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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.
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johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
I heard the Mini Maggie system a few years ago at a mfrs' open house at my local high end store. The room was about the same size as yours. I'm sure that the basic 3-piece Mini Maggie would be sufficient, but to demonstrate just how dynamic this system could be, they used two pairs of the satellites and used some serious Bryston power amps behind it. 

It has the sound you are seeking--fast, dynamic, freakishly realistic-sounding, and totally devoid of boxy resonances, hot spots, and suckouts.

About 2 years later I bought a pair of 1.7s because my living space had room for them. But I'd say that Mini Maggie demo is what really made me want to own Magnepans, and when I have to downsize, it'll be Mini Maggies, no question, if they're still in production.
jergen
3 posts
 
All planar speakers-certainly all magnepans-have crossovers; this is a main reason I prefer single driver or other non-conventional crossover designs, e.g. 1st order crossovers or "super tweeters" crossed over way up high with a simple filter (ohm walsh; zu for example).
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
13,136 posts
 
i heard a pair of Emminent about 6’  to 8’ off the back wall of an appointment only place in Chicago some ten years ago now... .beater CJ DAC and Apple Laptop.....freakishly good....
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,014 posts
 
tomic601, you must mean the Eminent Technology LFT-8b? That speaker is 5' tall and 13" wide and deep, so might be too big for the op's room. It was for that reason I suggested it's smaller brother, the LFT-16, a monitor-size speaker.
j_stereo
130 posts
 
I have a similar sized room (bedroom-size) and Martin Logan Aerius-i were the best sounding speakers I ever had in there and I wish I never sold them. Had MMG's and they were too small for me, then had 1.6's and they were too big. I wanted to try the .7's as mentioned in one of the above posts, but I left a message at the closest dealer to me (about 1 1/2 hours away) a week ago and the dealer never returned my call, so I guess I won't be going that route. I am tempted to try Martin Logan again but even the small ESL is much more expensive than the Magnepans. Good luck.
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