Planar to dynamic, dynamic to planar, or ...

I ended up with a second system with Infinity RS1b's to listen to when I missed planar sound. Certain music sounds better with planars and some with cones. The Pipedreams are still the big kahuna here though.

My girl is not too happy with me but it sure sounds good!

Best,

Paul :-)

I love my VMPS hybrids. With a low bass woofer and a mid/upper bass woofer mated to planar mids and ribbon tweeters it seems to be the best of both worlds. Dynamics are excellent like cone speakers and the super transparency and imaging of planars are still there.

Except for the bass I also like Magnepans. They need alot of power to sound decent however. You may want to try a line array. Selah audio makes some outstanding ones. These can also be super dynamic, highly sensitive and have the transparency of a full planar or electrostatic speaker. Selah audio has a forum at audiocircle and although I've never heard one of Rick's speakers, the reviews are extremely positive. You do need a decent sized room for those speakers.

The line arrays may satisfy your needs as they have a row of woofers and a row of ribbon tweeters. Selah also has them with built in subwoofers.

Even though I have excellent dynamic speakers now, I still vividly remember the sound of a properly set up Apogeee Duetta and Martin Logan CLS from the mid 80's. It felt like I just walked in on a group of live musicians playing in front of me. Uncanny.