Eminent Technology LFT 7 !!


Not a missprint!  LFT 7 was the LFT 6 with additional bass panels. The bass panels had 3 bass drivers per panel.  4 panels total.  Would like to hear them or purchase them.  
128x128riverdinaudio
Interesting... sorry I missed this thread earlier.

I got a pair of LFT-VIs in 1994 or so and used them as my main speakers until I moved across-country in late 2006.

From 1981-1994, I cycled through Acoustat 2s, 2+2s, MG-IIIAs (Still the best highs overall in my setups!), 1+1s, PK R&D mods to the 1+1s, and original CLSs. Sometimes I used various fill-in speakers as gaps between selling and buying occurred and I filled those gaps with SMGs, MG-Is, MG-IIs, and Spica TC-50s (still have them!).

While all of the top planars above had their pros and cons, I found the LFT-VIs to be the best overall mix... not quite as detailed as the best electrostatics, but very close, not as good of highs as the big Magnepan ribbon, but not far behind, while not a single-driver electrostatic, with careful positioning they equaled the coherence of those speakers and the TC-50s, AND more dynamic than any of the other planars.

Before I moved, I’d already gotten the panels to do a mid-woofer rebuild (2 mid drivers had trace breaks) and looked for a fill speaker to use in the apartment until after we bought a house there and I had the chance to do that rebuild after we got settled. I found a good deal on some Gallo Ref 3A’s which were ok, but the mid-to-woofer transition was not as good as the full-range or otherwise coherent speakers like the LFT-VI. THEN I found a GREAT deal on a pair of LFT-VIIIs and got them... and they quickly replaced the Ref 3As. We moved into the house, I used the Ref 3As in the smallish downstairs ’temporary’ stereo room, and put the LFT-VIIIs upstairs for when I got time to setup that room.

Before that happened, I found another great deal on a pair of LFT-IVs and jumped on that. They went into that downstairs ’temporary’ setup in 2007-2008 and are still there now, a couple of crossover upgrades and lots of system changes later and sounding better than ever. AND I use the Ref 3A just away from the corners with a resistor across the woofer terminals as a bass damper... works!

Back to the LFT-VIs... The LFT-VIIIs (also with upgraded crossovers) are sounding great in that upstairs room. I’m working hard to retire mid-next-year so I can do that LFT-VI rebuild. BUT to the subject of this thread, I found a pair of mostly dead LFT-VI’s and got them for a good trade in 2009 or so. The dead panel drivers on my original LFT-VIs were the mids on 2 of the mid-woofers, so I figured that the 6 pulls from the LFT-VI rebuild would supply sufficient drivers for the deaders. BUT when I reached out to Bruce T at ET about using them to construct LFT-VII’s, he suggested getting 6 woofer only panels, similar to what they used in the old LFT-III outer panels, as that’s what they used on the original LFT-VIIs. So I did. MAYBE a year from now, everything willing, I can update y’all on how they worked out. Will be bi-amping them with separate amps for the woofer panels... and yes, if I need more woof, I’d consider some of the dipolar cone drivers like the GR Research ones mentioned above, I’ve heard a number of good dipole cone-drivered woofers/subs since 1980 or so and suspect they’d be the best overall match to the LFT bass presentation.

Greg in Mississippi

P.S. The LFT-VI’s got Sound Anchor bases (also on the LFT-VIIIs) and upgraded crossovers too along with Dynamat on the non-driver portion of the diaphram panels. All were well-worthwhile, though the Dynamat is way ugly!

@gstewtoo, great to hear from another planar fanatic, especially of the Eminent Technology stripe! Bruce's speakers are ridiculously under-acknowledged and appreciated, aren't they? I'm still hoping to eventually snag a pair of LFT-6, but until then my LFT-4 and -8b will have to do. ;-)

Did you do the x/o upgrades yourself? I would like to eliminate them altogether, and use my First Watt B4 x/o in place of the speaker level filters, but Thigpen's x/o's are not textbook designs: they employ driver-compensation elements that the B4 can't replicate. Still, just bi-amping them with the B4 should produce a worthwhile improvement.

As of last week my Eminent Technology stable is a pair of LFT3, pair of LFT6, 4 sets of LFT8 and two new LFT 8 panels.  My current project involves using the LFT8 panels with a Magnepan True Ribbon tweeter and GR Research Servo Sub stack.  Also working on an improved support for the LFT3.  How wonderful it is to find kindred spirits.  The Magnepan Ribbon tweeter IS without equal and I never have understood why people do not use it instead of complicated tweeter line arrays.  Magnepan will sell you a pair!
Greg, you made my mouth water with your saga.  More power to you!  I do belive that once one gets to 100Hz a correctly damped cone driver is the only way to go.  My Audio Artistry Beethovens have 4, 12 inch equalized woofers per side below 100Hz and it is a revelation of what true foundational bass is.   Hopefully, mag
...nepan will someday complete their plan to blend quasi-ribbon panels with equalized cone woofers.  Currently called the Condo 30.7.  But that is a another thread.  Back to my recently acquired LFT3s.  The previous owner suggested they were best at lower volumes.  I will soon know for sure.  The LFT6 may or may not need bass assistance depending on taste.  As a long time Magnepan owner the LFT6 bass was fine for me.  

@riverdinaudio, agree about the Maggie ribbon tweeter. I have a pair of Tympani T-IVa's, which contain it. I never though of using it in place of the ribbon tweeter in the LFT-8b, as that ribbon is used only for the top octave. When I get the time, I'm gonna place the T-IVa m/t panels beside the LFT-8b panels, compare the two tweeters. Thanks for the idea!

There are a group of guys on the Planar Speaker Asylum Forum who had removed the midrange driver from the T-IVa, replacing it with multiple NEO8 drivers (seven, iirc). Haven't heard them myself, but reports are very positive.

I failed to mention it above, but the GT Audio Works sub is nothing more than the GR Research/Rythmik OB/Dipole Sub kit installed in their own H-frame, not visa versa. Credit where credit is due! The sub came from the fertile mind of GRR's Danny Richie, a long-time proponent of OB loudspeakers and subs. When he learned of Rythmik Audio Brian Ding's new servo-feedback sub system, he thought mating it with an OB woofer (which are designed specifically for that application, different from those designed for non-OB use) would create a new SOTA sub/woofer, and got to work on the design.

The sub uses the Rythmik A370 plate amp, into which Brian Ding installs a dipole cancellation-compensation network (a simple single-pole/1st-order low-pass filter). Danny designed the woofer, which is the Rythmik 12" paper cone woofer optimized for OB usage.