On 1/13/2014 3:22 PM, F.O.A.D. wrote:
On 1/13/14, 2:57 PM, wrote:
On Monday, January 13, 2014 2:30:43 PM UTC-5, F.O.A.D. wrote:
I've a pair of Magnepan electrostatic speakers that were given to me by
a friend breaking up his household after a nasty divorce. 
They're
hooked up with a pretty decent subwoofer. The array suits me.
Magnepans can sound very good, but they require massive amounts of
power (current) from an amplifier that can drive a low impedance, and
they do require a subwoofer.
I have a friend with a pair of them, driven in a bi-amp configuration
with over $6k worth of hi-end amps, plus pre-amps, etc. Great sound,
but costly.
Oh, and technically, Magnepans aren't electrostatics. They are dipole
magna-planars.
Dipole magnaplaners? Holy toledo! I of course have not a clue what that
means.
My "magies" are driven by a pretty high powered McIntosh amp running
through a preamp. I got the McIntosh at a pawn shop in Virginia. It was
practically a give-away, since it had been sitting in the pawnbroker's
store for months, and about every two months, I'd stop by and make him a
ridiculous offer for it. I've got what I think is called a "passive"
subwoofer that strips the lows off the lines running to the magies.
Magies are excellent speakers. Like 3452471@gmail says however they
are not considered to be electrostatic. They are a form of ribbon
speaker technology that have fine wires on a mylar film, causing the
mylar to vibrate. Also, as mentioned, both electrostatic and hybrid
ribbon speakers like the Magnepans are notoriously inefficient and
require higher powered amps to drive them properly. With due respect to
your McIntosh, it may not have enough power to drive them for max
performance. McIntosh are fine amps but typically are not noted for
being high powered, except some of the solid state types. If that's the
case, it's not a true McIntosh .... :-)
I had a pair of the original Martin Logan SL3 electrostatics that also
had a small "sub" in the lower section. Electrostatic speakers have a
transparent, semi-conductive thin film deposited on the mylar (rather
than having thin wires attached to it). I am quite sure the thin film
is indium tin oxide which is commonly used to form the transparent
matrix on touch screens like smart phones and other touch screen
displays. The Martin Logan design includes a high voltage static charge
on the mylar that "suspends" it. The audio signal is applied to the
transparent thin film coating, causing the mylar to vibrate in it's
suspended field. The concept is very similar to that of a huge,
condenser type microphone in reverse.
Both Magies and the original Martin Logans are audiophile delights and
have been the subject of debate for years over which is the better.
Most feel that Magnepans have a slight edge.
I bi-amped the SL3s I had but also used a subwoofer as well. I ended up
selling them because they were big and very temperamental to location.
Like the Magies, they are dipole speakers meaning there is as much sound
being generated from the rear as from the front and positioning for best
performance is critical due to reflections off of walls. It's not so
important if you are not a nerd about it like I was, but I was always
trying to expand the "sweet spot" and had a very critical ear. Martin
Logan has tried to address this by curving the mylar surface but they
are still very sensitive to position relative to the listener. I was
driving my wife nuts setting up a room that was purely dedicated to
sitting in one spot to listen to music, so I finally gave up.
The concept of near mass-less drivers makes sense to me. The mylar can
instantaneously respond to an input as opposed to a heavy voice coil
suspended in a permanent magnet field like conventional speakers. Also,
because there is mass, there is inertia to deal with in conventional
speakers. Once in motion, the voice coil can tend to continue to
oscillate when the input is removed causing distortion or "muddiness".
Near mass-less mylar can stop moving much faster. The result is a very
"airy" and natural sound.
One thing unique to electrostatics (and I think the same is true of
Maggies) is their impedance. Speakers have a nominal impedance (usually
8 ohms) but the actual impedance the amplifier sees varies with
frequency. In conventional speakers with a voice coil, the reactive
impedance is inductive, therefore the impedance goes down with
frequency. Electrostatics appear to be a capacitive load to the amp, so
impedance goes up as frequency goes down (and visa-versa). It's
important to select the correct amp to drive them.
I had no desire to drive myself and everyone nuts with another system
but happened to hear some speakers made by Focal. Focal is a French
company (actually called JM Laboratories) and build mid to high end
speakers as well as other audio products. I ended up with a pair of
Chorus speakers as well as matching surrounds and a center channel.
Very pleased with their sound reproduction although I don't think it
compares to the Martin Logans. At least they are not as position
sensitive and don't dictate the room's setup. I use the previously
mentioned Velodyne 15" subwoofer with them.
http://www.focal.com/en/chorus-700/401-chorus-726-3544056691074.html