Hi all,
I am considering replacing my decades-old Magnepan MG-IIIa's. While the new 3.7 or 20.7 are obvious choices, I have always loved electrostats, having rotated a few through my system (not as owner) and listened to a variety of them over the years at friend's houses (and a few dealers). A possible upgrade to 20.7's puts me considering 'stats again...
Please bear in mind that (a) I am quite familiar with the pros and cons of planer dipoles, have a well-treated room etc. so lets focus on the speakers; (b) despite your (and my, truth be told) possible inclination to add conventional dynamics to the list, please don't; and, finally (c) price range is no more than $15k (which sadly leaves out the upper end MLs and Sound Labs designs).
Here is my short list:
Magnepan 20.7 (~$13k - $14k)
Martin Logan Summit X (~$15k)
Sanders Model 10c ($13k)
Sound Labs Millennium-3PX ($13,270)
While I love my Maggies, to my ears and instruments big 'stats have always sounded a little cleaner, but in the primordial past I found their frequency response lacking a bit (and more artifacts around the low-end crossovers to their subs than Maggie in some cases), dynamics a bit more compressed, and a number of models had reliability problems. A number of them also presented rather nasty loads, especially up high. Magnepan has always seemed a tad more colored and some models in some positions exhibited discontinuities going from high to low as the drivers were changed (not as much as most reviews would lead one to believe, at least IME), but the combination of fairly easy drive, clean sound, and good dynamics has kept me with them since the mid-70's.
I have not heard the newer 'stats. In the past I have heard Magnepan 3.x and 20, Sound Labs A-1's, ML Summit and CLX (I think; model names/numbers have likely changed), seems like an older pair of Sanders but I don't really remember, and a variety of now-defunct designs (Beveridge, Apogee, Carver Amazing, Acoustat, etc.)
Now, given the list above, what say you? Any others I should consider?
At the moment, I am leaning toward a shoot-out between the Magnepan 20.7 and Sanders 10c; I'd like an excuse to go visit Roger anyway.
A somewhat different topic for me, non-technical (well, sort-of; I am interested in the technology behind the speakers), but I have not seen (or have forgotten) a similar thread here so what the heck! - Don
I am considering replacing my decades-old Magnepan MG-IIIa's. While the new 3.7 or 20.7 are obvious choices, I have always loved electrostats, having rotated a few through my system (not as owner) and listened to a variety of them over the years at friend's houses (and a few dealers). A possible upgrade to 20.7's puts me considering 'stats again...
Please bear in mind that (a) I am quite familiar with the pros and cons of planer dipoles, have a well-treated room etc. so lets focus on the speakers; (b) despite your (and my, truth be told) possible inclination to add conventional dynamics to the list, please don't; and, finally (c) price range is no more than $15k (which sadly leaves out the upper end MLs and Sound Labs designs).
Here is my short list:
Magnepan 20.7 (~$13k - $14k)
Martin Logan Summit X (~$15k)
Sanders Model 10c ($13k)
Sound Labs Millennium-3PX ($13,270)
While I love my Maggies, to my ears and instruments big 'stats have always sounded a little cleaner, but in the primordial past I found their frequency response lacking a bit (and more artifacts around the low-end crossovers to their subs than Maggie in some cases), dynamics a bit more compressed, and a number of models had reliability problems. A number of them also presented rather nasty loads, especially up high. Magnepan has always seemed a tad more colored and some models in some positions exhibited discontinuities going from high to low as the drivers were changed (not as much as most reviews would lead one to believe, at least IME), but the combination of fairly easy drive, clean sound, and good dynamics has kept me with them since the mid-70's.
I have not heard the newer 'stats. In the past I have heard Magnepan 3.x and 20, Sound Labs A-1's, ML Summit and CLX (I think; model names/numbers have likely changed), seems like an older pair of Sanders but I don't really remember, and a variety of now-defunct designs (Beveridge, Apogee, Carver Amazing, Acoustat, etc.)
Now, given the list above, what say you? Any others I should consider?
At the moment, I am leaning toward a shoot-out between the Magnepan 20.7 and Sanders 10c; I'd like an excuse to go visit Roger anyway.
A somewhat different topic for me, non-technical (well, sort-of; I am interested in the technology behind the speakers), but I have not seen (or have forgotten) a similar thread here so what the heck! - Don