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Electrostat - M-L; Quad or Soundlab - reliable

Looking for the best electrostat that is reliable. Seems as Soundlab sounds the best performed, but is the most unreliable; Quad is second best performer - very safe - easiest to resell but also unreliable. M-L third, but maybe the most reliable.

Is the reliability issue due to people playing "Pink Floyd at 100 dB" or is reliability also an issue for us 80 to 85 dB people?
dcaudio
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,515 posts
 
I'm not so enamored of the Acoustats. Mine caught fire and almost took the house down. There was a short in the transformer in the left one which was repaired, and the right one shorted out about 7 months later. I sold them at that point.
vegasears
1,173 posts
 
Stringreen: What model did you have? Mine were powered up for almost 12 years 24-7 and never had a problem.
coltrane1's avatar
coltrane1
831 posts
 
I've owned every former model ML produced: Aerius I's, SL3's, Requests, Monolith III's, and now Vista's, and I've yet to experience a single reliability over close to 20 years of use. I'm perplexed by the "reliability issue" posed by the author.
bpwalsh
1,207 posts
 
Reliability is a valid concern, addressed well by some who have posted to this thread. I suggest that something which should be at least as important is performance. If you aren't delighted with the sound day after day, year after year, you might have the most reliable speaker but not want to listen, and that would be a pity. Follow your ears.
andr
109 posts
 
I'll support the Acoustats too. Mine are modified Spectra 44. The panels themselves are very, very reliable. For those who think they have no resolution, I'll say better parts in the interfaces will heavily modernize their sound.
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