Poll For Electrostatic / Planar Speaker Users

[magiccarpetride]

Yes, another choice would maybe be good, as I used several Maggies for quite a few years. If you have the room and right gear for them, they certainly can be quite nice. Who knows, maybe someday I will get back to panels again.

I'm staying with my Maggies because, unlike other speakers I've tried, Maggies seem the least fussy about positioning/room treatments. I don't have the ideal listening room, so Maggies are heaven sent for me.

[Lawrence001]

Planar, as are hybrid electrostatic speakers.

Put me down as planar then. At least for 2 more weeks, something might be arriving at that point

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[Lawrence001]

Well yes - that is what is meant by 'hybrid'. But the traditional driver is usually the bass driver.

Not all electrostatics were planar (dipole) though: the Alex Shackman mid/tweeter wasn't, nor was the American Electro Static Sounds (ESS) speaker which used electrostatic tweeters. Both used a conventional cabinet.

The only ESS speakers I've seen actually used a "bellows" principle Oskar Heil air motion tweeter in a hollow alcove above the bass driver, despite the company name. What is a good example of one of their electrostatic speakers?

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[walpurgis]

The only ESS speakers I've seen actually used a "bellows" principle Oskar Heil air motion tweeter in a hollow alcove above the bass driver, despite the company name. What is a good example of one of their electrostatic speakers?

I'm fairly sure there was a large Heil pleated ribbon driver that either provided bass or was full range. This may have been an experimental unit, it was a long time ago and my recollection is not clear. I suspect it may not have been anything to do with ESS.

[Pharos]

Yes, ESS produced the Transar, a massive full range Heil principled thing using rods to drive cone-cups, but I don't think it was ever commercially successful though.

[Barry]

The only ESS speakers I've seen actually used a "bellows" principle Oskar Heil air motion tweeter in a hollow alcove above the bass driver, despite the company name. What is a good example of one of their electrostatic speakers?

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I may have been mistaken with the name. I have a review of such a speaker in an old US audio magazine of 1972. The magazine is boxed up along with others, so I will need some time to find it and check the name of the US speaker I had in mind. Whatever it was called, it definitely used electrostatic tweeters.

[Lawrence001]

I may have been mistaken with the name. I have a review of such a speaker in an old US audio magazine of 1972. The magazine is boxed up along with others, so I will need some time to find it and check the name of the US speaker I had in mind. Whatever it was called, it definitely used electrostatic tweeters.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure they made some electrostatics or where would they have got the name from? I just haven't been able to identify a pair yet. Unless they got the name from making amplification for electrostatics, I had a beautiful power amp by them a few years ago, it was apparently the first American "monster" amp, I think it went to about 200wpc into 8 ohms.

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[Pharos]

They did make electrostatics. I spoke extensively to them in the mid 80s during my first ESS rebuild and they confirmed it.

I also have brochures of their amplifiers from that time, and the specs were so far ahead of what we were typically using that it was astounding.

I think that the relative vulnerability of electrostatics, coupled with the arrival of the Heil changed their direction.

[Sherwood]

They did make electrostatics. I spoke extensively to them in the mid 80s during my first ESS rebuild and they confirmed it.

I also have brochures of their amplifiers from that time, and the specs were so far ahead of what we were typically using that it was astounding.

I think that the relative vulnerability of electrostatics, coupled with the arrival of the Heil changed their direction.

Yes, ESS stood for ElectroStatic Sound. I am a big fan of the Air Motion Transformer, though the technology is not your standard magnetic planar technology. http://www.hedd.audio/en/hedd-amt/

Properly implemented, an AMT has a speed and clarity that few other technologies can match. That is why I recently bought a pair of Martin Logan Motion 2 speakers for use in my travelling hifi system. Yes, the bass output is limited, but in truth after a while you just don't notice that much, such is the transparency and speed of what is there. Even though they are small speakers, dynamics are outstanding. On vocals, you really get the sense of the performer being in the room.

Geoff

[User211]

Just been reading the technical review of the Maggie 20.7, at £19K in April's HFN.

It really isn't good. 80DB sensitivity, 2.5Ohms at 451Hz and an uneven pair matching response of up to +/- 5.5DB, probably due to inconsistent panel tension I would imagine. Also, there's much complaint about panel resonance, which isn't kept in check by their super flimsy construction IMHO.

There are huge suckouts in the FR with a plus/minus max difference over the frequency range of nearly 20DB swing. But the microphone placement is so far from ideal positioning it is hard to make any real conclusions about exactly how bad it really is.

They are a bit crap when measuring planars. They don't seem to be able to place the microphone far enough away, and at least with this review they are fessing up to it. They produced frequency response plots for the Analysis Omega years ago that quite frankly were very, very hard to believe.

The subjective rating? 89%, which is pretty damned good for an HFN score.

All is not necessarily well in technical review land. I have seen technical reports for some products recently that I think are utter bullshit.