Audiokinesis/914nut:
The reason I recommended those two speaker systems: Sound Lab and Magnepan is because they are nonboxy speakers. I own
Acoustat 2+2s with both ARC and Spectral equipment. So
any pure Electrostatic has to be excellent(faulty logic
I know). The Sound Labs got excellent reviews which I expected. In 1985 when I purchased all my equipment, the
choice narrrowed down to Maggie IIIas or the Acoustat 2+2s.
I chose the Acoustats(the golden ear of the family my wife
preferred the Maggies). I have never looked back since...
well....almost. Since I got on Audiogon this past year,
this forum picqued my interest in new stuff. I auditioned
three speaker systems last weekend. The Avalon Eidolons in an all Spectral setup(2C3D), Martin Logan Prodigy speakers, and Magnepan 3.6s. The winner was clear in about 10 seconds
The Maggies. More transparent, more coherent, more natural
timbre,more dynamic. The Martin Logans took ten seconds
to find out they lacked everything the Maggies had. The
Ediolons had the best soundstage/imaging but lacked the
natural timbre and transparency. On dynamic passages you
knew the music was coming from a box. The Maggies defintely
need power to sound great, the more the better(I would guess 400 watts 4ohms minimum). I will make the assumption that the Sound Labs will sound excellent because it will have many of the characteristics of the Maggies/Accoustats but maybe even better. However, were the three I tested better than the Acoustats, the Maggies for sure, but lots better?? No. The Martin Logans were a very definite NO. The Avalons
were good speakers for a box, but the whole setup was over
70K dollars. So to get reasonable sound from a box you have to spend alot more money than I care. The upshot of this
all: I love electrostats and will keep the pair I have until
they fall apart,ditto the electronics(I didn'hear anything
appreciably better in that regard either).Audiokinesis:
I was only kidding about discounts.
One question: Whatever happened to Jim Strickland the
founder of Acoustat????
