Magnepans or...Martin Logan

I have owned Magnepans and ESL's exclusively since 1973. Both sound much better to my ears than anything else.

I have owned ML hybrid speakers, in fact, still have them in my home theatre. But not for music. The crossover distortion (at 250Hz) bothers me a lot. So does the disconnect between cone sound and ESL panel sound: the ESL panels are very accurate and fast, the cones sluggish and ugly. In my opinion. In my system. In my room.

Magnepans tend to sound a lot more integrated, and this is especially important for acoustic music like folk. Also, they are a whole lot simpler than ESL's. ESL's have (1) high voltage supplies (2) step up transformers and (3) protection circuits, none of which are used in Magnepans.

More things can go wrong with ESL's. And if you try and fix them yourself, well, ESL's can kill you 2 ways if you don't know what you are doing. So bring your will up to date first.

If you are far from a qualified high voltage technician, I suggest Magnepan speakers over any ESL's, but especially over ML hybrids. But be aware, some people just don't like either Magnepans or ESL's; exactly how that can be beats me, but I know it's true. Something to keep in mind.

Good Luck!

PS: I have used Quad ESL's for years now.

Amplifiers. Given where you are, and the difficulties of shipping back to the factory for service, I would suggest Bryston. I have owned three, which I kept until I went DIY. They are a perfect match for Magnepan, especially the SST (personal experience) and the SST cubed (so I'm told).

They are close to, but not at, the state of the art, and are built like tanks. Actually, better. Bryston has a 20 (yes twenty) year warrantee - which tank has a guarantee like that? Not that you'll need it (the Bryston warrantee - don't know about the tank).

The net is full of Bryston stories, and I doubt if even one of them is negative. I myself shifted one (4B SST) when it was turned on, and shorted the outputs against an aluminum chassis. Sparks sparks! Ozone!  Basically, I was using the amp as an arc welder.

The amp shut down immediately. Twenty minutes later it restarted - it was undamaged. Try that with anything else.