[Pryso]

Hi Steve,

Another fan of the resurgent Janszen speakers here.  There have been two reviews at PFO.  The first one quite frankly I didn't find very informative, but the second one presented much more information.  Here is a link to that:

http://positive-feedback.com/Issue68/janszen.htm

Now not to let an felines out of any cloth containers but a new stand mounted model is just about to be introduced.  And rumors persist the line up will include at least four models eventually.  We shall see  .  .  .

As you might guess, I'm impressed by achievements with the zA2.1 and look forward to the expansion of the Janszen product line.

[SteveFord]

When the room is done post a photo or three in the Planar Porn thread, could you?

[Mercury3]

  I've a pair of 2+2's I bought new back around 1985.  They have served me well but I'd trying to decided to let either them or my B&W 801's go.

[OzarkTom]

These are the absolute best sounding panels that you can ever own, the Acoustat Monitor 4's with DD servo amps, used for sale at $3995 or best offer in Long Beach, Ca.

http://orangecounty.craigslist.org/for/4817956355.html

[SteveFord]

GT Audio Works added.

[KLH007]

GT Audio Works added.

Steve, Please add to GTAW
1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F06GTlH2YWQ   At the 12 minute mark he talks about the GTA 2.5s  Peter at AVShowrooms

[KLH007]

StevsFord, Please add Peter Brunnunger's AV Showrooms Video review. Peter makes some awesome statements about the GTA 2.5s and the system at 5:46 and 7:25, listen in HD if possible. The link;    http://www.avshowrooms.com/Cap_Fest_2015_Vids_2.html     GTAW is 11 rooms scrolling down.

[OzarkTom]

Go look at PS Audio Copper Magazine issue 8 to see an excellent article on the history of ESL speakers, especially the Acoustats.

[rbbert]

Not yet available to all of us (we'll have to wait a few hours) 

[OzarkTom]

Let's see if this link works for the ESL article.

http://copper.psaudio.com/issue8/13/.

I will never forget hearing a pair of Acoustat x's back in the late 70's, what great sound.

[Marco Pignone III]

I heard the Magnepan LRS as well as Janszen Valentinas at Capitol Audiofest.  The LRS were nearly perfect save for the lack of bass.  I was disappointed they didn't have them set up with a cheap sub as that's how I think most of us would prefer them.  The Janszens were my favorite speakers at the show aside from the Genesis Maestro room.  I spoke with David Janszen at length and among the improvements he has made over the last few years to the prior design is the addition of dual Hypex Ncore 500 watt amps (with build in DAC) in each of his active Valentina speakers.  I thought I would hate class D, and I was wrong.  I also assumed that a DAC built into a class D amp would be poor/harsh... I was completely wrong again.  The Valentinas are my new dream system, and at about $12,500 for the whole system they were "cheap" compared to nearly every other room at the show.

[artur9]

The Janszens were my favorite speakers at the show aside from the Genesis Maestro room.  I spoke with David Janszen at length and among the improvements he has made over the last few years to the prior design is the addition of dual Hypex Ncore 500 watt amps (with build in DAC) in each of his active Valentina speakers.  ...  The Valentinas are my new dream system, and at about $12,500 for the whole system they were "cheap" compared to nearly every other room at the show.

I used to own Maggies (a very long time ago) and last summer got some Janszen za2.1 (sort of like Valentinas without the powered woofers).  In my room they are flat to around 20Hz (dunno how or why) and sound amazing once I placed them properly.

I had my wife listen to Hadestown on them and she said she'd never heard music sound that way before.

[Jon L]

addition of dual Hypex Ncore 500 watt amps (with build in DAC) in each of his active Valentina speakers. 

So you have to feed the active Valentina with spdif digital signal? 

[mijostyn]

Nice to see so many Acoustat folks here. I use 2+2s which I have had for 30 years. The only speaker I would consider selling them for would be Sound Labs 845s. Why?
There is a magic that a one way ESL has that no speaker with multiple drivers can match. The second reason is that a full range line source projects a powerful image that no other type of arrangement can produce. In order for a line source to be full range it either has to be 32 feet tall or it has to have solid boundaries at both ends. The floor and ceiling will do. So in most situations an 8 foot speaker will work. Sound Labs also makes a 9 foot speaker for those with 9 foot ceilings. Speakers that are say 6 feet tall convert to point source at about 250 Hz thus they do not project bass well and lack the authority a full range line source has.
I have had Tympani IIIs, Apogee Divas and several different models of Acoustats. Nothing matches the 2+2s for image clarity and overall neutrality. With the right subwoofers set up to produce a line source the power produced by these speakers is amazing. They are no where near as efficient as horns but with the right power they have no problem producing high volumes (if that is what you like) and IMHO a more realistic image size. My system with 4 12" balanced force subwoofers has no problem running at 115 dB as measured with this,



ESLs are IMHO the most thrilling speakers to listen to because of their detail and transient response. The only problem that has to be addressed is the very low bass. Dipoles never do low bass well. The large excursions needed Doppler distort all other frequencies and you get wild room interactions due to the out of phase nature of dipole radiation.
Using just two subwoofers will not work well. You are expecting point source subwoofers to keep up with line source speakers and they just can't. The solution is a line source subwoofer system. I did it by using 4 subwoofers in a horizontal line source configuration using the side walls as boundaries instead of the floor and ceiling. The whole business looks like this,




The subwoofers cross at 125 Hz, much higher than usual. I get away with it because I use digital bass management and the subs are exactly in phase and time with the 2+2s.
The end result is with eyes closed you would never guess there were subwoofers playing until a real low note came along and rattled your teeth. The other advantage of this is the headroom of the 2+2 increases by 20 dB and that is HUGE. God knows what the same arrangement with Sound Labs 835 will do. I can't wait to try

[rdiiorio]

So you have to feed the active Valentina with spdif digital signal?

the Valentinas come with these inputs -- Two analog: RCA single-ended, XLR balanced. Three digital: RCA S/PDIF, optical S/PDIF (TOSLINK) & XLR AES3 (balanced studio S/PDIF)