Hey Eric-
Did you replace the Sound Anchors with the Mye stands? I thought I had read that you had…
Harry Z
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.
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@harryz: Nope Harry; I'm a huge procrastinator. ;-) My correspondence regarding the Mye stand for the LFT-8 was with a swell guy named Scott (I'll keep his last name private, as he may not want it made public). He contacted me after seeing my posting on the LFT a coupla years ago, telling me about the Mye stand. He told me the stand made a noticeable improvement in the sound of the LFT, well worth the cost of a pair. I gave Grant Mye a call, and he said sure he'd make me a pair, to send him the locations/dimensions of the mounting holes in the bottom of the speaker. The mounting holes in the Mye stand will presumably be the same as that in the Sound Anchor, but a measurement is of course a good idea. The stand isn't pictured on the Mye website, and neither is the stand Grant makes for the Quad ESL, which looks incredible (he sent me a pic). It is also not included in the Mye price list, so I don't know what the current price is. |
@harryz thanks for the shoutout. |
@harryz: I too wondered if the woofer enclosure of the 8c has the same footprint as does the 8b. The rear of the 8b woofer enclosure is sloped, the 8c not. Perhaps both enclosures have the same bottom dimension, the 8c just having a square shape, for greater internal volume. A call to Thigpen would get the answer to that question. For those who don't want the 8c (with it's digital processing), but like the idea of a dipole woofer, a separate dipole woofer can be used in place of the stock monopole 8b woofer. For those interested and not adverse to a little DIY, look into the OB/Dipole Sub offered by GR Research in conjunction with Rythmik Audio. It's sold as a kit, but is not much harder to build than an IKEA dresser (I assembled one for my sister ;-) . |
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