Steve Guttenberg finally reviews the Eminent Technology LFT-8b loudspeaker.
Over the past few years I and a number of other owners of the Eminent Technology LFT-8b have on this site extolled the virtues of this under-acknowledged loudspeaker. I myself have encouraged those interested in Magnepans to try and hear the LFT-8 before buying. That is not easy, as ET has only five U.S.A. dealers.
I am a long-time fan of Maggies, having bought my first pair (Tympani T-I) in 1973, my last (Tympani T-IVa) a few years ago. But the Tympani’s need a LOT of room (each 3-panel speaker is slightly over 4’ wide!), which I currently don’t have. So I gave a listen to the MG 1.7i, and didn’t much care for it. As I recounted in a thread here awhile back, I found the 1.7 to sound rather "wispy", lacking in body and tonal density (thank you Art Dudley ;-).
Brooks Berdan was (RIP) a longtime ET dealer, installing a lot the company’s linear-tracking air-bearing arm on Oracle, VPI, and SOTA tables. After Brooks’ passing his wife Sheila took over management of the shop, continuing on as an ET dealer. I knew Brooks was a fan of the LFT-8, and he had very high standards in loudspeakers (his main lines were Vandersteen, Wilson, and Quad). The shop had a used pair of LFT-8’s, so I gave them a listen. They sounded good enough to me to warrant investigate further, so I had Sheila order me a pair, along with the optional (though nearly mandatory) Sound Anchor bases.
I wouldn’t waste your time if I didn’t consider the ET LFT-8b to be just as I have on numerous occasions (too many times for some here) described it: the current best value in all of hi-fi. Hyperbole? Well, you no longer have to take it from just me and the other owners here: Steve Guttenberg finally got around to getting in for review a pair (the LFT-8 has been in production for 33 years!), and here is what he has to say about it. After watching the video, you can read other reviews (in a number of UK mags, and in TAS by Robert E. Greene) on the ET website.
You’re most welcome Leo. The Starkrimson amps with GaN FET power supplies are great. Eric and others- It seems that one of my LFTs is about 3-D be louder than the other. I’ve tried swapping amps, cables and all the usual stuff. My room tends to lean slightly left (it must know my politics-:) but it tends to sound like everything is coming out of the left channel now when I’m off axis. I wrote Bruce and I’m hoping to figure it out, but any suggestions would be welcome. |
@harryz Hi Harry, just a reminder that the cable compliment is very different between the 8b and 8c. In the 8c, it is a set of line level cables from preamp out to the DSP / woofer units, then another set of line level cables from the woofers to your amps, and finally speaker cables from amps back to the speakers. The amps only drives the mid range panels and the tweeters. And all signals go through A-D and D-A conversion before it goes to your amp. Regarding the 3 db differential in your speaker output, if you are dealing with vinyl playback, then I'd check azimuth. If not analog, I would still check the output of digital source component. My vintage Wadia CDP experienced a L-R imbalance which got fixed. |
Thanks ledoux1238- I don’t have the 8C woofers yet; it will be about six weeks. I’m pretty certain it’s the speakers because I’ve checked everything else and I’ve tried various sources. I’m playing my quad ESLs now with no issue. I’m going to measure the output and impedance of the 8Bs to see what’s going on. Overall, I prefer the 8B to the Quads but it’s pretty damn close-:) They both do different things really well but the 8Bs are more dynamic and more full range. And still, it’s hard to find fault with the Quad’s naturalness and glorious midrange… |
@harryz: have you tried disconnecting the woofers and just evaluating the volume from the mid/treble panel? How about vice-versa? Are the impedances equal, R-L? And I assume you've swapped speaker cables R-L and the 3dB drop is still present on the same side? Last, have you panned the balance R-L and found the same imbalance? |
