by GlassWolf » Sun Mar 27, 2005 8:22 pm
umm what you auditioned were probably MartinLogans, like the ones I use at home.
they are di-polar speakers by nature, and use the surface/wall behind the membrane to reflect half of their output as a first order reflection. they also tend to require a relatively large ESL to produce good output and good response. Their range is between 250Hz and 50KHz with a near-perfectly flat response, but they are extremely power hungry and require amplifiers with incredibly good damping and reserve power due to their very reactive load nature.
As for sound quality you'll probably never hear a better speaker, and that's exactly why I own a pair. For musicality they are as close to live as you'll find. That woofer under the ESL is to cover the range the ESL can't, which is 250Hz and below.
The reason you don't see a lot of ESL speakers in HT and such is the cost. That's it. That, and the finnicky nature of positioning for an ESL.. They are very picky about placement and room layout and to get ideal response from a pair of them you need to spend a whole day moving them a couple inches at a time till you get the image just right.
They start at around $1,500/pair and go up to $75,000 per pair for the flagship model Statement E2 towers.
Personally, I went with the Odessey mains for $6,500/pair, and a Krell STA-250 class A amplifier to drive them. I've been considering a Mark Levinson pre-amp to go with that setup and maybe a Meridian CD player or Basis turntable to round it out but fornow, money is going into the car instead.
Now you know why I'm such an avid proponent of MartinLogan ESLs though, and why you'll see me ranting about them for home stereo systems if you have the money.
umm what you auditioned were probably MartinLogans, like the ones I use at home.
they are di-polar speakers by nature, and use the surface/wall behind the membrane to reflect half of their output as a first order reflection. they also tend to require a relatively large ESL to produce good output and good response. Their range is between 250Hz and 50KHz with a near-perfectly flat response, but they are extremely power hungry and require amplifiers with incredibly good damping and reserve power due to their very reactive load nature.
As for sound quality you'll probably never hear a better speaker, and that's exactly why I own a pair. For musicality they are as close to live as you'll find. That woofer under the ESL is to cover the range the ESL can't, which is 250Hz and below.
The reason you don't see a lot of ESL speakers in HT and such is the cost. That's it. That, and the finnicky nature of positioning for an ESL.. They are very picky about placement and room layout and to get ideal response from a pair of them you need to spend a whole day moving them a couple inches at a time till you get the image just right.
They start at around $1,500/pair and go up to $75,000 per pair for the flagship model Statement E2 towers.
Personally, I went with the Odessey mains for $6,500/pair, and a Krell STA-250 class A amplifier to drive them. I've been considering a Mark Levinson pre-amp to go with that setup and maybe a Meridian CD player or Basis turntable to round it out but fornow, money is going into the car instead.
Now you know why I'm such an avid proponent of MartinLogan ESLs though, and why you'll see me ranting about them for home stereo systems if you have the money.