I had a love affair with 1.6's for a while, then began to see the shortcomings of them. Switched to Eminent Technology LFT-8A's, and did a 'stacked' E.T. speaker system with biamping all around. ENORMOUS fun! Finally, tried out the Apogee Calipers.
None of these were enough to save me from being drawn to a dynamic speaker again. One of best kept secrets in audio are the Chapman T-7's, which I would love to hear A/B'd against the much lauded Von Schweikert's. Not that I'm itching to switch; I just think it would be interesting...
Stuart (Chapman) Jones is better known on the West coast for his speakers, and they are sonically beautiful. He can customize his speakers to your listening preferences. His number is: 206-463-3008 There is not much on the net in terms of pictures. The T-7 is a three way capable of great bass down to about 28hz. I have heard many quality dynamic speakers, including Vandersteen, ProAc, Sonus Faber, Krell, Wilsons, and a host of other very popular brands like Paradigm, Dynaudio, etc. and these are among the best in their price category in terms of absolute sonic purity and musicality. Check out the reviews that do exist on the net and you will find almost universal praise for them.
Observations from ownership of these products:
-The 1.6's were the least precise, least complete of the three planars I owned.
-All of them improved with passive vertical biamping
-People searching for a great planar should consider the Eminent Tech. LFT-8A's; considerably better imho
-Pursue Apogees at your own risk; very easy to get burned by obtaining speakers with defects to ribbons and you'll have little recourse to fix without spending inordinate amounts of time/money.
At first, I thought I had lost a portion of the sound stage by moving to a dynamic speaker. Now, with experimentation with cabling, I'm finding that the majority of soundstage is recaptured. In addition, the imaging has become truly a joy, something none of these planars did all that well.
Finally, I will always enjoy the planar sound; I am sorely tempted to repurchase another pair of E.T.'s just to have on hand for when I feel like hearing that sound.