Acoustat 2+2...Any users?

Vegasears, thanks for your response. I have never heard the Acoustats with tubes,but I bet it can be magical. How much power is your VTL rated for? I would love a pair of Seigfrieds but a little too rich for my blood.

They are rated at 300 watts! One of the funny things to do for roll the tubes. My primary tubes are 6550 Winged C's but every once in a while I like to sweeten things up and use Gold Lion KT-88's. Seigfrieds are a dream of mine too but unless I win the lottery it's not likely to happen.

I've had a pair of Acoustat 2+2s since the mid 80's. I went the full gamut of audiophile products: Mosfet, bipolar, tubes-push/pull and DHT single ended 45,2A3, 300B). The single ended Loftin/White 45 was the best amp driving 96db Infinity Composition Preludes (first model). The Acoustats like power but be careful with the low frequency transformers arching over on the secondary (see posts on TAC-The Audio Circuit). Exotic tube amps and preamps with premium NOS tubes were to my ears the best. With the Acoustats you need a very high quality front-end to get the best out of them. Remove socks, put the BEST coupling caps you can afford in the high pass crossover, use Caddock heatsinked Power Film resistors to replace the high pass variable resistor, connect the series fuse only on the low frequency transformer and go to a fast blow instead of slow blow fuse (those silver fuses may be worth a try), use spikes if you have room to couple the speakers to the floor, AND place the speakers out from the rear wall at least 3' or more! These speakers are extremely finicky with placement (sweet spot is VERY tight). I have the spectra 44 interfaces and hope to one day convert the 2+2s to the 4400 (should improve high frequency dispersion). Also look for the improved panels per Andy (Acoustat tech), they will have a yellow/red strip for the bias wire. Currently I use a highly modified all tube counterpoint preamp, extremely modified tube output stage CD player, and a modified 6DJ8,6SN7 Moscode 600 type amp (also have two enormous custom tube/mosfets amps with Krell heatsink in the works). Great speakers. After trying mid level sensitivity 87-89db speakers with tube push/pull amps and the high sensitivity >95db speakers with DHT S.E. amps, I decided to go back to the Acoustats. Now if only I could get a DHT SE 45 amp to drive them....oh well, you can't have everything.

Have had a pair of 2+2's since '84. Used a Sumo preamp with the Sumo Nine power amp for years. Now using an Audio Research Sp11 with a Audio Research D250 and a Musitek 15 inch Sub crossed over at 100. Am going to sell after all these years. Just picked up a pair of Gallo 5LS's. You need a good front end and a tube or class A amp for these speakers. They are very critical - if your amps are sub par you will know right away - nothing is fudged. It really sucks to have good music that is poorly recorded as the speakers hide nothing. There is a narrow sweet spot but I usually am the only one listening so it does not matter. Room placement is critical and you should get the speakers three feet off the wall since they are dipolar. I am using Nordost Red Dawn speaker cable & had to turn down the high frequency adjustment on the 2+2's. Imaging and focus is pretty good. I will be listing them on Audiogon in the next little while. I am tempted to keep them but there is only so much room and have to deal with the wife factor. I listened to them for 30 years because I could not justify the amount of money I would have had to spend to beat them. I did not have to spend a dime on maintenance expect to dry clean the socks. I have just recently upgraded my front end and the time has come to move up. I hope they find a good home.

I have owned Acoustat 2+2 speakers since 1986 and installed the medallion transformers +C upgrade and use HIfi tuning supreme fuses 5amp slo-blo. I find double runs of Kimber 8tc 10ft lengths excellent.Two of the finest amplifiers to drive Acoustat 2+2 electrostatic speakers are the valve EAR 549 monoblocs & CAT JL2 signature mk2 stereo amp; I have both. Very few amps drive Acoustats properly;these amps do. A great speaker and highly underestimated.Must be set up carefully and properly.A credit to Mr Jim Strickland the designer.