of dollars. Maybe I should make a gold leaf version.....or even have rubies and diamonds on them......I could include a hidden ferrite ring too......he he. Actually, I love that spending so little can result in so much improvement......I love being of service. May we all be happy.....right now! |
You want to take your system to another whole level (way, way, way better than isolation transformer).....then get off the grid.....Use large Lifepo4 batteries and a Giandel pure sine wave inverter.......will blow your mind.......then add a Puritan line filter afterwords and your mind will never come back......yea! Info on both on my website. I do not sell anything to do with this.....unless you want your Puritan modded (personally, if I had a Puritan, I would hardwire my powercords into it......no Furutech connectors needed.....no connectors at all. |
Here is my latest thinking on a diy super duper speaker using planars and woofs http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/DIY_Bi-amped_super_speaker.html Bi-amped, eqed, flat to 30hz...Super transparent and inexpensive. |