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Your favorite Electrostatic, Panel spkr

 I’m putting together an analog system. First on the list was a turntable, I’ve settled on the Denon DP 59L. 
  Now let’s hear from the owners of some panel electrostatic type speakers, not ones you dreamed of owning, ones that you’ve owned and the reason why they were your favorite. 
kgveteran

Showing 6 responses by bdp24

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,020 posts
 
A true ribbon CAN be made in a wide width (Apogee did it), but it's expensive. Such a ribbon is very insensitive, and apparently it's impedance has to be very low (Apogee's sure was). A difficult loudspeaker to pull off, but some consider the Apogees the best they've ever heard. I've never heard one, the best I've heard are imo ESL's, though magnetic-planars have their charms.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,020 posts
 
Not to pick nits, but the famous tweeter in the big Maggies---3.7, 20.7, 30.7---is not a magnetic-planar, but a true (not quasi-) ribbon. So is the tweeter in the Eminent Technology LFT-8b.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,020 posts
 
As always, no mention of the Eminent Technology LFT-8b. Like Maggies, a magnetic-planar from 180Hz to 10kHz (push-pull drivers, unlike the single-ended in the cheaper Maggies), an 8" dynamic woofer for 180Hz down, and a ribbon tweeter for 10kHz up. In the 180Hz-10kHz operating range of the dual m-p drivers, there is no crossover/high-low pass filtering! $2499/pr. Reviews in TAS and a couple of the UK mags. As a bonus, it presents an 8 ohm (almost purely) resistive load to the power amp (if bi-amping, the m-p/ribbon drivers are an 11 ohm load), so unlike Maggies can be driven by a modest tube amp, including the Atma-Sphere M60 and Music Reference RM-200.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,020 posts
 

I don't know how one could come to think I was "saying the ET was (sic) an ESL". I infact specifically said it was NOT---that was the main point of the post in which I said as much! My related quote about the ET: "but you should know that it's design is magnetic-planar, not ESL". I own two magnetic-planar loudspeakers (Eminent Technology LFT-8b, Magneplanar Tympani T-IVa), one ESL (original QUAD), and a loudspeaker containing ESL tweeters---RTR's, the same ones David Wilson used in his WAMM (ESS TranStatic I).

ESL's and magnetic-planars are similar in some ways, different in others. I have found audiophiles to be in either the planar (ESL, m-p, ribbon, whatever) camp, the "dynamic" (cone drivers) camp, or the horn camp. I can live with just about any planar, but very few dynamics. I don't have enough experience with horns (other than the pair of Altec Voice-Of-The-Theater PA speakers I had to listen through when living in a "band house" in 71-2. NOT a hi-fi loudspeaker imo!) to have an informed opinion about them. I've heard the Jadis Eurythmie (Brooks Berdan's pair), Klipsch K-Horn (ditto), various JBL's with dynamic woofers, but haven't lived with them. That's the ONLY way to get to really know a loudspeaker. Same with a woman ;-) .

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,020 posts
 

@mijostyn, yup, I know the Sanders is "a real ESL" (what's an "unreal" ESL? ;-), that’s why I above referred to it as "the Sanders ESL". Both the Sanders and the Eminent Technology LFT-8 are hybrids, with a dynamic woofer.

The ET employs an 8" bass driver with 1st-order high- and low-pass filters centered at 180Hz. It’s dual magnetic-planar midrange drivers operate from 180Hz all the way up to 10kHz (with no x/o in that range!), where another 1st-order filter passes off to a ribbon tweeter. 5’ tall, a foot wide and deep, $2499/pr.

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,020 posts
 

@rsf507’s recommendation of the Eminent Technology "speakers" (presumably the LFT-8) is a fine one, but you should know that it’s design is magnetic-planar, not ESL. His other nominee---the Sanders ESL---is another great planar. The price differential between the two is considerable---$2499/pr for the ET vs. somewhere around $15,000/pr for the Sanders!

You should also know that each requires a fair amount of amplifier power (being an 8 ohm resistive load, the ET can be partnered with a medium-powered tube amp), and are both "single-listener" designs, each having a rather narrow sweet spot. The same is true of many other planar (including ESL) loudspeakers. And that they both, like all planars, need to be (while listened to critically, at any rate) out in front of the wall behind them by a minimum of 3’, 5’ being better. 10', if you have the space!

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