@eziggy,
I try to be careful with the words I use when I describe component or system auditions. Some words off limits for me are, accuracy, transparency and truth. A favorite word used by many is synergy but this can be more seen as a means to compensate one component's flaws with those of another. Two products might have wildly different tonality but when mated together result in a "neutral" or "accurate" system result. I experienced this mistake when I had a cable designer visit my home 10 years ago and one by one we replaced each cable in my system with one from his line. When we got to the final IC, and inserted his IC, the sound took a goofy turn for the worse. But upon putting his speaker cables in, the sound came back into check. It was very clear that I had done a mighty fine job to mix products with serious complimentary flaws to result in "system synergy".
In 1981 I heard the outstanding Accoustat 2+2 speakers at a so cal dealer. These are the 8-feet tall doubly stacked flat panels that were 2 feet wide as I recall. Oh my, this was impressive. I few years later I heard the ML CLS at a Tucson dealer and the impression was not at all the same; it was very disappointing. And then a couple years later, I heard the Stax electrostatic speakers at a Phoenix dealer. Oh my, that sound too was incredible! These were 5-6 feet tall, maybe 2 feet wide and flat panel. Was the curved panel design of the ML the culprit of my conclusions? Maybe, but I clearly was not anti-electrostatic speakers. It just showed me that not all electrostatic speakers are created equal.
I used the word, sterile when I heard the ML speakers line in Minneapolis 15 years after that. To me a sterile sound does not imply accuracy, but rather it describes that the minute I hear music from that system, I have no feeling that I am at a live event; there is no emotional connection maybe because of fatigue, dimensional flatness, compressed dynamics, unnatural tonality, etc.
Isn't what we all seek here is to sit down in front of our music system and escape to believe even for a short time that we are listening to the real event? The ML experiences did not bring this on for me. If this is what people describe as truth, they can have it. And the Minneapolis dealer was using his top ARC products at that time. I do not recall the source. But a change to the Magnepans, and yes, some exaggerations with bigger images than reality, but for me, there was a pull for me into the performance.
And then in 2005, I heard the huge SoundLab U1 and A1 models. Never before had I experienced an electrostatic speaker as this. And surprise, surprise, it was curved but it was tonally coherent, most impressive clarity and dynamics (with the CATs) and had outstanding portrayal of space. I truly was unprepared for what I heard and this has everything to do with why I own these today, for over a decade.
Perhaps the latest ML line addresses the concerns I had with their products years ago, but I have no desire to change what I have unless I am ready to significantly downsize my speakers or systems.
I try to be careful with the words I use when I describe component or system auditions. Some words off limits for me are, accuracy, transparency and truth. A favorite word used by many is synergy but this can be more seen as a means to compensate one component's flaws with those of another. Two products might have wildly different tonality but when mated together result in a "neutral" or "accurate" system result. I experienced this mistake when I had a cable designer visit my home 10 years ago and one by one we replaced each cable in my system with one from his line. When we got to the final IC, and inserted his IC, the sound took a goofy turn for the worse. But upon putting his speaker cables in, the sound came back into check. It was very clear that I had done a mighty fine job to mix products with serious complimentary flaws to result in "system synergy".
In 1981 I heard the outstanding Accoustat 2+2 speakers at a so cal dealer. These are the 8-feet tall doubly stacked flat panels that were 2 feet wide as I recall. Oh my, this was impressive. I few years later I heard the ML CLS at a Tucson dealer and the impression was not at all the same; it was very disappointing. And then a couple years later, I heard the Stax electrostatic speakers at a Phoenix dealer. Oh my, that sound too was incredible! These were 5-6 feet tall, maybe 2 feet wide and flat panel. Was the curved panel design of the ML the culprit of my conclusions? Maybe, but I clearly was not anti-electrostatic speakers. It just showed me that not all electrostatic speakers are created equal.
I used the word, sterile when I heard the ML speakers line in Minneapolis 15 years after that. To me a sterile sound does not imply accuracy, but rather it describes that the minute I hear music from that system, I have no feeling that I am at a live event; there is no emotional connection maybe because of fatigue, dimensional flatness, compressed dynamics, unnatural tonality, etc.
Isn't what we all seek here is to sit down in front of our music system and escape to believe even for a short time that we are listening to the real event? The ML experiences did not bring this on for me. If this is what people describe as truth, they can have it. And the Minneapolis dealer was using his top ARC products at that time. I do not recall the source. But a change to the Magnepans, and yes, some exaggerations with bigger images than reality, but for me, there was a pull for me into the performance.
And then in 2005, I heard the huge SoundLab U1 and A1 models. Never before had I experienced an electrostatic speaker as this. And surprise, surprise, it was curved but it was tonally coherent, most impressive clarity and dynamics (with the CATs) and had outstanding portrayal of space. I truly was unprepared for what I heard and this has everything to do with why I own these today, for over a decade.
Perhaps the latest ML line addresses the concerns I had with their products years ago, but I have no desire to change what I have unless I am ready to significantly downsize my speakers or systems.