Electrostats . . oh my.

jimdgoulding · « **on:** 21 Jul 2008, 03:36 pm »

Have these fallen out of favor? I had an experience on Saturday with some Innersounds. Owned Acoustat Three's once. Wish those Innersounds were full range as my old Acoustats were. Everything being produced by those Innersound panels was soooo nice!

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #1 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 04:11 pm »

I have fond memories of my Acoustat Model Two's. To this day the coherency of those speakers is unmatched. Getting them properly coupled to the room was a challenge, but once done they were truly magnificent and fullrange unlike the Quads.

My biggest beef with electrostatic speakers - severely limited dynamics.

Wayner · « **Reply #2 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 04:20 pm »

I have a pair of Martin-Logan reQuests used with a sub-woofer. No lack of dynamics here.

W aa

bpape · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 04:21 pm »

I just picked up a pair of Acoustat Monitor 4's a couple weeks ago. Original owner still had them. Loving them as much now as I did 25 years ago when I had a pair.

Bryan

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 04:27 pm »

Quote from: Wayner on 21 Jul 2008, 04:20 pm

I have a pair of Martin-Logan reQuests used with a sub-woofer. No lack of dynamics here.

W aa

Have you tried the Sheffield Drum Record?

Tyson · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 04:29 pm »

Love them. One of the reasons I own VMPS RM40's is their ability to deliver that transparency and speed of transient response, but in a monopole design. There's nothing a cone/dome speaker can really do to fully capture that particular magic (although I've heard some Selah Audio line array's that come very close).

gjs_cds · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 04:32 pm »

I've got Acoustat 2+2s, and have no plans of getting rid of them. (Ever.) While the design does have some limitations, all loudspeakers designs have limitations... And I'm happier living with electrostatic limitations than monkey-coffin limitations. (And this is said by an amateur speaker builder of monkey-coffins loudspeaker designs.)

The only design that interests me is that dipolar active XO design by ... name escapes me at the moment... Linkwitz?

jaywills · « **Reply #7 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 04:52 pm »

Love 'em. Have a pair of Crosby-modded Quad 63's that I pull out of the closet about every six months just for near-field acoustic and vocal music.

tdangelo · « **Reply #8 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 05:37 pm »

I had Acoustat 1's and then the 1+1. I kept the 1+1's for 17 years - longest ever with any audio product. I sold them to get VMPS RM40's.... I used an Audiopro B2-50 with the 1+1's and rolled the bass off around 100hz. I tried some Audiostatic DLC's but they were way to fragile. I now have the Innersound Kaya's and love them

Once you get used to the stat sound, its hard to replace

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #9 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 05:46 pm »

Hail to the chiefs! I had to come home and turn my stuff on for a reality check. I'm pretty enamored with my system for my room but I could definitely hear it's limitations. This fellow is a new acquaintance I met thru the Houston Audio Society and he's been trippin for as long as me but has invested quite a lot more time and money. He moved from the city to La Grange, TX- made famous by ZZ Top- into an old, very pretty house. While he was showing me his flower garden- the man has no lawn at all- I spyed a small detached house at the end of the garden and knew instinctively what it was. He built it in the tradition of his main house on a concrete slab with reinforced staggered studded walls. Even went so far as to install some air conditioning system that is dead silent. In front of his Innersound amps was a tube pre that has to be the prettiest single component I've ever seen (I'll have to come back with the name). The Houston Chronical did a feature on his garden which he showed me. Some audio magazine oughta do a feature on him. I got to get up to Arthurs, now! Anyway, the man is a connoissuer and a gentleman. He's already emailed me with the address of a Bulgarian cat who builds 45W single ended triode amps not 60 minutes from my house.

arthurs · « **Reply #10 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 05:59 pm »

Quote from: jimdgoulding on 21 Jul 2008, 05:46 pm

I got to get up to Arthurs, now!

Let me know when you can make it Jim, we'll work it out...

jimdgoulding · « **Reply #11 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 06:09 pm »

Thanks, Art. Count on it.

jtwrace · « **Reply #12 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 06:13 pm »

Quote from: tdangelo on 21 Jul 2008, 05:37 pm

Once you get used to the stat sound, its hard to replace

agree 100%. I have Final Sound 1000i with my custom subs and it's the best I've ever heard (other then MBL's).

Jon L · « **Reply #13 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 07:26 pm »

Until I can find a full-range, wooferless electrostat speaker that is efficient enough and dynamic enough for a 2 watt SET, I'm sticking to my electrostat headphones that *can* be run off 2 watts. This also takes room interactions out of the equation, and oh my, what glorious, dynamic, full-range, electrostat music

bpape · « **Reply #14 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 07:38 pm »

Try the Acoustats - the amps are built in

Nice phones though

Bryan

Wind Chaser · « **Reply #15 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 07:39 pm »

Could it be that part of the reason why the Acoustats are so good is that they are extremely directional and thus room interactions are kept to a minimum?

bpape · « **Reply #16 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 07:44 pm »

That's part of it. If you stand beside one of them, you get basically nothing. It's pretty much a full range null. It's kinda weird hearing just off the wall behind the speaker. A lot of other dipole/bipole speaker do similar things but very few do it pretty much top to bottom.

It's also that they are some of the few that will actually do mid/upper 20's in room when you get into the 4 panels ones. They're a real, full range electrostat. No cones needed for assistance. IIRC, the resonant frequency of the 9" panels was somewhere around 26Hz.

Bryan

pbrstreetgang · « **Reply #17 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 07:45 pm »

Jim is it Audio Art? BTW I have been around a few systems and Arts needs to be experienced. I too love electrostats but - well just trust me!

pbrstreetgang · « **Reply #18 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 07:46 pm »

No Apogee love?

bpape · « **Reply #19 on:** 21 Jul 2008, 07:48 pm »

Sorry - Apogees are ribbons - not electrostatics. Very nice sound though if you can get an amp to drive them right.

Bryan