panel speaker purchase

Hi Mrtennis
Did you by any chance you get a pair of new panel speakers, if so, can you pls say which brand and how it is working out.
I have been a Magnepan listener for 25 years and hoping to find something else. I have managed to order a pair of Amphityron from Analysis Audio and hopefully will add an extra pair of bass panels.

thx Terry

hi terry:

i almost bought one of the models from analysis audio but didn't because of distribution issues. at this point i will probably wait to hear the martin logan clx, the replacement for the cls 2z. expected release date is early 2008.

i also was tempted to purchase quad els, but have not so far.

Mrtennis, I have owned Apogees for the past 15 years (Slant 6s, Studio Grands) and was very satisfied until listening to a pair of Ambience Reference 1600 ribbon hybrids ($12,900) last year. They are 96 db efficient, easy to drive, and can play very loudly for those special occasions (much louder than electrostats auditioned) and are a true dipole so soundstaging is huge. They have a forward, clean, very detailed sound that I simply could not find with cone speakers even in the $30,000+ range and are a nice match with tube gear. The biggest problem is that they are made in Australia and there is not a large dealer network here in the States; it took 4 weeks to receive mine. Definitely worth checking out.

gentlemen:

i have two panel speakers on my short list:

the analaysis audio epsilon and the podium from england.

i am going to ces next month and will listen to both of them. i am not thrilled with the price of the analysis audio speakers, namely 13200.

i will be able to get a 45 percent reviewer's accomodation discount if buying the analysis audio speaker but it is an expensive purchase. the podium speaker is $7900 and therefore would cost much less. we'll see.

if neither pans out, there is a full range martin logan speaker on the horizon, the clx, expected introduction, june to december of 2008.

I would go with the 3.6's as they are an easy load to drive still you need a lot of good old tube power to drive them like AR vt-200.You will need at least 100 watts of tube power to drive anything bigger than what you have.