Best electrostatic in smaller room? Please help!

You might consider the Martin Logan Aerius or the Quad ESL's. The Logans have a small footprint, and because of their smallish diaphram, they work rather well in a 15x15 room. The Quads have a unique diaphram, which is activated in concentric circles, from the inside out, with a specific time delay between actuator circle. The result is a wave that mimics the spherical dispersion of a point source, which would have emanated from about 2 feet behind the speaker. I hope you can visualize this from the description. All other stats on the market produce a plane wave of sound, whereas the quads produce a sphere. The advantage of the Quads is that spherical wave disperses better smaller rooms, with less interference patterns. Because of this, quads can be placed very close side walls, and reasonable close to back wall without problems. Having an open kithcen, if the speakers were between the kitchen and listening room, either design would send sound into both rooms quite nicely. Lastly, the Quads have perhaps the most neutral midrange in the world, but the bass is not exactly powerful. The ML's use a woofer for the bass, so they have a decent amount, but I personally don't think the woofer keeps up with the panel, causing a seperation in the sound. The ML Aerius are of course a lot less money than the Quads, although preowned quads can be had for a lot less that new prices.

I have a very small room & a pair of small (Model SMGa) magnapan's that are approximately 18" wide and four feet tall. These maggies have two lags with metal mounts attached. You can either stand the speakers on the floor via the legs or do what I've done (with outstanding results).. I mounted each speaker in the corner of the room - off the ceiling - approximately 8 - 10' from the sofa. The sound comes out the front as well as the rear of the speakers and as you may imagine the sound is life a wall in the room. Well - as we have the TV/VCR attached to the preamp sometimes the wife & I are watching TV & the door slamming on the TV sounds like our front door. I suggest you call Magnapan or other manufacturer & ask them to send you a catalog.

First of all, you are barking up the right tree. I congratulate you on your appreciation of full-range panel sound - you are a graduate-level music lover. You might want to check out the SoundLab line of hybrid and full range electrostatics. Not as well known as Martin-Logan because they don't advertise - sort of an underground, quasi-cult line that's been refined for the last 20 years. Superior design and execution to the Martins, IMHO. The Martin is a smooth curve that actually tries to compress and expand as it is driven, modulating the panel resonances, which become increasingly non-linear with large excursions as the panel is subjected to these compression and expansion stresses. SoundLab uses a segmented curve, but there is no venetian-blind effect - only very even dispersion over a 60 degree to 90 degree arc (depending on model). This gives the reverberant field the same tonal balance as the direct sound, something not possible with box or hybrid speakers or ribbons or Quads, only with full range curved electrostats (and full range horns). After you get frequency response and transient response right (this excludes the horns), radiation pattern is the missing link to live. SoundLabs full-range electrostats bring this all together like no other speaker I know of. Absolutely effortless, oh-my-god sound. Zero sonic distractions, conveying raw energy and emotion like nothing else this side of an unamplified or accurately amplified live performance (yes, SoundLabs set such a high standard that many amplified live performances will fall short). In a small room you might need something like Sonex on the walls where the first sidewall reflection occurs, or drapes if decor is an issue. SoundLab also makes the "Sallie", a passive (foam) backwave attenuator that works very well with their design, and should work with the Martins as well. I am using full size 79" by 34" SoundLabs in a 13 foot wide room and I love them. They make much smaller models as well. Your 15' by 15' room should easily accomodate a pair of SoundLabs, Martin-Logans, or Magnepans - whatever minor compromises arise from your room size are more than offset by unboxing the sound. I'd suggest the full-range SoundLabs over the hybrids, especially for your room - they will have a null in the side-to-side plane that will avoid overly exciting low-frequency standing wave modes in your squarish room. Check them out at www.soundlab-speakers.com; site may not show all current models so you might want to call. The site is very educational and worthwhile even if you end up buying something else.

For panel speakers, try the new maggie 1.6's. They are small enough to move around and sound excellent. Manepan also makes this really small speaker for $500 that you can use as a credit towards the 1.6 later. It is supposed to be the same sound quality but with limited lower frequencies.