Essence Electrostatic Speakers...A Bold Statement

Joefish: If you plug the 1975 prices for your rig into an inflation calculator it comes
out to $8000-10,000 in 2015 dollars, especially if you add a commensurate turntable, e.g., AR, Dual, or Technics DD.

Those modest and simple rigs we fondly remember actually took a pretty good chunk of change for a college student or recent grad.

09-30-15: Hifisoundguy
"Diminishing Returns" starts kicking in very quickly in this hobby !... BUT..

"Audiophiles" want to keep this "{TOP SECRET}" !!! BUT "Music Lovers" already knew how quickly those "Diminishing Returns"start kicking in !!.. ..

... And if you want speakers that can reproduce the full realism, weight and power of an orchestra playing The Pines of Rome or of the Basie band in full tilt, what speaker marks that point of diminishing returns?

Among other things, it would need to reproduce bass linearly down to about 18 Hz and be able to hit 115-120 dB distortion free. It would also have to have uniform power response throughout the room. I also want it to resolve the inner harmonies of Mendelssohn's 8-part vocals with orchestral accompaniment. Show me a $3500 speaker that can do all that at live concert levels.

10-03-15: Hifisoundguy
We can go..FORWARD or BACKWARDS! ???..

And you make wild swings sideways time after time:

Chasing after the Essence electrostatics (no longer distributed in the US),

Bose 901 (40-year step backwards),

Yamaha Soavo NS-F901 (came and went in less than a year), and speculating that they're pushing TAD R1's off the market,

"Modified DCM TFE200's......World Reference Now",

... and more breathless be-all and end-all product rhetoric than I am willing to track any further.

BTW, your link to Princeton U's measurements of the Essence 1600 show that they start rolling off in the "bass" at 320 Hz and are down 16dB at 100 Hz. I don't expect any better bass performance from a stand-mounted electrostatic, let alone 20Hz at -3dB.

10-25-15: Dracule1
20 Hz +-3dB...yea right.

That's what Radio Shack claimed for their bookshelf speakers in the late '60s. Well, without the +/-3dB part.