2. speakers
  3. 129384-2447

Small room electrostat/ planar speaker?

In about 30 days will be moving to a new home where its going to be hard to make my 1.7 maggies work in a spouse friendly way ( the only large room is the main living room). I've always gravitated to planars and electrostatics, box speakers that don't sound colored or slow usually cost more than my entire system. Where I'd like to end up is a system that's extremely resolving at low to moderate volume levels, my main dissatisfaction with my current Mg 1.7 speakers and Prima Luna amp is that it really doesn't come to life until the volume is moderate listening levels or higher.

I'm wondering if anyone has seen something that approaches the coherency and speed of the 1.7s that would work in an 11x12 listening room? I'd like to keep the cost limited to $4k if possible.
128x128davide256
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Well. people do have different ideas as to what constitutes a "sweet spot".
On the acoustic music I listened to my 3XRS had a small one and other listeners felt the same . Still were fine speakers .

For reference , at time I had MMG, Totem Signature 1, Gallo CL-3, Rega RS1 and Meadowlark Kestrel 2 none of which did except the MMG .
wtf's avatar
wtf
307 posts
 
Yes, I suppose you're correct, much of audio is rather subjective, no?

I referenced my MMGs and MicroWalsh Talls because of the 2 distinct and very different presentations of these speakers, both of which I like and still have. The Maggies, as you know, have a very small sweet spot (head in vise). The Ohms, on the other hand, have a sweet spot nearly the size of the room and they're well know for this. The Omega's, for me, in my room, with my subjective understanding of "sweet spot", fall somewhere between the Maggies and the Ohm's, somewhat like my Mark & Daniel Rubys.

BTW, I have no reason to doubt your experience with the Omega's, I was just surprised is all. Nice speakers you've had there @schubert, which do you use now if you don't mind my asking?
schubert
7,386 posts
 
I use the Rega RS-1 most of the time because I've been to thousands of classical music concerts in my in my life and they sound the most realistic.
Close to a single-diver in that the cross-over is one small cap .
Totem 1 Sigs have best tone but are hard to drive, Regas are close and sing with small tube amps . Gallo has at least a big sound stage as Ohms but a bit bright .
I  heard the new Rega RX-1 at local dealer, he is also Maggie dealer, had his .7 maggies right next to them, he kept saying how they image as he switched back and forth , true enough but concert halls don't and the RX-1
as FAR better sounding in every respect .

I would try some Ohms but ones I have looked at used looked almost shoddy,I like pretty speakers ,

wtf's avatar
wtf
307 posts
 
That’s quite an endorsement for the Rega’s! No, the Ohm’s are not exactly furniture-grade, although they look much better in low lighting.

@davide256 sorry for going off-topic.
schubert
7,386 posts
 
Ohms used to be sold by dealers, I know , I sold then -they were so many flimsy ones damaged in shipping and/or just falling apart we dropped them.
Regular speaker models, no problem.

I'm sure they are better these days .
More to discover