[steve f]

Essence just dramatically cut the prices of their ESL. Like in half. They decided to go factory direct to their consumers.

The BIG Questions. Who has auditioned them? What do they sound like? How good is fit and finish?

I've read that they're really good. I've read that they are colored sounding. That would be weird foe an ESL.
I've read that they are failure prone. You get it. I trust our members. What do you know from experience?

steve 

[SteveFord]

I haven't heard them so can't comment. 
Anyone out there?

[Crossoverless]

I can't wait until those model 1900 to come out this summer at 50% off and free shipping!

[Hank]

I just received this email from Essence:
"I’ve got some big news to report about Essence. We are adopting the online consumer direct sales philosophy exclusively, resulting in a startlingly new entry level price for our gorgeous full range electrostats at just $1999 per pair including free shipping. They formerly sold for $3995 a pair not including shipping.

We opened our doors 2 years ago last month with the intention of building an international distributor and dealer network for our products comprised of high end audio/video specialists. This was always the traditional way to do things but it makes everything more expensive, with a master distributor for each country who makes 40-50% profit selling through retail stores that also have to add their own 40-50% profit margin to support their brick and mortar location and cover their overhead. 

When all the brands did the same thing and there were plenty of stores, it all seemed to work OK, consumers got the benefit of having a place to level playing field audition and compare the products along with the expertise of the audio sales staff adding their thoughts and opinions. After the Financial Crises of 2008-09, a lot of distributors and dealers closed their doors and a lot of manufacturers started selling direct to the consumer.

Those that sell direct have a big advantage over those that dont, their prices are much lower without all those distribution costs added in. Consumers have learned to use the internet to research the products they find interesting, read reviews, and draw their own conclusions about what to buy instead of relying on their local dealer to recommend it. Efficiency is rewarded while tradition sits in the warehouse gathering dust. There are no more sure things, not even the mighty AVR withstood the changes brought about by new technologies and a new type of consumer, the Millennials. As the sound bar became popular, sales of AVRs dropped by 50%, even Pioneer got out of the business.  Looking back, that was the real turning point.

We thought our new electrostatic speakers would flourish in the traditional marketplace and gave it a good try, spending considerable resources on marketing and promotion of our brand for 2 years. What we discovered was shocking; the biggest and best of the remaining dealers are captive to the brands they sell now because those brands offer free financing terms with up to 60 days to pay, free flooring of the demo gear, and huge margins to pay for it all. Smaller brands and start-ups got squeezed out of the stores and even when consumers ask for these new products by name, the dealers are so locked in to their existing stock, they will bad-mouth the new brand and tell the customer the product is no good even if they’ve never heard it.   

Some countries have always done business this way, notably Japan is an example of a vertically closed market. Its very hard to find USA made audio products in Japan, distribution is controlled by syndicates that control the sales floor in every store, what gets shown and what sells. Consumers in Japan cant buy what they want, they have to buy what the store tells them to buy, this is traditional Japanese mercantilism, not a level playing field like we once had here when there were so many dealers it was easy to find every brand. 

The traditional distribution model is corrupted now by an un-level playing field, however the internet allows the new brands to tell their story to one customer at a time worldwide and thats the route we are taking now at Essence. The search engines are the breeding ground for our sales, if you search for electrostatic speakers, you will find Essence among the brands available and that will lead you to our site.

So there it is, a new way of doing things has overwhelmed our attempts to take the traditional approach, we’ve learned the hard way that when the earth-and-moon-from-spacetotal number of stores drops below a certain threshold and become controlled by the brands they carry, the only way to compete with that is online direct at much lower prices than used to be the case. Another advantage of doing things this way is you get to talk to the people who invented these products, nobody knows our technologies better than we do so you get one to one personal service from those who know what they’re talking about.  Without all those shipping points, the carbon footprint of the sale drops by 70%, a valid reason to go direct in and of itself, our planet will benefit from thinking green.

The value proposition is incredible this way. If you’ve dreamed of owning electrostatic speakers but couldn’t afford them, we have an offer you might find hard to refuse, starting at $1999 for our full range Essence 1200’s including free shipping anywhere in the world."

I can see their logic in the explanation of not being able to get a foot hold in the few remaining high-end stores.  If their SQ is great, I wish them well.   Mods: if this post is inappropriate, please remove it.

[SteveFord]

No, that's fine so how about the sound quality?  Anybody?

[steve f]

I have experience with their DAC/Pre, and I like it. I have not read any online reviews of either ESL, and I have been looking for them. I suppose we shall have to wait until a couple of our members pull the trigger.

steve

[Hank]

One other thing about trying to get into the mainstream high end dealers is attending the shows, like Munich and Apoxna, and the frequency of shows, about one per month globally.  That's another huge expense added to the price the individual buyer pays.  If it were me, I'd do a Europe show and 3 U.S. shows:  East coast, West coast and mid-continent (RMAF?) but NOT the big expensive shows like CES.  There are forum members whose show comments/reviews are probably more trusted than the big magazine reviewers, so I think showing at the shows those guys attend would be worthwhile.  I wish them well in their change to direct sales business model.  It can succeed - I'm an Outlaw Audio repeat customer.  I'd now be ordering a pair Essence 'stats if I hadn't bought a pair of Acoustat Model 3's last year.  I'm a 'stat believer   Steve, I just noticed two customer reviews on their site.

[steve f]

Hi Hank,

I have bought another product from them, and I like it. Communication from Essence is excellent too. I have no complaints.

They don't do audio shows. They should attend at least one to get people discussing their wares. For some reason, owner reviews, probably pride of ownership, don't carry the weight of shopper reviews.
For some products, an amp for example, doing a customer review is easy. Two big speaker boxes, not likely.

I really want to try them. I am convinced that loudspeakers are the last big frontier in audio. I have a garage full of various horns, transmission lines, planar magnetics, open baffle, matched directivity boxes, ESLs, etc. All that says I've been an audiophile too long, and that my wife is patient. Maybe they should send me a review pair.

steve

Edit: I know the Acoustats well. I was recently gifted a pair of Quad 989 speakers. One works fine, one has issues. I'm wondering repair or perhaps replace. I'm an ESL fan too.

[Hank]

I had an email exchange with Bob Rapoport and he is absolutely convinced that the high cost of shows do not have an acceptable ROI.  He will wait for sales to pick up as customers post reviews and trade magazine reviewers publish their reviews.  I would suggest that exhibiting at RMAF might pick up sales at a faster rate, that's just me and Mr. R has many years of industry experience behind his decision.

IMHO, 'stats rule.  Two problems:  #1 WAF   #2 Historically, many companies have done a poor job integrating their panels with an integrated subwoofer and the result was not good.  Another opinion of mine is that the only subs that can keep up with 'stats are open baffle, servo controlled subs.  I just thought of another issue:  most 'stats have to be repaired every few years - their designs are just not as robust as Acoustat's.

[SteveFord]

The big hurdle has been price but it looks like they're tackling that one.
Online consumer sales is great but speakers are something that you really need to hear for yourself before the purchase.
Even if they do a 30 day home trial like Magnepan does, that's a lot of change to put out to see if you like something.

[Brad]

I checked out their website.  I'd be curious if the specs are any different for the model 1600 - couldn't find anything other than the height difference.
Higher sensitivity?  Lower in the bass?   

They are also quite narrow compared to some other planar type speakers.
Would love to hear them.

[Jazzman53]

I haven't heard the Essence speakers or their Final predecessors but I’m intrigued and I’m gonna risk sharing my initial thoughts:     

From the photos and description, I suspect these speakers are inverted driven and use electrically discrete bass/mid and treble sections with mechanical sectioning to distribute the diaphragm’s fundamental resonance-- like their Final predecessors (I believe).  Thus, they should sound similar if not better.  The big difference would be the new clear acrylic stators with ink-jet printed coatings; which I think would not sound appreciably different but they are visually stunning, no doubt safer, and probably more reliable.   

With inverted drive, the reliability of the diaphragm coating and lead contact would be my concern:
Whereas conventional ESL’s drive the stators, an inverted drive ESL puts the low amperage DC polarizing voltage on the stators and puts the much higher amperage AC driving voltage on the diaphragm coating.  Thus, I would think the diaphragm coating and lead contact patch are stressed to a far greater extent.  Essence has a lot of experience here so this may not be an issue with their design.   
. 
If the stator coatings have sufficiently high resistance, an inverted drive panel could operate in “constant charge mode”;  giving vanishing-low distortion, like a conventionally driven ESL, while requiring only about half the driving voltage and transformer size to produce the same output.  In addition to safety, this is the advantage of inverted drive.  IF RELIABILITY ISSUES ARE RESOLVED—all should be well.

Since ESL’s have no boxes or cone breakup modes and essentially zero inertial overshoot except within a narrow frequency band centered on the diaphragm’s fundamental (drum-head) resonance (typically between 50Hz-100Hz), there’s really nothing there to color the sound. 

And the diaphragm has so little mass relative to the volume of air it moves, it simply can’t ring outside of the fundamental resonance.  But if the  fundamental is not effectively dampened, it would color the bass big time in that frequency band.   
 
It's been my experience with my DIY speakers that tall thin panels suffer from dipole bass roll off and also tend to have a sharply rising response in the upper midrange, which can sound downright harsh if not properly EQ’d.  And they are quite sensitive to speaker placement in the room.  These imbalances not properly adjusted out, I suspect, are what have been reported as coloration in some ESL's.             

When properly EQ’d, positioned and aimed, ESL’s are indeed magical.     

And folks… $1,999 delivered for a full range ESL is a freaking STEAL.   

Actually, I find this all quite depressing; as I had been considering building segmented wire stator ESL’s to sell for a modest profit after I retire—but crap Y'all, I couldn't compete with those Essence speakers at that price. 

Jazz

         

[steve f]

Thank you for describing an inverted ESL. I am so tempted to try them. I was gifted a pair of beautiful Quad 969 speakers of which one is perfect and the other noise prone. I'm debating wether to repair, sell off to buy the Essence, or....

Wouldn't the requirement of a smaller transformer in an inverted design make for a wider frequency range?

Steve

[Jazzman53]

Thank you for describing an inverted ESL. I am so tempted to try them. I was gifted a pair of beautiful Quad 969 speakers of which one is perfect and the other noise prone. I'm debating wether to repair, sell off to buy the Essence, or....

Wouldn't the requirement of a smaller transformer in an inverted design make for a wider frequency range?

Steve

Yes.  From what I've read about the Finals, I'm guessing the new speaker probably uses a single transformer core with two output windings:  A high turns ratio winding driving the bass section and a lower turns ratio winding driving the treble strip-- optimizing extension into both the lower and top octaves for wider bandwidth and less stress on the amplifier.     

[Jazzman53]

One more observation:  The literature states an F3 of 48Hz; which is quite low for a full range panel of that size.  Still, their narrow width guarantees some dipole roll off so I would not expect chest thumping bass at high volume.  If you were to clip their output at around 80Hz using a steep filter slope and cross in a pair of subs (not one but two), that would unload the panel considerably and add a real low end foundation.  Ripoles or Linkwitz push/pull subs would blend quite well.   

[Hank]

Yep, that's quite a low F3 and I agree that a sharp 80Hz cutoff should work nicely.  I still would prefer to do 2 OB servo subs - that's what I'm going to build to go with my Acoustats.

[Jazzman53]

I just thought of another issue:  most 'stats have to be repaired every few years - their designs are just not as robust as Acoustat's.

All the builders on the DIY Audio Forum love Accoustats because they sound fantastic are the most reliable electrostats ever.  They've been around for decades and most of them still play wonderfully.  The only downside is that if you ever do have to replace the diaphragms, I'm told it's almost impossible to get the stators apart without destroying them, as they were permanently bonded and not designed to ever come apart. 

I'm wondering about the longevity of the diaphragm coatings on those Essence panels.  Those diaphragms (if indeed driven inverted) would have a low-ohmic coating that would have to be very robust--- not something a DIY'er could repair if they ever needed it.  I'm sure Essence would stand behind them but we never know how long a company will be around these days.

BTW, what woofers did you have in mind for those OB servo subs?
 

[SteveFord]

Essence is based out of St Petersburg, Florida.
Who out there in Planar Land is local?  We need a volunteer from the audience to take a road trip.

[studiotech]

Essence is based out of St Petersburg, Florida.
Who out there in Planar Land is local?  We need a volunteer from the audience to take a road trip.

I'll be in that area at the end of June.  I'll try to set something up for a demo then.  Someone remind me closer to the last week of June.

Greg

PS.  I heard the Final speakers years ago at a CES convention and was impressed, but it was a quick demo with only a few minutes of my own material.

[Phil A]

Essence is based out of St Petersburg, Florida.
Who out there in Planar Land is local?  We need a volunteer from the audience to take a road trip.

Not exactly local (about 170 miles) but at some point if I get over that way, I'll try to see if I can incorporate a visit if they are equipped.