What kind of power wakes up electrostatic speakers

I don't know about the Bel Canto's or Spectron's but the PS HCA-2 does not respond very linearly as impedance is changed. Both frequency response and distortion are effected as impedance varies. Sean
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Yesterday I was at the friends place as he invited me to listen to his new find. I was surprised to see a vintage Sansui Au-111 tube amp which was glowing and driving the CLS in a way which was shocking. This combination was so far the best we came across. I was accompanied by another friend who is actually into the bottles (Cary 2A3, Alon Adrianna's, Wadia 850) and he too was very impressed with the sound that was coming out of the CLS.

Now the friend with the CLS knows which direction he needs to go. Tubes and nothing else.

Meanwhile the Sansui which is a vintage model circa 1965 is under servicing and cleaning, including changing to new set of tubes. We will have a go at it again and see what the results are.

I thought I should update my finding on this thread.

Sean, if you are reading this, thanks for the detailed explanation. I appreciate it>

Btstrg, I spoke with Dennis Chern of Martin Logan this afternoon and they just got the JC-1s hooked up last week in their ML reference system and he just listened to them this past Tuesday and just loves them....He said fine to quote him BTW :-)

To corroborate what Bob stated, ML is in fact using the JC-1's as their reference amplification within their test lab / listening room. Even in a large room, ML stated that these amps are fully capable of providing any SPL range that they desire and can do so with absolute control and do so while sounding superb. Sean
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PS... I posted this not to jump on the band wagon, but simply as a "witness" to verify / support the statements being made. Some might feel that such information was tainted coming from Bob or that Bob was blowing his own horn. To clarify things, Bob was involved with designing the amps, primarily selecting the individual components used to voice the sonic signature of the amp. For the record, i do not own or sell any Parasound gear or the JC-1's in specific. Having said that, i would like to own a pair of these amps and am accepting funds on a donation basis so that i can afford to buy a pair or two : )

By the way, Innersound told me that their ESL amp is indeed a "switching" amp. That's why it runs so cool. How does this relate to switching amp's generally poor capability to deal with wide impedence ranges? Clearly the ESL handles this kind of variability fairly well.