[tecnofossil]

Back on the 24th an individual made inaccurate comments about Innersound's Roger Sanders, his design(s) and Innersounds warranty on the Audio Circle message board. Short of tempting the mouse click of the moderator and casting this post to the "bin", I want to correct a few things. First, Innersound offered only a 3 year warranty (a look at page 14 of the owners manual will make this obvious) on their loudspeakers, not a lifetime warranty.

I own the original Eros, purchased from Innersound in 1999. I have cats (floating hair...), a pretty good amount of general purpose airborn dust (we live in a 1895 Victorian house) and it gets pretty damn humid in the summer months here in the Northeast. I have yet to encounter any failures. The closest thing to a problem was some tiny spider looking bugs that got into the stators (electrocuted via the HV supplies of the panels) and my old Acoustat amp poping fuses which turns out is a problem with the amp (the Eros work great with my KTA Dyna Mk-3's, experimental chip amps, vintage Heathkit W5M, Moscode 300 and a couple Hafler amps). I consider these to be very reliable electrostatics.  

Roger Sanders is a very upstanding guy and has stood firmly behind his products and took care of customers problems promptly (in some cases even though he legally didn't have too ... ie: warranty expired) His new partner Gary has made substantial investments in infrastructure (ie: relocating Innersound from Georgia to Colorado, purchase of a new factory, refinement of the line of electronics) so I doubt he wants to jeopardize that over pissing off past customers.

So far as Roger trying to get out from under honoring warranty claims from ES problems by selling the company, that is not true. Rogers new partner approached him (after being suitably impressed by what he saw and heard of the Innersound system at a consumer electronics show) with a proposal for a joint venture, expanding the manufacturing capacity, introducing new HT products. Rogers old partner, from the UK, Raj Varma, had moved onto other projects and was no longer active with the operations of Innersound. Thus, the new offer of a partnership fit the bill. Innersound was not sold, it is a partnership.

Now, about the new ES panel design. Just because a new design is introduced one should assume that the old one was NFG? That is a bone head conclusion. The new design is about 3db more efficient. The old one was in the 92-93 db range (not bad IMOP). The new one is 96. Design flaw in the old one? No, just making a good product better! Also, the new design runs at a higher voltage...the improved stator design allows that which helps increase the efficiency. Also, the new design operates reliably in environments which other electrostats have problems with HV breakdown.

I hope this sets some issues straight. The last thing we need is a pseudo audiophile using the internet to trash the reputation of companys that really make and support a quality product. If these things continue the end result may be our only choice for perfectionist gear is to build it ourselves.....the alternative will be the common fare sold by your local Best Buy, Circuit City, Walmart, Costco et all. Don't get me wrong, much of the gear that such places sell have their place, but, not for the perfectionist.

Best to all,
                   Tom H. aka "Tecnofossil"

[Blackmore]

I completely agree!  Roger has been very nice to work with and my Eros have endured many hours of use, two cats, Missouri humidity, an asthmatic vacuum cleaner (that's my excuse for not cleaning more often).
I bought mine from Jon Hillig at Musical Concepts and he had been using them as a demo speaker for his fine line of amps and preamps.  I have no idea how many hours they've had on them, but they are wonderful speakers and the company is a class act to work with. I use the ESL 300 amp on top and love everything about Innersound. I'll be ordering the esl speaker cables this week.  Let's all support true high fidelity companies that produce musical equipment or we'll all be shopping at Wally-world for our surround sound systems

[tecnofossil]

Thanks for your comments. Roger Sanders for years was a hobbiest (he actually is a MD..... ) publishing his projects first in "The Audio Amateur" and after 1980 in Speaker Builder.  He has given a lot to the hobby. He could have simply marketed his designs, but no, he donated them to the DIYer. Even after the launch of Innersound he still supported people who wanted to "roll their own" by making the tough to get parts available through Barry Waldrons ESL Information Exchange, which, unfortunately has gone into a sort of hiatus due to the owners illness.

-T

[bluestunes]

Tom/aka Tecnofossil,
                                     I am the writter regarding the incident that had taken place concerning Roger Sanders and his Innersound loud speakers. I can ASSURE you all is true about what had taken place. First, let me clear up your mistakes about your rebound comments about what I had said about Sanders. You have claimed that Innersound does not offer a warranty for life on there speakers. Take a look for real this time, and you will see that on page 14,paragraph 1, it so stipulates ," all electrostatic panels are GUARENTEED for as long as you own the speakers, in other words, for life!!!  The woofers are warrantied for 5 years.The second problem that you are wrong about, is, Sanders did resurface with his new partner, and because it is now a LLC,they have infact denied all warranty work, and do not have to honor it. Yes, this is the law,both criminal and consumer law. So, if you would, please do your homework first, before you utter such nonsense. Trust me on this one,I am correct in what I am saying.

FOR THOSE OF YOU NOT FAMILIAR WITH THIS INCIDENT,AND JUST WHAT TOM/TECNOFOSSIL, IS DISPUTING, TAKE A LOOK!! THIS IS THE ORIGINAL WRIT.

Here is my story. Not too long ago,I purchased a set of electrostatic/planar speakers from Roger Sanders ( president and founder) of Innersound. The panels devoloped a problem,problem being the sound would drop out because of an inferior coating on the panels that was designed so this would not happen. Not being to concerned because of the LIFETIME warranty on the panels, I decided to notify the good Mr. Sanders and advise him of said problem. This is what he had to say, I am sorry to here about your problem, and that if you listen to the speakers at a low level, it SHOULD be ok, great answer Mr. Sanders.If you want, you can upgrade to our new panels (huuuuuuum I wonder why they have new panels out?) he further goes onto say,the panels cost $1800.00+shipping. So here is where I am so far, $5500.00 for the speakers+$1800.00 for the panels =$40.00 shipping +$ 250.00 to hire a tech to install them.One would have thought that this man who is the Guru of electrostatic/planar speakers, and who wrote a book on the subject,would have had the sense enough to forsee what lyes ahead. Maybe he did! I had heard that his company was in trouble financially and that he was  looking for investors,well this rings true.This is why and how he got out of this blunder. It turns out that he sold the company to some new investors,the company defunct and resurfaced under new ownership as a LLC. So, under these circumstances and in accordance to the law, he is held harmless and does not have to honor his warranties any longer.Pretty good Mtr. Sanders real slick move!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, I have vowed to let everyone know about this,it will appear in all the audio websites,and, I am putting together a website about this occurence. Bottom line,learn from me on this one, and stay away from Roger Sanders the sneaky little shit that he is. In all fairness,I have no knowledge of the new owners or what they will be doing, this is not meant to hurt nor insult them.I do know one thing for sure, Sanders is working with the new owners.If anyone else has had this problem, let me know,I will be glad to post your story.

[theborg]

Hello boys. We're not too interested in posts that trash people in the audio industry with phrases like "sneaky little shit." I thought this would have been clear from last time. This thread is now locked and will be trashed tomorrow. No more please.