Why so expensive to overcome limitations of Electrostats? Why so few speakers beat ol' Quad 57?

Folsom

VIP/Donor
Oct 25, 2015
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I have the cd..the Spectral's are oscillating.....my cones don't deform......

Can you describe what is happening? Oscillating typically leads to failure, like burning electronics, if an amp stays on. If it doesnt go into thermal shutdown then it is probably not oscillating.
 

ack

VIP/Donor & WBF Founding Member
May 6, 2010
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Yes, but my monitors are 92 dB efficient and don't put any deep bass load on the amp.

That's right - and I have made my speakers fairly inefficient at around 85-86dB, and there is REALLY deep bass when one of the amps shut down, at very loud volume.
 

ack

VIP/Donor & WBF Founding Member
May 6, 2010
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Al M.

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Sep 10, 2013
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We should remember that Ack's speakers are Martin Logan Odysseus, hybrid electrostatics that he has extensively and carefully modified to suit his room and system. Although as far as I remember - I never owned the Odysseus , in my Martin Logan phase I jumped from SL3 to Odysseus big cousin, the Prodigy, the panel is crossed rather high, around 250 Hz - it includes some capacitors of tens of microfarad in series with the step up transformer. I think the dynamics concerns presented by most people are about full range electrostatics.

For example the Mark Levinson HQD system, that used double Quad ESL57 crossed around 100 and 6000 Hz had great dynamics.

And sorry, no miracles are possible. No way an Odysseus panel can have the dynamic range and body of a large SoundLab in a medium/large room. But they can surely sound great, much better than people expect.

Again, IMHO single instruments are not a good indicator of dynamic range. I have seen systems that have great dynamic capabilities with drums and brass, and are not able to keep the dynamics of a full orchestra. As usual YMMV.

Well, I got my answer on this yesterday. From my report on Ack's system with his heavily modified (important, these are not stock by any means) Martin Logan Odyssey, driven by Spectral DMA-400 monoblocks:

"The most impressive thing of the day to my ears was the Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique on Reference Recordings. We played it with peaks up to 101 dBa on my SPL meter (dedicated unit, no worthless iPhone app), which translates to 105+ dB. Body, tone, resolution, and precision of sound were amazing, and also the bass which had been overblown before was astoundingly well controlled but with a lot of heft and weight. The bells sounded startlingly real and present, with great transparency, precision and transient reproduction -- the best I have yet heard them. What was perhaps the most impressive was the total dynamic effortlessness and weight. In fact, this may have been the single most dynamically explosive rendition of orchestra that I have ever heard on a system. Jaw dropping, wow."

Link:
http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?2740-ack-s-system-end-of-round-1/page66
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
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Beverly Hills, CA
My experience has been that Electrostatics deliver detail and imaging in spades, but they cannot reproduce the impact/slam of dynamic drivers or well-designed ribbons . . .

. . . The difference is that the movement of the driver in an Electrostatic is very small, but distributed over a large area. . . . Electrostatics may be the most accurate with the best imaging.

Steve N,
Empirical Audio

+1

I do not care for full range electrostatic loudspeakers because I need some slam and dynamic impact below 200 Hz. I enjoyed the Prodigys for many years.

I think the Neolith is a very successful full-range hybrid (electrostatic panel + 11” mid-bass cone + 15” bass cone) speaker (when driven by high-power tube amps). The 11” driver comes on at around 400 Hz which I think is great!
 

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