What kind of power wakes up electrostatic speakers

Greetings Steakster -

Congrats on you Final purchase! That's one of the few electrostats I haven't heard.

First of all, the Nakamichi Stasis is prone to going into oscillation and self-destructing when driving electrostats. Nakamichi skimped on the output transistors and didn't use the ones designer Nelson Pass specified.

The thing an electrostatic panel likes is a high voltage amplifier. Don't worry too much about the ultra-low impedance at high frequencies (unless your amp is oscillation-prone like the Nak), as there is very little energy up there. It's the high impedance at the lower end of the panel's range, plus the capacitive load, that gives many amps a severe pain in the output stage.

Nearly all of the speakers I sell are full-range electrostats, and by far the best bang-for-the-buck amp I've found is the InnerSound ESL amplifier (good call, Bart!). If you don't have a local dealer, shoot me an e-mail and I'd be happy to arrange a no-risk in-home audition. By no-risk, I mean if you don't like the amp, you won't even have to pay the return shipping.

Best of luck to you in your search!

Duke

Arrrgh - sorry for posting again, but I deleted a paragraph to rewrite it and then accidentally posted instead.

What I wanted to say was that there are a number of tube amplifiers that also work quite well with electrostats (some of which I sell), and there are a few that don't. It seems to me that the most critical factor is the quality of the output transformers - "budget" or high watts-per-dollar tube amps usually don't work well with electrostats. OTL's often work quite well - I got good results with the Berning amp mentioned, though in the end I chose to carry a different brand. Also, very high current and/or Class A solid state amps generally work quite well.

Hi Duke: As usual, your response(s) are informative and to the point. My question to you is, what specifications should us 'stat fans look for in an amp? The 'current' rating should be ..... or above? The 'voltage' capability should be....or above? TIA.

I can't speak from personal experience, but some seem to like the "Sim" gear with stats.

Back about 15 years ago ( WOW, was it really that long ago ??? ), J. Gordon Holt found that the only two SS amps that he had tried that could drive Acoustat's well were the Acoustat TNT-200 and a Threshold. I will second that nomination and also add Perreaux to the list. Whether or not any of these amps are to your personal liking in terms of sonic characteristics may be another story though. Sean
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