Planars/ Electrostats benefits over box speakers?

Mapman - do you hear the calluses on a guitar players fingers running up a steel string, the turning of sheet music or creaking of Bella Dovadivich's chair on those $1,000 walsh speakers? Buddy Guy exhaling on Done Got Old?If you can, boy have I wasted money!

Cerrot give me some more sample tunes to try and what to listen for and I'll give it a shot and report back. I don't have any of those specifically to try.

I can say I have heard similar details in various recordings but of course every recording is different so need to compare apples and apples.

Also I can say I have listened to many high end systems and live performances in the process of putting my rig together and my goal that I feel I have achieved quite well is little or no compromise.

Cerrot do you use plex? If so we can hook up as friends on that site and
both have access to my music library to compare the same source files on
each of our systems. I think as a friend you might even be able to
download files. Not sure. Most of my library is cd quality Flac format.

Don't waste you time with Cerrot. He has an agenda. He's just trying to set up the dialogue so he can seamlessly drop it in. Kind of like the way a bird drops a load of carp on your head, just at the right time.

I've been in this hobby since 1958 when I built my first Heathkit amp and "Sweet Sixteen" speaker (monaural) in jr high school. Since then I have owned very many speakers, both "boxed" and planar. I won't go into the tech aspects as that has already been done by others more qualified than I, but I'll pass on my personal observations.

Until about 35 yrs ago I used only conventional speakers of the highest quality that I could afford and was almost always satisfied with the sound that each produced. My first experiment with planars was a pair of small Acoustats that I found in a pawnshop. I had no knowledge of even the concept of electrostats but knew, at first listen, that this technology was going to be in my consideration for the future.

Next I purchased the Magnepans (don't remember their model numbers) and owned 3 different sets, all medium to large panels and found them to be the most musical, smooth and overall appealing speakers that I'd used to date. I would still be using Maggies if the only music I listened to was light jazz, string quartets and acoustic guitar. I had teenagers at the time, though, and found them not to be the best choice for rock and roll at higher volumes but, on the other hand, orchestral music at similar volumes was wonderful.

I then went back to electrostats using Martin Logan Prodigy, SL3, CLS, Odysseys which I owned for about 14 yrs, and now the Ethos. I was very happy with all of them and the only reason I'm now staying with electrostats over the Magnepans is that, even though I enjoy the transparency of both, I feel that the 'stats are more versatile.

Both need relatively powerful amplification but the Martin Logans need high current capable amps because of the extreme low impedances presented to them at high frequencies. For those of you who enjoy action movies, regardless of panel size, will want a decent subwoofer or 2 to get the chest thumping bass associated with that form of entertainment. I also have a comment on one post in this thread regarding use of the Rogue Audio Sphinx with Martin Logan speakers. I know that the power specs wouldn't seem to meet the criteria assumed necessary for the Martin Logans but perhaps the best sound of any pairing that I've used would be the Sphinx with the Odysseys.

These comments are based on my personal listening tastes and not meant as recommendations to anyone else but I have been the recipient of very good advice and info in these forums that provided time and money saving shortcuts to good sound. I thought it was time that I make at least some small contributions.