Effects Of Power Cords On Electrostatic Speakers

@hsbrock

Glad I could say something helpful.

Let me add some detail. The time I had to go out and find warmer cable was when I had AMT and ribbon speakers. They were too, well let’s say, too good, in the upper frequencies. They reproduced the deficiencies in high frequencies of my components really well, producing a very fatiguing and unpleasant experience. I would not worry about loosing that “transparency”. This is why cables and interconnects need to be chosen last. You need your final system…. With all your components that sound absolutely spectacular. Then, you start looking for wire.

I spent well over thirty years with planar speakers (electrostatic, AMT, and ribbon). The magic comes from great midrange and really great high frequency response… the same thing that super tweeters do. It is the harmonics above what you can hear that affects what you can hear. This can be magical, if not quite real. I gave up on them and went to traditional dynamic speakers. I am not suggesting you do this. But, don’t worry about losing the transparency. Get your components perfect… then go looking for wire.

@ghdprentice  What you wrote about Planars above and returning to more traditional drivers is most interesting to me because I was about to make the investment this very evening in about 18-36 planars at, what would be for me, a very substantial investment. (I had planed on building a stereo system for each of our children.) I have heard almost uniform praise of the transparency of planars, the lower distortion, the flatness of response, the tightness of transients. Now your comment has baffled me because you obviously have much audio experience, esp. with AMT planars. Could you please advise us further or share more detail?  

@hsbrock If you haven't heard the specific speaker you were going to buy, with the electronics and source that you will use, do so before you make a decision.

I have used planars almost exclusively for 50 years. Every time I slide into cones, I have to replace them, with the exception of my isobaric subs, which make no sound on most music.

@terry9  Humm...Listen before I buy? I was going to order the speakers online from overseas-- they are clones of the BG NEO10 & NEO8s--and so I've been relying on others' recommendations. When you said "every time I slide into cones, I have to replace them" - "them" is referring to the cones you regretfully acquired? And the isobaric subs: I don't know that I've ever communicated with someone with those: worth the double cabinets and double drivers? If so, why? what is really accomplished? (While in the process of ordering subs and designing cabinets, I want to consider every worthy alternative to get the best I can.) 

I used "audiophile" power cables on my Crosby Quad 63s. Once my ’57s were restored I used good quality standard power cables (part of the restoration by Electrostatic Solutions was converting the connectors to more standard types).

They sound fine, actually better than ever. I bought them in 74, they were made in ’73 and were my reference until around 1990. Now, they run in a second system, largely period, and great fun. Kind of how far we haven't come in almost 65 years.