Have you owned Sound Labs Electrostatics?

I auditioned a pair of Sound Lab U-1's and would agree with all the comments above concerning how natural, unfatiguing and seamless they sound. I did have one caveat, which ultimately prevented me from considering a purchase at that time: I did not find the soundstaging to be precise or well-focused. Placement of performers seemed a bit 'diffuse', not pinpoint.

I wonder whether this may be due to the panel elements of the SLs, each of which sends sound out in a slightly different direction. I'm sure this has advantages, in terms of widening the sweet spot and achieving a natural reverberant field, but could it have something to do with the less-than-sharp soundstaging I heard? Or could the soundstaging have been the result of the room we listened in (no more than 11 by 15)?

Anyway the sound really was so non-fatiguing that we listened for hours without getting tired. I may check out SLs again some day.

I've listened to them at length at one of my customer's homes. They are WAYY up there with me too. So far up the speaker tree that choosing is a matter of taste. It's the only electrostatic on the market that can go deep in the bass without resorting to hybrid technology. Their low level presentation, natural timbre, and sheer sense of speed at all frequencies is amazing. True you can mate a sub pretty well to an electrostatic, and true a big sub will go deeper with more authority but you will lose out that 'one driver' sense that only a huge electrostatic can provide.

The cost of course is a huge object in your room with a backpressure wall force that could tip a humvee. I guess you could keep them by the front door to enforce the 'no soliciting' sign.

Personally I prefer tubes with planars. That combination of 'life' and presence on a huge scale is to me the ultimate in sonics. They seem to benefit more from the use of tubes than other types of speakers.

I wouldn't go below 200 watt tube or 400 watts solid state with those monsters. The more the better with those.

Lrsky, Soundlab has had some maintenance problems over the last few years. There was an issue with some defective insulation, bad bias controls and even failing of the high voltage supplies. Soundlab seemed to be “snake bitten” for awhile and my personal pair met several failures.

I complained about my recurring problems and Soundlab ask me for my serial number. A few days later a new pair of speakers were flown in via Delta airfreight and were screened with my old number. Only requirement was to put my old speakers in the crate and return them to the factory.

My speakers were out of warranty, yet Soundlab went the extra mile so I would not be disappointed. I have NEVER in all my years of audio, dealt with an audio company of such integrity. This is clearly above and beyond all requirements.

Better still, whatever issues they once had appear to have been resolved. Since the replacement I have had no problems and the new pair performs better than any Soundlabs I have ever heard. They have obviously found whatever issues there were and dealt with them by upgrading.

As for the comments of Calanctus. I cannot disagree. Soundlabs are not a point source, so rather than “head in a vice” imaging, they sound more like a live presentation. If you attend a concert and stand, move a chair or two, or even a couple of rows over, the sound stays pretty much the same. Big Soundlabs (particularly the M-1, A-1 and U-1) show this trait. Not to say the image is exactly the same in all parts of a listening room in a home, but the sound is surprisingly good in all parts of the room and even several rooms away in another part of the house.

This may sound odd, I call it the bathroom effect :^). Visitors who use our rest room which is through two doors and 50 feet away from the speakers, often remark that the piano (vocalist or whatever) sounds like a live performance from a distance.

This is an odd point to bring up but all who own Soundlabs will smile and understand exactly what I am describing.

To achieve this, the larger models drive almost two square yards of material, using an ultra quick high voltage supply. The bandwidth is near 24 HZ in the bass to above 45 KHZ in the highs, all with near perfect phase integrity.

Certainly there are speakers that play louder, but I can think of none that do more things correctly in the reproduction of music. In the end, if a speaker allows you to set aside your disbelief, and believe that what you are hearing is real, you have achieved your goal.

Soundlab does this better than anything I have heard. You should at least listen to a properly set up pair before making your final decision.

This may sound odd, I call it the bathroom effect :^). Visitors who use our rest room which is through two doors and 50 feet away from the speakers, often remark that the piano (vocalist or whatever) sounds like a live performance from a distance. 

I realize this is a REALLY old thread, but I just ordered a pair of Sound Labs and while I'm twiddling my thumbs I'm reading what I can about them.

Albert,
This quote is exactly why I am so attracted to Sound Labs.  I heard them at an audio store whose big room was a couple rooms back from the lobby.  I heard what I thought was a jazz combo playing in the back, and walked in to find Sound Labs playing.  

That was about 1986 and I STILL remember it vividly.

Evan

Hey Evan, I'm not sure but I think AudioKinesis is the only one of these posters still present. This is the first I have read through these posts.
Back then I think SL was still using the older panels and not the PX ones.
They also had not started making 9 and 8 foot tall speakers. I can not help but agree with most of the comments here except two. The 8 and 9 foot versions are full range line sources right down to 1 Hz. If you pair them with the right subwoofers distortion levels are even lower and they go crazy loud. Like NIN in concert loud. Normal size 645s will certainly gain a lot in headroom with subwoofers but not project mid bass as powerfully as the 8 footers do. Depends on how loud you like to listen. My system has no problem hitting 105 dB without any evidence of distortion. Any louder is just plain abusive. Next is imaging. One poster related he was disappointed in their imaging. I suspect there was either an asymmetrical room issue or a crosstalk issue in the system used. These speakers due to their unity of dispersion across the frequency band cast the best image I have ever heard. However I carefully measure both channels and make absolutely sure they have identical frequency response curves. All of this and subwoofer management are done digitally. In a carefully set up symmetrical analog set up you can get close to identical performance if not totally identical but this depends mostly on the room. With units like the Trinnov Amethyst, Anthem SLR and DEQX HP5 you can get the best performance in any room. IMHO the benefits of digital system management far outweigh any downsides. There are of course many who do not believe this. Most of them have never heard such a system and are making assumptions based on their dislike of anything digital. Whatever.