Essence Electrostatic Speakers...A Bold Statement

It's just hype, which is nothing new, and no worse than the "Perfect Sound Forever" claim.

"09-22-15: Cleeds
It's just hype, which is nothing new, and no worse than the "Perfect Sound Forever" claim."

I don't know about that one. At least Sony was talking about the actual product they were trying to sell you. And back in 1982, they probably believed that statement to be true.

With the company the OP mentions, it sounds like they make audio equipment as a platform to push their political agenda. You can't help but think they would rather have you read their sales literature than buy their equipment.

Hifisoundguy also espoused Bose 901 as the world's best speaker a few years ago in these forums.
I would take this just as seriously.

I clicked on the website and was surprised to see a picture of the exact Dynaco 400 amp that I had in the 70's. My set up at that time was the 400, a Dynaco pre-amp, an Acoustic Research FM tuner, and a pair of Acoustic Research 3a speakers. It had great sound and impressed many. As far as price, only you can decide where the law of diminishing return sets in.

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.