CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[beun]

Picture of the new electrostatic speaker

[WTS]

HI Kim,

Looking good, how does it compare to the big name Stats's.

[beun]

Walter,

In my opinion just as good, but then again I may be biased .

From a technical point of view the whole thing is just a thin membrane in between two perforated steel plates. The magic is in the coating of the membrane in order to hold charge. Many people and professional brands use graphite, liquid soap, PVA glue, nylon solution (Quad), some conducting polymer (Martin Logan) or anti-static spray (also a conducting polymer). I use metalized foil after doing extensive tests and in my opinion there is no downside, I cannot hear or measure a quality difference. On the other hand I avoid issues with wetting of the membrane and any environmental factors like extremely dry (with a nylon coating) or moist air.


Kim

[Tom.W]

Never owned a set of electrostatic speakers. Are they really that much better then conventional drivers of good design ?

[WTS]

Kim, what's the efficiency and how well do they blend with the sub?

[kal]

[kal]

[beun]

Walter,

The stereo placement of planar speakers in general and electrostatics in specific is far superior to that of regular speakers. The sound of regular boxed cone drivers never seems to leave the speaker. In electrostats the stereo image is fluid between and beyond the panels, it is something you really have to hear yourself.

It is not to say that they are not without fault, as Kal already mentioned they are hard to drive. The impedance drops all the way down to less that 2 Ohms at high frequencies so I use either the Solo amp that can source and sink up to 50A or the DPA5, a 150w digital amplifier. The sensitivity is also quite low, I estimate mine to be around 85dB/W. On the other hand a line source decreased only by 3dB per distance doubling instead of 6dB like a regular speaker does.

Also the maximum loudness level is definitely lower than what is achievable with an ordinary speaker, so when you like to listen to ear drum splitting sound levels, an electrostat is not for you.

The big blue ESL1's have to cross over around 60Hz while the new ESL0.5's should be crossed over at 80Hz. The blending works great as the cross-over frequency is well below that of the human voice.

I have heard Martin-Logan hybrid electrostatic speakers that cross over around 300-400Hz and that definitely does not work for me. The sound of a cone and a panel in the critical lower mid-range does not and will not match and personally I think the drive to smaller speakers just compromises the quality too much.

[WTS]

HI Kim and Kal,

I've owned the Quad ESLs in the past and I will say that they were very nice to listen to if you were in the window. And I've listened to most of the Maggies too, I knew the local dealer very well for many years, and they were nice too, but to say they imaged better than a pair of what you refer to as regular speakers tells me maybe you haven't listened to a good setup then. THe best imaging setup I 've ever heard used a set of Raven tweeters( the top end ones, about 5G a pair). You have to remember that imaging isn't all the work or job of the speakers, you also need the best electronics in front of them to acheive proper imaging. Don't get me wrong, I very much enjoyed the sound of the maggies but they sure weren't the best I've heard. You have to remember with planars you have sound coming from both the front and the back and that can cause some smearing due to the phase shifted rear sound.

As for the Martins I've heard their hybrids and I wasn't that impressed but it seems it's very hard to match the 2 together. Crossing over at the lower end around 60 hz would be getting closer to a doable arrangement I would think. I agree you don't buy ESLs to crank up and blow the doors off the house. I've always been a fan of the planar style speakers but I don't think they are the best overall, now if someone could make a speaker that had all the best aspects of cone/dome/ribbon/ESLs/planar then that would be the one to buy. BUt I doubt that will ever come happen so you have to pick your least objectionable traits and go with that for your choice of speakers.

Anyway I don't want to get into an arguement about this as everyone has their likes and dislikes when it comes to speakers.

[beun]

Walter,

I am still looking for the ideal speaker myself, maybe ultimately it will be a USB port straight into my brain but until then my personal feeling is that an electrostat is the best compromise. I have heard a wide variation of dynamic speakers, even very expensive ones and while good, some even very good they just don't do it for me.


Kim

[WTS]

Hi Kim,

I agree, I still think the most pleasing (not the most accurate) sound I've heard was from ESLs. Are your newest stats 2 way or one single panel? What are the dimensions?

[beun]

Walter,

You put it right, they are the most pleasing (at least to my ears). These stats are a single panel with no crossover, they are 2' wide by 5' high. I do need a sub however to augment everything below 80Hz, they do sound a bit light down there.

[zaphod]

i've owned ML CLS for a couple of decades. what many of us CLS owners do is run them full range, but add a sub for the bottom end. by running the CLS fullrange, you avoid the "sonic seam" that hybrid stats have.

[beun]

Correct, but the CLS was the big (and expensive) one. You could not do that with any of the newer versions (CLX excluded of cause).

[beun]

Just wanted to remind everyone that later this afternoon and the whole day Saturday I will be at the Lone Star Audio Fest again in the Embassy Suites Park Central in Dallas.

I will be showing the ESL-0.5 electrostatic loudspeakers and all the Crescendo Systems audio electronics including:

Solo mono block amplifier
DPA5 5 channel amplifier
PHA1 Phono amplifier
BM5.1 Bass management module

If you are in the neighborhood and have time just drop in, attendance is free.


http://lonestaraudiofest.com/

[Tom.W]

Good luck Kim !

[beun]

Thanks