@ andrewkelley
Martin Logan Expression ESL 13A Electrostatic Speakers
Pass Labs 260.8 Mono Amplifiers
PS Audio BHK Preamplifier
Denefrips Terminator Dac
I occasionally go to audio shows with a thumb drive of 10 critical listening songs that I know well.
When it is allowed, I will listen to 1 or 2 songs chosen to hear the noticed superior assets of the auditioned speakers. I will go home and compare my remembered results to my above system. I have found expensive systems that give me a better "feel" of the music, but I have not found one that gives me a better "sound" of the music.
I have had a love of the electrostatic sound for many decades.
I entered a high-end music store in the early 1980s in Oklahoma City, just to compare what they had to my great Altec Lansing Flamenco 848a horn and large woofer speakers. These rocked and shook my walls with their 15" woofer. I was in my early 30s with a limited budget. I saw a pair of tall skinny screens in a frame with a large tubed amplifier attached. I asked what they were and was told that they were electrostatic speakers. I think they were Acoustat or Martin Logan, I do not remember which. He turned them on and I was blown away. I had never heard any speakers that were so realistic in the midrange and treble. The instruments and vocals were so real I knew I had to get them. I asked the price and was told I would have to get the amplifier and the speakers and the combination would cost somewhere between $8,000 and $10,000. I was extremely disappointed because I knew I would never be able to afford them. I left the store and dreamt about those speakers for years. I eventually forgot about them.
In early 2017 I was in Best Buy with my wife and saw a section of the store that was labeled Magnolia. It was a Hi-Fi and TV store. We were thinking about getting a new TV so we went in. After a while, I entered a separate room that had several speakers with McIntosh and other amplifiers. They also had a pair of tall skinny screens in a frame. I know that my heartbeat got faster, my face flushed, and I froze and stared at my fantasy speakers. All the memories came back and I just stood and enjoyed the Deja Vu. I asked the attendant to hook them up and they sounded as good as I remembered and/or fantasized about. The sharpness, clarity, musicality, and solid bass were marvelous. I compared them to the Bowens Wilkins 800 D2 and other high-end speakers that were also in the listening rooms and there was no comparison. The electrostatics were so much better in every category that was important to me. Even my wife, who wears hearing aids, also noticed the difference. Her hearing has gotten progressively worse in the last 20 years. She has been unable to enjoy most music in the last 10 years because the speakers she has listened to were not clear enough. These electrostats changed this. We now listen to concerts and musical shows and she enjoys what she is hearing as well as I do.
The above history lesson was posted in 2019 but I thought it was pertinent here.
My advice is to look as much as you want. Change the electronics but keep the speakers.
