Three electrostat choices and my room-- need help

Aceto,

Well first of all, let me compliment your wife on her fine taste in loudspeakers, and you on your fine luck in marrying her!

The Martin-Logan Prodigy, with it's cardioid-pattern bass system, ought to work quite well in your room, as you can position it fairly close to the wall without getting excessive bass reinforcement. Personally I prefer full-range electrostats, but the Prodigy is probably the best hybrid for your room.

If you and your wife are inclined towards a full-range planar, may I mention for your consideration the Sound Lab Millennium-2. The dimensions are comparable to the big Maggie 20's, so they ain't small, but they are arguably the most articulate loudspeaker on the market (along with their siblings). Sound Labs' resolution of low-level detail is superb, and they have genuine bottom end extension. The catch is, they like powerful amplifiers - but there are some reasonably-priced amps that will drive them quite readily. The Sound Labas are pretty much unique among electrostats in giving you an extremely wide sweet spot (the discontinued Beveridges did likewise), and this is especially welcome if your wife is going to listen with you. In fact, the tonal balance really doesn't change throughout the listening room, and is quite enjoyable even a room or two away. This is because their radiation pattern is extremely consistent up and down the spectrum, so as you move farther away and the reverberant field dominates the tonal balance stays correct. This is a characteristic of live music that few speakers can recreate, but back in the listening room it contributes to long-term fatigue-free listening. You can listen to Sound Labs literally all day long and never begin to get fatigued - their presentation is warm and rich and totally devoid of coloration. And if your nighttime listening calls for low volume levels, with the Sound Labs you'll still be able to hear all the little nuances that most speakers can't resolve at low levels.

The Millennium-2's are in the price ballpark of the Maggie 20.1 and the Martin Logan Prodigy, and therefore are a bit more expensive than the Quad 989.

Your room size wouldn't be a problem at all with Sound Labs. They are easily integrated into a wide variety of room shapes and sizes, and indeed are considerably less room-dependent than most speakers. You could even put the full-sized Millennium-1's in there if you wanted.

I'd me more than happy to take a shot at any questions you might have, and if you let me know where you're located I'll put you in touch with the nearest dealer or try to find a local Sound Lab owner who can let you have a listen.

Best of luck to you in your quest!

Duke

Here's Sound Lab's site: www.soundlab-speakers.com
And, here's my site: www.audiokinesis.com

I always felt my Maggie 1.6s were too big for my 13 x 22 room, I felt the QR midrange overpowered the reflective surfaces of walls that close, I do not think a 12 x 24 room would work for the bigger Maggies.

I have a pair of Prodigy's and tried moving them out of my living room (and wifes way)to a room in my house of similar size to yours (12x22x8). I did not have good results, the room was just too small in my opinion. The speakers would not image very well and I had to place them almost right next to the side walls. To make a long story short I built a saperate listening room (15x22x11) and this size is just enough......... I still feel like I would like a bigger space with these speakers though.

Had you considered the Innersound EROS or ISIS.If you decide on the EROS,get it with the passive crossover.It is far superior to the biamped version and gets rid of the "hole' near the xover point.May have a connection for a new pair.Cheers.

Hello Aceto. Gotta like your dilema.Your wife obviously has a pair of very good ears! You didn't mention any thing about your amplification.Most of the bigger planars and e-stats require some very healthy amplification which would obviously impact on your decision to be sure, not to mention your concern with your room dimensions .Take note of Tireguy's very imformative post as well as the Dukes.It is imperative that you give any planar type speaker the room to breath, meaning well away from the back wall! You will have to experiment with what will work best regarding distances from the side walls as well as your listening seat in relation to the back wall. The listening seat must "not" be up against the back wall[very important!]I am in the Soundlab camp as far as the elotrostatics are concerned... however I have not heard the new Quad 989.I have owned and played with many planars types since the early 1970's, from the Quad 57's,stacked 57's, Dayton Wright's, acoustat x,acoustat 2+2's,magnaplanar tympani 1V's,Quad 63's, and soundlab A-1's.The soundlabs A-1's are without any doubt the finest "full range" electrostatic speaker I have ever heard or had the pleasure of owning...that said,they also require a rather large room and some very powerful amplification to energize them.I prefer tube amplification with all e-stats... The soundlabs as well as the big maggies need gobs of tube power which can obviously be rather expensive. In my case...I experimented with a ton of different amps and found[to my dismay]that only the big atma-shere OTL's would fit the bill! I am sure there are a "handful" of others out there as well.You can certainly drive the Quads with far less power.It appears that you like to have the ability to be able pressurize the room with some extended bass response.The sound labs can do that. With most of the other E-stats, you may or may not have that luxury, and keep in mind it is extremely difficult to mate an electrostatic with a subwoofer[s].I am not suggesting it is impossible to accomplish,just very very difficult to get it to sound coherent... given the purity,speed,and resolution that e-stats are noted for! Most of the current E-stats I have heard that incorporate a woofer just don't quite cut it for me and seem to be a comprimize the beauty of the stator!To get it right.. you would certainly need a very good sub and a "top shelf" crossover. The crossover is extremely critical here and would certainly be very expensive as well! I am getting a little carried away here gang.. I apologize. Anyway...gotta like your dilema here.Good Luck with your journey. The world would be a sad place indeed without music! Cheers David.