Steve Guttenberg finally reviews the Eminent Technology LFT-8b loudspeaker.
Over the past few years I and a number of other owners of the Eminent Technology LFT-8b have on this site extolled the virtues of this under-acknowledged loudspeaker. I myself have encouraged those interested in Magnepans to try and hear the LFT-8 before buying. That is not easy, as ET has only five U.S.A. dealers.
I am a long-time fan of Maggies, having bought my first pair (Tympani T-I) in 1973, my last (Tympani T-IVa) a few years ago. But the Tympani’s need a LOT of room (each 3-panel speaker is slightly over 4’ wide!), which I currently don’t have. So I gave a listen to the MG 1.7i, and didn’t much care for it. As I recounted in a thread here awhile back, I found the 1.7 to sound rather "wispy", lacking in body and tonal density (thank you Art Dudley ;-).
Brooks Berdan was (RIP) a longtime ET dealer, installing a lot the company’s linear-tracking air-bearing arm on Oracle, VPI, and SOTA tables. After Brooks’ passing his wife Sheila took over management of the shop, continuing on as an ET dealer. I knew Brooks was a fan of the LFT-8, and he had very high standards in loudspeakers (his main lines were Vandersteen, Wilson, and Quad). The shop had a used pair of LFT-8’s, so I gave them a listen. They sounded good enough to me to warrant investigate further, so I had Sheila order me a pair, along with the optional (though nearly mandatory) Sound Anchor bases.
I wouldn’t waste your time if I didn’t consider the ET LFT-8b to be just as I have on numerous occasions (too many times for some here) described it: the current best value in all of hi-fi. Hyperbole? Well, you no longer have to take it from just me and the other owners here: Steve Guttenberg finally got around to getting in for review a pair (the LFT-8 has been in production for 33 years!), and here is what he has to say about it. After watching the video, you can read other reviews (in a number of UK mags, and in TAS by Robert E. Greene) on the ET website.
Where is the evidence they are made in China? And isn't it the case that some things made in China are of excellent quality? Or are you making a political point? As for your claim that they "absolutely need a minimum of 150wpc into 8 ohms" we already have @decooney testifying to the contrary and Steve G. also explores several different amps with these. The key issue, it seems, is how loud people want to play them.
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I have been listening to the 8C for six months now, upgraded from 8b. For $1500, the upgrade is a no brainer, absolutely! The plate amp / DSP is from Dayton Audio and houses a 250W amp, class D (? ). The initial concern was that the A-D and D-A conversions would degrade SQ. I know there are person here who claims to be able to hear and dislike a DSP in the signal path. I had some problems initially with the sound from the vinyl side of my system whereas the CPD played wonderfully from the get go. But now as I listen to records, I cannot tell what the DSP is doing negatively to the sound. There are a couple of settings that Bruce has left to the listener's discretion: the volume of the woofer is adjustable relative to the panels and there is a Time Delay setting to time align the woofer and the panels. I have left the other adjustments ( a total of 7 ) as factory settings. But a fellow over at the AudioKarma forum who is a sound engineer has fine tuned the other settings with measuring software, and he claims the quality of the bass goes up a few notches. Compared to the 8b, the 8c is a new speaker. It is full range, holographic in soundstage, blends better with the my room, and much more matured / sophisticated. It would be very interesting to see what Steve Guttenberg has to say about the 8c since he mentioned that a follow up to the 8b will be in a future installment. |
That is a fact , just do the Math , U.S labor is 6x more , and look at the industrial look .my uncle has worked for over 10 years in Asia , they build them ,they may do some assembly testing here that is all . Iowned a audio store for a decade. rule of thumb for speakers and electronics on 90% , 25% goes into the build including packaging, the rest R&D overhead, and markup , it’s a business. that’s why the vast majority of low cost items are mfg overseas it’s all about $$ To stay in business!! |
Hi, all I own a pair of eminent technologies Lft8bs, had them for a 1 year now. After reading all the reviews on the forum. The first point to tackle is the poor crossover components that is built to a price point! I have updated with Clarity caps together with Jupiter caps as by pass caps together with duelands and Jantzen copper foil caps. I can only say that it's worth the cost. Also I am now experimenting with a larger 15" paper bass unit open baffle to improve the bass response as the supplied 8" driver is really useless and does not work with the ribbon unit! Good luck with your upgrade. |
@hilde45 .."The key issue, it seems, is how loud people want to play them." --------------- Yep, desired volume levels, room size, and placement options matter in order to decide on the type of preferred amplification and whether these are the speakers are for you (or maybe not). I’ve heard the 8s and 16s placed in different locations in a room, and they tended to sound their best to me out from the front wall a little bit. Was involved in attempted listening sessions with nice 10w, 20w, 60w tube amps. Me, I’d go with 60wpc push-pull tube amps for these, imo. Very few SS amps need apply. I’d still pick really good mono tube amps over most good Class-A SS amps for these particular speakers. . imo, its not the same type of hollow sound co-mingled/blurred and spread all across the front such as I’ve heard with some of the Magnepan speakers. It’s more of a directed and forward (at you) type of sound when the speakers are slightly tilted to the listener. The speakers, particularly the 8s provide some added upper end detail you don’t hear with most conventional cone speakers. Some may not like this. Really good tube amps, and with big-iron behind them would totally be my preference for these. Selecting the correct amplification for the room and for these speakers is key, imo. If (decades late on these) Steve Guttenberg does not review them with different amplifiers in different size rooms, and placements, the test and review will be somewhat limited imo. Having heard these speakers at least 15 different times, with different amplifiers. Your hearing, rooms, and experience may vary. Best of Luck to anyone who jumps in on these.
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