Best amp for Martin Logan Summit X


Hi All,
I need a new amp for my Martin Logan Summit X electrostatics. ML doesn’t offer advice on this, so I’m turning to us. I am thinking of the Sanders Magtech, a used Plinius SA 102 or 103, a Jeff Rowland Continuum or Plinius Hautonga integrated. Maybe a David Berning ZH230? Any other tubed amps I should consider? I know there are probably many more; I want to stay under $5000. Any and all help will be appreciated.
By the way, I have checked other forum threads and not really found much help.
rustler
Yep out of that lot the OP put up it is.
But there are probably better than that for ESL's that have down to 1ohm loading for similar pricing.
Over at SNA Australia they did a shoot with the Summit X's and the Magnatech didn't fair as well as some others, because again of the 1ohm loading. 

Cheers George
Hi Rustler. I have a pair of ESL-11A's and have been running an ARC Ref 75 amp. After a lot of investigation I have realized that I am not getting all that I can from these great speakers. At a 4 ohm rating, like yours, they need more current to  make the top end sing. I am awaiting delivery of a Luxman L509X that mates exceptionally well with these. Good luck.
I paired mine with a D’Agostino Classic Stereo and it was a very good match.

Excuse me if you already know this, but what people are talking about is that when the impedance of a speaker drops it becomes harder for an amp to drive it properly. Summit Xs drop to an impedance of less than 1 ohm at 20khz. That’s about as low as you can go and, in general, Martin Logans are just a hard speaker to drive properly. What you want ideally is an amp that doubles its output when you halve the impedance it is driving. 200 watts into 8 ohms, 400 watts into 4 ohms, 800 watts into 2 ohms.

But, there isn’t a lot of music at 20khz and most of us can’t hear it if there is, so it’s not absolutely necessary to have an amp that doubles down to 2 ohms or 1 ohm, but the Summit Xs do benefit from a good stout amp and you can get a good one in your price range. There are other aspects of an amp besides doubling down that you want to consider, of course, and you may prefer an amp that doesn’t double down to 2 ohms but just sounds better to you because of a really good midrange, for example.

Let me know if you have any questions for me about my experience with the Summit Xs or the D’Agostino.

How about Simaudio products, say 600i with Martin Logan higher range, say, Expression ESL 13A?