@douglas_schroeder , When you listen to speakers "in your own room" you are in effect listening to "your room." The Aspen Acoustics speakers are overwhelmed by their tweeters. The tweeter is line source but everything else is point source. They radiate differently line sources projecting much better. As you move away from the speakers they get brighter. This creates a sound signature that many audiophiles love. I had a friend way back in Miami who stuck these huge RTR electrostatic tweeters on top of a box speaker (can't remember which one) and he kept them turned way up. He thought it sounded great. I couldn't keep my eyes from crossing.
I have not listened to the Kings, do not know them at all. But I do know ESLs intimately otherwise having lived and worked on them for decades.
They can be so neutral they become boring for people who have not been able to take advantage of them to the fullest. It is always a bad idea to change horses in the middle of the stream. Line sources and point sources have such disparate radiation patterns and projection that it is always a bad idea to go from one to the other, particularly in the middle of the audio range. If the Little Sound Labs have one big problem this is it. They switch from line source to point source behavior at about 350 Hz.
I have not listened to the Kings, do not know them at all. But I do know ESLs intimately otherwise having lived and worked on them for decades.
They can be so neutral they become boring for people who have not been able to take advantage of them to the fullest. It is always a bad idea to change horses in the middle of the stream. Line sources and point sources have such disparate radiation patterns and projection that it is always a bad idea to go from one to the other, particularly in the middle of the audio range. If the Little Sound Labs have one big problem this is it. They switch from line source to point source behavior at about 350 Hz.