Noob Planar Speaker Advice Needed

I would try the Emminent Tech speakers first, then the Martin Logan's. The reason being, that even though the Maggies can be had at a great price used (under $1000), the really need good amplification to sing.

Both the ET and ML's use a cone woofer and are easier to drive. The sound is not as seemless as the Maggies, but it's easier to set up, and they both still sound pretty good.

My new rule on Maggies, after having them for years, is you should probably plan on spending 2x the price of your speakers on amplification if you want to really hear what they can do.

If you want a very good balance and what is supposed to be an improvement over all 3 maybe then check out he New Magnepan Model 1.7. I hear it's all ribbon and much more advanced than the 1.6. Check the link below. The CLS and the Martin Logans are awesome speakers. For some reason many of todays electrostatic speakers membranes don't last as long as Accoustats did back in audio hey day. Making it an expensive upgrade down the road.
I love the Apogee speakers. They had one of the best midranges I think ever. They do shine on vocalist. I have always wanted a pair of Centaur Majors. The ET's are very good but still I would choose the new Maggies over the majority of speakers. Mainly because of dynamics and they pull you into the music. I have not heard the new Quads yet but I don't think you will get the volume you need to do HT part-time. Check out the link below or visit Magnepans site for the 1.7. I'm curious, very curious.
You should also consider a Moscode 600 or 401 or 402 amp to drive your speakers. Try and give that combo a listen and see what's you think.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-10422797-47.html?tag=mncol;title

I have never heard Eminent Technology but have heard other models from Martin logan and Magnepan.

Martin Logan:
I found that for the Martin logan Summit x and Spire sound very good. The Spire seemed like a very good buy. They are fast and very clean with stunning highs. BUT all models under them came up pretty short. The Vantage and purity were just bad IMO of course. The bass did not blend well with the rest of the speaker. The Purity was unlistenable for me. The bass was a big blob and the mids sounded like a different speakers.

With that being said all the Logan's had great midranges and vocals with amazing inner detail. I have never heard the CLS,CLX but I am sure they are great.

Magnepan:

I just listened to the Magnepans (1.6, 3.6, and 20.1) for the first time yesterday on all Mcintosh gear. They were all really great. They were balanced, had very good detail and a very good soundstage. The bass was very detailed but not hard hitting on the 1.6 and 3.6. The 20.1 ($13,000) had lots of bass...

The 1.6 would be a good buy used. If you are going to buy them new I would wait for the 1.7s to come out. They are just around the corner and should be a big step up over the 1.6. My only concern would be that the 1.6s would not have enough bass to fill your large room but I don't know. The mids/vocals are very good. They filled the room and made the singers sound very realistic . The mids had lots of body and warmth (on the Mcintosh gear).

Magnepan vs Martin logan: (note these are general statements related to the lower end Martin Logan and Magnepans).

I would choose the Magnepans in your price range. They will be much less tricky to set (opposed to cone panel combo of logans) up and more coherent top to bottom. The Magnepans lack some of the speed and transparency in the mids compared to the logans but if you did not hear them back to back you would never know what you were missing. The sweet spot is much larger on the magnepans (still a little small compared to cone speakers) than on the Martin logans in general. Near or far field listening seem to work fine on the Magnepans while you need some space to get the bass to blend well with the mids on the Martin Logans.

Anyway these statements are just my opinion and you should go listen for your self. Good luck and enjoy the music!

I had Maggie 1.6's with VTL MB250 (triode) monoblocks. In front of all that I had a Copland 303 preamp with an Arcam FMJ CD23 player. The system had plenty of dig to it and didn't lack at all in bass response. The midrange was gorgeous and the presentation was holographic.

Just my take on it all...

If you have any inclination to DIY, I’d suggest considering John Kreskovsky’s NaO Mini. The NaO Mini will give you the air and openness of the stats and maggies, but have dynamics closer to a box speaker. Most of the people that have built the NaOs are former stat and Maggie owners.

I’ve heard or owned various planar speakers over the years, including Quads, MLs, and maggies, and my NaO IIts are the best all around performance dipole speaker that I have heard.

You’ll get clean and open mids (yeah, female vocals are great), while also having tight, punchy bass that will “shake the floor” when needed for HT. The NaO Mini only needs one, moderate power, stereo amp.

The build is very simple. Even if you needed a cabinetmaker/woodworker’s help, the cost would be no more than those you mentioned. However, the Mini’s performance would probably be more comparable to a much more expensive speaker.