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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.
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yyzsantabarbara
4,458 posts
 
Thanks guys for the great info. I called a local dealer this afternoon in Los Angeles that carries the E.T. but they do not have it in the demo rooms. It is not a big seller for them and they like to show Magico's.

If my next room is close to accommodating the E.T's I will get it. This speaker sounds like one that I can listen at low to mid volumes for the whole day while I work. I also want to try to get something other than a dynamic speaker design since I will have a living room speaker like that.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,408 posts
 

@yyzsantabarbara , I'm going to guess your call was to Brooks Berdan Ltd. It was Brooks who turned me on to the ET's, and his widow Sheila, who now runs the business, from whom I bought my pair. The stands Sound Anchors makes for the LFT-8's are well worth their modest cost (a couple hundred bucks).

You're correct in thinking the speaker is one that can be listened to at moderate spl. Maggies need to be cranked up a bit more to "open up". 

clio09
3,342 posts
 
I'd be much more interested in these speakers if I could use my active crossover with 100 Hz high pass and low pass boards with them. I would send the high pass signal through my tube amp to the panel of the LFT-8b, then the low pass through my solid state amp to my own woofer array. Thus by-passing the LFT-8b bass driver.

On another note, I think the true test of any panel speaker is to be able to play extremely well at low volume.
aniwolfe
752 posts
 
@yyzsantabarbara 

I listen at 55-65db range. One of the reason I got the ET's and not the Maggies.
johnto
972 posts
 
I wouldn't give up on the 1.7 had mine in a 12 x 15 room about 3' from wall and they sounded amazing.
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