Effects Of Power Cords On Electrostatic Speakers

I consider power cables to be filters, and all that wayward power from the utilities to be needing correction. It's not complicated in that regard.

@ghdprentice @terry9 I have spent my time studying the websites of Magnepan DWM and Bryston, watching videos, learning all I can. Then I just encountered the recent comments above. Living in a small city there is not a single audio store that carries any speakers with Planars, yet I am still convinced by the words that they are the way to go, simply by my reading of the technology and its rationale and the accompanying testimonials by those I respect. The biggest challenge is that I’ve got woofers with sensitivity of 97-100dB, the planars are 92-94, and for over 55 years I’ve liked it when the point source disappears, thus I’ve considered open baffle, and to increase the efficiency of the planars I’ve looked for open back AMT Planars, and I’ve thought about using them dipole with Bi-Horns front and back, positioning them away from the wall, etc. I’ve figured that even 30Wrms would do for the Planars because, if I can gain 10dB with the horns, that would give me a max. SPL beyond any volume I listen to. The most difficult music I like is choral with organ and/or symphony accompaniment, e.g., the Tabernacle Choir, as well as other classical, but I’d like to build matching systems for our children as well, and at least one of them plays bass guitar and I suppose our grandchildren may like rock and other (all 7 are married, and about 24 grandchildren), which puts limits on the budget. I am leaning towards active speakers and using a tube pre-amp where all the controls are. My wife of 46 years likes the Eagles and the more mellow folk-rock, while I am more of a Beatles & Stones guy, but I don’t get into that as much anymore. So yes, the musicality is what I am anxious about, because I like to just sit and listen and zone out for hours, or even do my reading with the background music playing, enjoying the peacefulness, and so the transparency and brilliance are important, and for me that means precise transients and clarity, while also having speakers than can handle the sustained bass of the organ, which also require cone control (I’ve got my eyes on some 15" woofers with high BL and considering Isobaric to increase the transient-cone control). The most creative/challenging part of the above will be designing-building the Bi-Horns for the Planars (for which I’ll use a cabinet design app and laser/CNC for the work). So, I am all ears to any and all knowledge you of much more experience can give me, especially the steps in your evolution in your journey from power prowess to musicality, and anything to understand about planars and adapting them to horns. (For design work I’ll be using REW and WinISP.) Hopefully these might be legacy systems, heirlooms to pass down to grandchildren.

@ghdprentice is always worth reading. I have never heard a really good cone system, but I’m sure that his is worth every dime and that I would love it.

By all means, get on a plane and hang out in a high end store for a couple of days. That’s where I heard my first planars, Magnepan Tympani 1a’s, back in ’73. Never went back to cones for very long - longest was a hybrid, but the marriage of the cone and ESL drivers was closer to a discord after a while - to my ears. At that time.

But - I’m really wedded to my ESL’s and Class A monoblocks (dissipate 110W, deliver about 30W). The great thing about solid state is that you can design amps which cannot overdrive the speakers - so you don’t need protection circuits or other devices, which always degrade the sound. Magnepans with Brystons round out the system, which my room needs

If you have the itch to improve, you can upgrade the crossovers. Not hard and definitely worth the money.

The new Grado Epoch cartridge gets me closer to live music, but my ears tell me that there’s still a way to go.

@terry9 

thank you for your kind words

I think this is why auditioning is really important.
 

There are many spectacular sounding planar systems out there.

I remember listening to a set of ESS AMT 1D’s and having tears come to my eyes. But in my current system, they would be intolerable. Their lack of coherence across the audio spectrum was far too great, as well as many other shortcomings. So a lot of the stuff has to do with where are in your journey. Auditioning is really important.

Different audiophiles have different end points.

@ghdprentice Ah, coherence. Yes, that's the big one. After smoothness, though, IMO. The Quad 2905's do both well.