What kind of power wakes up electrostatic speakers

May I join this discussion, since I am a proud owner of Martin Logan Prodigy ESL.
I have recently upgraded my amps and use now two Wolcott tube monoblocks for the panels and have adapted two bridged Bel Canto Evo 200.2 as monoblocks for the bass woofers. Now I have the best of both worlds: Giagantic mid range and treble, plus a bass which finally has body, but is not boomy.
If you cannot afford the Wolcott amps, I would definitely look into the new Bel Canto Evo 200.2.
I had the older version (which serves now for the bass) driving the whole Prodigy speaker and I was very amazed from the sound I got. And you can get a pair of the older Evo 200.2 for less than $3000 per pair here at Audiogon.
They have plenty of power (up to 800 watts, short term) in bridged mode to drive your speakers. I would not suggest just one Bel Canto stereo amp. They really only shine in bridged monoblock mode.

it's the volts!(watts = amps x volts) Look at the power supply rating on the amps you auditioned and that should give you your answer. -aj

The Acoustat TNT-200 has been upgraded and is now the Hafler 9505 DIABLO. It was designed by Jim Strickland who designed all of the Acoustat products made in USA. I have been using a 9505 to drive my Acoustat 2+2s for several years and have no complaints. Don

Back about 15 years ago ( WOW, was it really that long ago ??? ), J. Gordon Holt found that the only two SS amps that he had tried that could drive Acoustat's well were the Acoustat TNT-200 and a Threshold. I will second that nomination and also add Perreaux to the list. Whether or not any of these amps are to your personal liking in terms of sonic characteristics may be another story though. Sean
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I can't speak from personal experience, but some seem to like the "Sim" gear with stats.

Hi Duke: As usual, your response(s) are informative and to the point. My question to you is, what specifications should us 'stat fans look for in an amp? The 'current' rating should be ..... or above? The 'voltage' capability should be....or above? TIA.

Arrrgh - sorry for posting again, but I deleted a paragraph to rewrite it and then accidentally posted instead.

What I wanted to say was that there are a number of tube amplifiers that also work quite well with electrostats (some of which I sell), and there are a few that don't. It seems to me that the most critical factor is the quality of the output transformers - "budget" or high watts-per-dollar tube amps usually don't work well with electrostats. OTL's often work quite well - I got good results with the Berning amp mentioned, though in the end I chose to carry a different brand. Also, very high current and/or Class A solid state amps generally work quite well.

Greetings Steakster -

Congrats on you Final purchase! That's one of the few electrostats I haven't heard.

First of all, the Nakamichi Stasis is prone to going into oscillation and self-destructing when driving electrostats. Nakamichi skimped on the output transistors and didn't use the ones designer Nelson Pass specified.

The thing an electrostatic panel likes is a high voltage amplifier. Don't worry too much about the ultra-low impedance at high frequencies (unless your amp is oscillation-prone like the Nak), as there is very little energy up there. It's the high impedance at the lower end of the panel's range, plus the capacitive load, that gives many amps a severe pain in the output stage.

Nearly all of the speakers I sell are full-range electrostats, and by far the best bang-for-the-buck amp I've found is the InnerSound ESL amplifier (good call, Bart!). If you don't have a local dealer, shoot me an e-mail and I'd be happy to arrange a no-risk in-home audition. By no-risk, I mean if you don't like the amp, you won't even have to pay the return shipping.

Best of luck to you in your search!

Duke

Hello, I think you may need a Berning ZH270, stunning with electrostatics, believe me I know first hand :)

The ZH270 handled the load of my Soundlab Pristine II's with ease to moderately load volumes with outstatnding sonics and musicality.

Check the forum archives here and read up about the 270 with electrostatics and other fine speaker designs, this amp is world class.

Best of luck,
Chris

Steakster...

Welcome the the world of 'stats. I will never go back to boxes, but we stat owners need to do our homework.

These speakers present a widely varying impedence load to the driving amp, often down the sub 2 ohm range and want lots of voltage to play at louder levels. I have had a sunfire amp (300 wpc) hooked up to my actively crossed over Innersound Eros but found the best match was Innersounds own amp designed for ESL's specifically.

I heartily reccommend jumping over to www.innersound .net and checking out thier white paper on ESL amps. Furhter down be shy about calling the company and talking to the designer, Roger Sanders, who pretty much wrote the book on ESL design. Shoot every time I have called, he is the guy answering the phone.

His amp has loads of power and is quite reasonably priced ( for high-end audio!)

Happy listening and welcome to the "club"

Regards,