You as well Jim! And all others reading along---Eric.
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.
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Is it possible to run the LFT-8c with an integrated amp? Can I run balanced interconnects from the CD player to the woofer and from the CDP to the amp? Or from the CDP to the woofer and then from the woofer to the amp?
"ust a reminder that the cable compliment is very different between the 8b and 8c. In the 8c, it is a set of line level cables from preamp out to the DSP / woofer units, then another set of line level cables from the woofers to your amps, and finally speaker cables from amps back to the speakers. The amps only drives the mid range panels and the tweeters. And all signals go through A-D and D-A conversion before it goes to your amp." |
@tonnesen I think the correct cabling in an integrated amp is: CDP line in to integrated amp; integrated line out to 8c woofer: and then speaker cable from integrated to 8c panel. You will be saving a set of cables from woofer to amp. I am using two sets Duelund silver foil cables with Duelund gold plated paper cup connectors. And as @bdp24 mentioned, Bruce is available for queries. Although my two recent emails have gone unanswered. I guess he is busy with the 18SL. |
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