Years ago, I A-B'd the Magnepans and Quad ESLs with the Acoustat Monitor 3's. The Mags were unquestionably the best sound, excluding low bass and the fact that they have no dispersion at all, so I was forced to sit in exactly one place without moving to enjoy my music. The Quads were the best compromise, but again the bass was lacking. The whole point of a planar is defeated once you add a subwoofer, hence a crossover, which is why every time I go back to A-B my Acoustats against Martin Logans or equivalent, the ML's just don't reproduce correctly. Any planar with a crossover is doomed to fail, from what my ears tell me.
My ex hated the look of the Acoustats, even though they can be easily modified (modernized) with different end-caps and grill cloth, but their positive characteristics are unmatched by any other planar I've listened to between $2K-$20K):
- Their dispersion is about equal to a box speaker (yes, sometimes I have to leave my man-cave for the kitchen or bathroom or office while music is playing)
- Clean bass down to 16Hz (amazing bass transients I haven't heard from any other planar) - single point source from a legit 16Hz- 38mHz - beautiful!
- Can be placed in any size room and at any volume, they sound great, the most forgiving planars I've ever listened to (and yes, I'm extremely biased in favor of planars over boxes)
- Sound almost as good as the Quads across all music types
- Indestructible - through many moves over the years, cannot be killed.
- Sure, they suck up enormous power, but my Brystons do just fine (amp/pre-amp undr $10K or less if used), sound as good with these speakers as the big Conrad Johnsons
- Can pick up a used pair for between $1.2K-2K. I can't imagine why anyone would ever sell their pair, however, except for the perceived ugliness (yeah, they look like the 70s, but that can be fixed with a makeover).
