Box speakers that sound like Electrostats?

To answer your question Dennis, no. But there are some that offer the better attributes of stats. To the ones mentioned I would add the Merlin VSM-M. It is a 2-way is quick as lightning on transients, holds on to a note, decays to infinity and is tonally evenhanded like the better stats. Add to the above, world class resolution and an ability to retrieve the subtlest details of the recording providing you have the right gear in front of it.

I've only heard one stat I could live with if I had the room and the money. Most have too many compromises that offset their virtues.

For everybody that cannot read German (but can read English :-) Google has some nice translation tools that will help us out.

Check out:

http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en

In particular, to read the website Tekunda referred to in his message about the Imagine ESL speakers, go here:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.monitor-db.de%2F&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&prev=%2Flanguage_tools

-Mike

Dennis - listen to Tubegroover.

I have a superb room that allows the magic of great electrostats to fully manifest. I'm presently setting up the infamous Apogee Scintilla as my final music statement. No box speaker, Merlin or otherwise, can match the breath taking 3D reality of the great Apogees ----- Given the right room!!!!

I trust Tubegroover's assesment of the Merlin. He has been around, and is familiar with the Apogee's magic.

As much as I hate to admit it regardless of the hype Muralman1 is correct. No box speaker I've heard can truly escape the box and completely disappear as a well set-up dipole can. The Merlins are in the top tier so far as disappearing goes. On the other hand unless the system is large enough most stats compromise on the macro dynamics of music that bring it to life. I can live with a little boxiness rather than limitations on dynamics, a personal preference but others may demur.

This can be achieved with stats but it takes a large diaphram and room for starters. The other problem is bass performance. If you want great bass and a stat, subwoofers are out for me. Gotta have the large panels pushing the bass. The coherence is lost with a subwoofer. It may not be apparent at first but it will catch up with you sooner or later. Dipoles are about speed and refinement. A dynamic driver thrown into the mix just can't keep up with the speed of those panels. Choose your poison, nothing's perfect.

My experience with single-driver speakers has led me to the opinion that they can be very close to electrostats for speed, transparency, and imaging. The point-source nature of these single drivers, is about the best for imaging, and the very light cones, with strong magnetic motors, like my Lowthers, can approximate the speed, and miniscule low level detail reproduction. The box is actually the thing that you hear, that makes you realize it is in a box, because the resonances add colorations to the otherwise "stat-like" sound. If the box is very good, this is minimized, but still there. I can't drive electrostats, so I think single-drivers are the next best thing.