[jimdgoulding]

I visited a club member in my city on Tuesday with these in a fine system and room.  They did everything amazingly well to my ears and subsequently are on the top of my list for new speakers.  Got home and the new TAS was in my mailbox with a review by Robt E. Greene.  I think he agrees.  The thing I need to check into further is how these planers image.  The thing about my box speakers is that images have a 3D roundness and organic lifelikeness to them and on a deep and wide stage in spite of my small room size tho height could be improved.  I intend to take some exemplary recordings back over there.  The price of these speakers is shockingly low for what I heard.  I'm excited.

[jsm71]

I read that article and they do seem to have a lot going for them at their price.  Look out 1.7 Maggies.  The one stat that kind of scares me is 83dB sensitivity.  Their web site suggests that is moderate sensitivity.  Upper 80s is moderate.  They recommend between 50-200 watts/ch.  That isn't too hard to achieve.

[satie]

They are perfect for a small room and perform well above their price point. Doug Schroeder did a thorough review of these and their predecessors, worth looking it up.

Their main limitation outside of bottom octave bass is the ultimate output. They just don't play that loud. In a small room that is a non issue, unless you are a big orchestra guy or a headbanger. In a medium room it might be noticed on occasion. In a big room they will need to be doubled up.

[jimdgoulding]

When I re-visit my friend I'll have some dynamic and large orchestra recordings under my arm, for sure, and was doing some headbanging just last night to Talking Heads' "Remain In Light".  Actually I was just dancing but at banging SPL's.  I'll be taking that one, too

[Ericus Rex]

They're great, yet under-appreciated, speakers and have been around for a long time.  Lots of reviews of them and their predecessor out.  IIRC, Sound Anchors makes a platform for them that firms them up quite a bit giving them a tighter image with slightly better bass.

[TitaniumTroy]

Satie or any one else have more info you can give about the Eminent Technology push-pull, midrange? As compared to other planer magnetic midrange's, I am curious as I have the Monsoon 2000's as my computer desk speaker.

[satie]

Satie or any one else have more info you can give about the Eminent Technology push-pull, midrange? As compared to other planer magnetic midrange's, I am curious as I have the Monsoon 2000's as my computer desk speaker.

They are clear and fast on the mids and are as good there as any push pull planar. They are a smidge slower than a loose ribbon like the Apogees, but better than a BG RD50 so far as I remember. Relative to the Apogees and even more so the Neo8 the mids on the LFT 3 and 8 are a little lacking in dynamics when pushed hard, but still noticeably better on that count than the maggie 3.x models.

[bdp24]

They are perfect for a small room and perform well above their price point. Doug Schroeder did a thorough review of these and their predecessors, worth looking it up.

Their main limitation outside of bottom octave bass is the ultimate output. They just don't play that loud. In a small room that is a non issue, unless you are a big orchestra guy or a headbanger. In a medium room it might be noticed on occasion. In a big room they will need to be doubled up.

The limited output of the ET 8" woofer is what holds back the LFT-8b, not the LFT drivers. The drivers can play very loudly, and with the low distortion afforded them by the push-pull, double-ended (magnets on both sides of the driver's Mylar) design of the LFT drivers. A few people have "stacked" two pair (side-by-side) to get more output, other's have added subs. The new GR Research/Rythmik 8" Servo sub-driver can be substituted for the ET 8" woofer in the bass bin very easily. And, it will play up to 180Hz. Output problem solved! One amazing thing about the 8b is that the mid-range driver covers 180Hz to 10K, with no x/o in that range! Symmetrical first order filters on each end hand off to a Quasi-Ribbon at 10kHz, and to the 8" woofer at 180Hz.

[HAL]

The Monsoon drivers used Bruce's patent for the push-pull planar driver.  The Level 9 drivers at the time were used by Monsoon.

The newer Sonigistics panel design used in the driver is more reliable than the originals.  A few companies used those drivers in speakers.

[Paddlefoot]

Bdp24... I see you have mention the GR Research/ Rythmik 8inch servo driver...have you tried this....where can one find any info on this swap...I love the speaker...the woofer was the problem...not the planars...would love to hear more about this driver swap...thanks Greg

[bdp24]

Greg---No, I haven't seen it done. I think the few guys who want to add the GR/Rythmik Servo woofers to their panel speakers are thinking of going the OB route. But I thought for a guy who didn't want to spend that much, or didn't want the complexity of it, a simple substitution of the Servo in place of the ET woofer would be easy and effective. Both woofers are 8", and their diameter's are bound to be close enough to work, maybe with a little plumbers putty to insure the seal of the Servo 8". Then one would only need to run the two wire to the GR woofers through a small hole in the bass box of the ET-LFT8's (the hole could even be on the bottom of the bass bin so as to not be visible), and the plate amp could be put in a small box next to the bass bin. That's all it would take, and would be a big improvement to the speaker, I'm sure.