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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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clio09
3,360 posts
 
I'd be much more interested in these speakers if I could use my active crossover with 100 Hz high pass and low pass boards with them. I would send the high pass signal through my tube amp to the panel of the LFT-8b, then the low pass through my solid state amp to my own woofer array. Thus by-passing the LFT-8b bass driver.

On another note, I think the true test of any panel speaker is to be able to play extremely well at low volume.
aniwolfe
761 posts
 
@yyzsantabarbara 

I listen at 55-65db range. One of the reason I got the ET's and not the Maggies.
johnto
1,032 posts
 
I wouldn't give up on the 1.7 had mine in a 12 x 15 room about 3' from wall and they sounded amazing.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,923 posts
 
@clio09--- ah, but you can! Since the m/t panel and the woofer each have their own speaker cable binding post, one can simply disconnect the woofer right on it’s post. Any separate, outboard woofer may then be used in it’s place, assuming it’s response extends to 180Hz, the frequency of the crossover. And as the x/o is a simple 1st-order, a capacitor can be installed in the woofer’s power amp to provide the filtering---no electronic x/o required.
clio09
3,360 posts
 
Well it is tempting but I do need a 100 Hz crossover point. The AirSpring woofer system I use was designed by Roger Modjeski and the crossover is the Beveridge RM-3 (also designed by Roger) with 100 Hz 4th order Link-Witz Reilly low pass filter (32 Hz EQ added by Roger) and the high pass filter also 4th order. The woofers resonate at just over 100 Hz, so I would not be able to crossover at 180 Hz. I use 4 boxes spread asymmetrically around the room. The system works great with Rogers ESLs or the 57s.
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