Electrostatic Speakers

You should try to hear the newer model Martin-Logans XStat type loudspeakers, quite an improvement and easy to drive. Time is still progressing for electrostats and a LOT of changes have been made to make them easier to live with. Sanders has a very good (though boutique) loudspeaker. 

I have been a fan of panel speakers since the mid-1970s. My love for them started with a pair of Crown ES-212s I purchased used when I worked at Crown. Recently, after not having an audio system for decades, I auditioned several components at various high end audio stores and one of the mass market electronic stores. To say that the demonstration at the mass market store was underwhelming is an understatement. I just wanted to experience it, though.

Anyway, for my recent purchase, I admit that I only auditioned panel speakers and tried some of the Maggies first. They seemed OK but didn't wow me. I went to another store and listened to a pair of Martin Logan Impression 11A speakers. Wow! I had never heard a more precise sound stage in my life. The detail and precision of the sound was just phenomenal. I wasn't ready to purchase, so I waited until I was and went back to the store with my music list in hand. I almost had tears in my eyes.

Having lived with the speakers in my home for many months now, I agree with what others have said, that these speakers (and the whole system) are so revealing that they will tell you (literally) how poorly miced and mastered some recordings are. I used to record myself and have taken graduate level acoustics courses, so I understand much of the inner workings that goes toward recording and reproducing a performance. When listening to a nice performance that is well-recorded, the sound is exhilarating. The downside is that I will no longer be able to listen to some of my favorite recordings that it is now revealed how poorly recorded they were. I'll live with that because the joyous moments exceed the disappointing ones by a large margin. I do understand and have heard what people describe in the transition from dynamic woofers to electrostatic mid-range and high panels, but the Martin Logan engineers seem to have figured out how to do that seamlessly.

I have listened to many horn speakers over my lifetime, and while, as others have noted, they are sharp, clean, and crisp, they are too dry for me. I've listened to piezos and lots and lost of cone speakers, but I keep coming home to panels. I've blathered on enough now...

Hi @joeldi! What are you driving your Impression 11's with?

I owned Acoustat 2=2 electrostatics for years and loved them.  Ever since I sold them I have been trying to find speakers with the  clarity, speed and imaging of electrostatics but also with great dynamics and slam.  I feel that I have finally achieved that with my present fully horn loaded, triamplified, DEQX DSP'ed three way DIY horn speakers.  Horns done right are magical.