Since I owned Audiostatics up until a few months ago and also own (and sell) Parasound JC-1s, I'll throw in my two cents' worth, biased as it may be.
I owned Audiostatic ES100/SW100s for several years, having purchased the last pair that former US distributor SOTA had, at a good price. I tried several amplifiers with them, ranging from a Bedini 25/25 (a great amp which I intend to hang onto), a Sunfire, a pair of Aragon Palladium monoblocks, a couple of OTL amps, and finally the JC-1s when I sold the speakers.
The little Bedini had a lot more oomph, musicality, and clarity than many of the above mentioned amps...the Sunfire played louder but not as clearly, the OTLs were a touch smoother but lacked control. The JC-1s did very well in all respects.
The more recent offerings from Ben Peters are said to be improved in several areas. Perhaps so, but back when I inquired to him about perhaps purchasing extra panels in case one ever failed, he was far less than helpful, making it clear enough to me that all he wanted to do was sell me some new speakers. Not exactly the kind of support customers expect from a manufacturer of esoteric loudspeakers.
I purchased a pair of Sound Lab U-1s a few years ago and haven't looked back. Admittedly much more costly and larger than the Audiostatics, there is no way I would ever go back, for several reasons, a couple of them bass and imaging. I would consider a smaller Sound Lab model or perhaps a larger Magnepan first, but that's just me (just so you know, I'm a Sound Lab dealer, but I try to hide my dealer fin).
There have been a couple of Audiostatic distributors in the US since SOTA chose to end their relationship. Randy Patton at Threshold had been an enthusiast and elected to pick up the line, but then all that went away when Threshold did. Divergent Technology (divertech.com) still lists Audiostatic on their website, but they haven't been distributing them for a while.
Good luck.
Brian Walsh
