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Acoustat Monitors?

BmWr75

BmWr75

Top octave? pfffffftttttt
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I visited with an older gentleman today that owned a pair of Acoustat speakers. Asked him the model number and he said they were just called "Monitors". They were huge. Probably 3' wide and 5-6' tall. He said each speaker was driven by an internal mono-block tube amp. Through the grill cloth it appeared you could see the vertical arrays of flat drivers. They may have been arranged in a convex pattern when viewed from the front. They appeared to be sitting on integral bases that might have been 8" high.

Does any one know what model these might be?
 
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Probably, either Monitor 3's or 4's. Both have the internal tube amps. A friend of mine has a pair of 3's. Massive speakers, almost the size of a door! If they are in good shape and he is willing to sell for a decent price, I'd get them in a heartbeat. The amps may or may not need refurbishing, or maybe they've been restored already. If you know your way around a tube amp, it might be possible to do them yourself.
 
I had a pair of these many years ago. If i remember correctly, the models were called Monitor X??. They were approx 5-6 feet tall, 3 feet wide, and the panels were curved a bit. 4 panels I think. The tube amps were mounted on the back of the lower pedestals. These were my 1st introduction to electrostatic speakers. Kept them for awhile, and went to the model 2+2's, 1+1's, 1's, 3's, 4's, Spectra's. I dont remember much about them, but they did work at that time. Probably around 1982 or so when i had them.
 
Go to the Speaker Gallery in the AK Photo Gallery. I put the Acoustat Monitor 3 brochure in there. If the picture there doesn't look like the one you saw, it's probably the Monitor 4 or Monitor X. There's not too much difference between the 4 and the X.
 
The powered Acoustats are very fine loudspeakers, but are about the most room and position sensitive speakers around. If you have a pretty big dedicated room, you will have a hard time finding a more accurate and low distortion speaker--if you can deal with the venetian blind issues.
 
House de Kris said:
Go to the Speaker Gallery in the AK Photo Gallery. I put the Acoustat Monitor 3 brochure in there. If the picture there doesn't look like the one you saw, it's probably the Monitor 4 or Monitor X. There's not too much difference between the 4 and the X.
Click to expand...

Saw your picture. They are not the 3s. The ones a saw were LARGE. Must be the 4s or Xs.
 
BmWr75 said:
I visited with an older gentleman today that owned a pair of Acoustat speakers. Asked him the model number and he said they were just called "Monitors". They were huge. Probably 3' wide and 5-6' tall. He said each speaker was driven by an internal mono-block tube amp. Through the grill cloth it appeared you could see the vertical arrays of flat drivers. They may have been arranged in a convex pattern when viewed from the front. They appeared to be sitting on integral bases that might have been 8" high.

Does any one know what model these might be?
Click to expand...

Yes they are model X one of the first models ever made.

This model is the 1+1 Modified JJ

Systme07.jpg
 
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The only Acoustats I've seen were at an audio dealer in the late 80s, standing in their main lobby. Taller than me, I guess at least 6ft tall and nearly three feet wide, they are e-z to describe: all you have to do is picture the monolith featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Jet black and completely featureless and impressive to look at (though in a subtlely forbidding way!). Unfortunately since they were located in the center of the lobby, away from any walls, I don't think I was hearing them at their best and cannot accurately describe their sonic qualities.
 
You best go get those if you can swing a good deal on them. I have Model 2-MHs with the MK-131 sub interface modules. Huge soundstage and wonderful bass. Right now I'm not sure if I like these better than my Carver Plats but I am leaning that way. They are just gorgeous sounding and maybe my favorite loudspeaker.
 
The Monitor X is full range. Those of you with panel speakers will understand what I mean. The bass these produce is real, unlike most other flat panels. I've had some experience repairing these and the amps are very reliable. Make sure you never increase the fuses sizes though.
These do have a sweet spot and are not quite tall enough....problems addressed by later Acoustat models. The bass is better than the 1, 2, etc woofer bass.
 
Nakdoc said:
The Monitor X is full range. Those of you with panel speakers will understand what I mean. The bass these produce is real, unlike most other flat panels. I've had some experience repairing these and the amps are very reliable. Make sure you never increase the fuses sizes though.
These do have a sweet spot and are not quite tall enough....problems addressed by later Acoustat models. The bass is better than the 1, 2, etc woofer bass.
Click to expand...

If the bass is better than in my Model 2-MHs which are a hybrid with 10" sub interfaces I would be all over them!
 
I almost bought a pair of Monitor X's a couple of years ago. They needed serious work and I passed.

At one time I had a pair of the old style Model 3's. They had a wooden bottom panel that was a foot or so high. They had bass that was flat to below 30Hz. Unfortunately a divorce and a move required my selling them.

My current Spectra 22's came with the SPW-1 woofer. It has 4x6" woofers, 2 per channel in a common box. In my current room it was/is inadequate for deep bass. I built 2 12" TL subs to get the kind of deep bass I wanted. The SPW-1 is connected to the Model 1's I use for rears when doing movies and MC sources.
 
I currently own a pair of model X's (early version) that have been structurally modified. As well the servo amps have had a lot of work done, that is heavily modified. They brought my neighbor to tears the other night when I brought him in sat him down to listen to Crime of The Century.

Not for the faint of heart but very exciting when properly set up and brought back to spec.

If you have the opportunity to buy them and are not afraid of a challenge.....run, don't walk, and get them.
 

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dogwan said:
I currently own a pair of model X's (early version) that have been structurally modified. As well the servo amps have had a lot of work done, that is heavily modified. They brought my neighbor to tears the other night when I brought him in sat him down to listen to Crime of The Century.

Not for the faint of heart but very exciting when properly set up and brought back to spec.

If you have the opportunity to buy them and are not afraid of a challenge.....run, don't walk, and get them.
Click to expand...

Man those are huge :D
 
Electrostatic speakers when properly set up tend to bring out comments in the "Holy sh*t, that's the best I've ever heard" catagory. I've owned ESL's since the early 80's. You would think I'd be used to comments like that. No, you never get used to them. It's always nice to hear them. Once people know that those large things (my Spectra's are approx the size of Maggie MG-2's) are speakers (and not "I thought they were room dividers") they always love the sound. Women are quite vocal about how good they sound.

How many of you hear compliments from women about the sound of your stereo? How often do females ask you to turn it up? I'm a bachelor and entertain females frequently. More often than not they ask me to play music and usually they ask for more volume. I mean real volume not background levels. If you haven't heard ESL's properly set up you won't know what I mean. If you have I'm preaching to the choir. Maggie owners get close to ESL sound. You know what I'm talking about.

Sure other types of speakers may have more and/or better bass or higher and slightly more open highs. However, the all important midrange (where the meat of music is) is done better by ESL's. No crossover in the midrange, uniformly driven diaphragms and a moving mass lower than anything else (How much does a 3'x2' piece of Saran wrap weigh?) gives better sound. As for looks, John Dahlquist deliberately designed the DQ-10 (still one of the best sounding conventional speakers) to look like a Quad ESL-57. Most panel type speakers are an attempt to recreate the ESL sound with magnets and a flat voice coil.

Ribbons come closer than anything else. A true ribbon is driven over the entire surface of said ribbon. Even so the moving mass is orders of magnitude higher than any ESL. Then there's the cost weight and size of the magnets.

I'm sorry guys. I'm getting carried away here. I didn't mean to proselytize
 
Nakdoc said:
The Monitor X is full range. Those of you with panel speakers will understand what I mean. The bass these produce is real, unlike most other flat panels. I've had some experience repairing these and the amps are very reliable. Make sure you never increase the fuses sizes though.
These do have a sweet spot and are not quite tall enough....problems addressed by later Acoustat models. The bass is better than the 1, 2, etc woofer bass.
Click to expand...
Nakdoc, have you any info on the Model X's? I'm currently repairing my amps from a bit of a smoke problem that occurred back in '94. They were purchased in Pittsburgh around 1976, and am looking forward to giving them life again. I've checked with Rockford Fosgate, and they no longer have schematics for them, so I'm hoping for an alternative.to help correct the directionality problem, I used a Carver Holographic Preamp, which helped quite a lot. Thanks, Larry Yag
 
This being a thread dormant for more than ten years @Larry Yag will likely not have the original participants still around.

Welcome to the forum, my suggestion is to start your own thread with the model of speaker in the title so that people who know that speaker will see it and help.
 
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