Small room electrostat/ planar speaker?


In about 30 days will be moving to a new home where its going to be hard to make my 1.7 maggies work in a spouse friendly way ( the only large room is the main living room). I've always gravitated to planars and electrostatics, box speakers that don't sound colored or slow usually cost more than my entire system. Where I'd like to end up is a system that's extremely resolving at low to moderate volume levels, my main dissatisfaction with my current Mg 1.7 speakers and Prima Luna amp is that it really doesn't come to life until the volume is moderate listening levels or higher.

I'm wondering if anyone has seen something that approaches the coherency and speed of the 1.7s that would work in an 11x12 listening room? I'd like to keep the cost limited to $4k if possible.
128x128davide256
I took a look online at the ClairAudients 1+1, they are sold through TweekGeek and their site advises the speaker needs to be placed at least 5 ft away from the wall, same as the MG 1.7's, which is a no go in an 11x12 room. Pity since 1 reviewer compared them favorably to Quad ESL 57's
The Quad ESL57 is comfortable in smaller rooms. Its a very nice speaker; the Prima Luna will have no troubles with it but you might have to be careful about the volume. There are protection circuits available for the speaker now.
best to try the 1.7's first

2nd add room tmts

Magneplanar recommends you avoid mixing their products with cone subs, for the same reasons you may wish to avoid any hybrids

KEF LS50s are often used in small rooms
11 x 12 is not a very big room, if it were me, I'd ace the Maggies and get a 3 piece system with 2 good satellites and good subwoofer.  I recently saw a pair of ProAc Super Tablettes that had been totally restored for about 1K, I'd jump on those and then get a nice sub and save the rest of the money.  Lots of WAF too as they are nice and small and would work great in that small room
I'll have to do some research on the ESL 57's. Believe I heard a modified pair shown off by DIYAudio member at the Capital Audiofest  2 years ago,
was one of  the few systems at the show that got me to sit down and stay. Wondering if they would match well/can be better protected with something like the Magnepan DWDM bass panel and an electronic crossover w/amp?