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Open Baffle fans - have you tried electrostats / planar magnetic speakers? And vice-versa.

Silentnet

Silentnet

Super Member
As the title states. Curious how many OB aficionados out there have experience with planar speakers (electrostats or Magnepans/similar) and what they think of them? Also how many planar fans have tried OB and what their take was.

Obviously very open ended since there are so many variations of both out there.

I do realize OBs tend to be fairly efficient, while planars typically are not, so that may limit "cross over" appeal.

Just curious mostly.
 
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I spent a long time with Martin Logan stats. The power necessary tends to limit the better amplifier choices.

On the other hand, when I went OB, I now have the efficiency to run about anything I chose for amplifier power. I've run all the way down to being powered by 45's. And the presentation similarities are actually pretty strong between them due to the fact I run multiple same drivers in a line. So I have a 48" source before and again now.

A pretty knowledgably audio friend even made the comment, after a listening session, that the OB's were "much like a Maggy, only better".

The big ML's have been around in a storage room now for about a decade and I've had no longing to go back.

EV3
 
evsentry3 said:
I spent a long time with Martin Logan stats. The power necessary tends to limit the better amplifier choices.

On the other hand, when I went OB, I now have the efficiency to run about anything I chose for amplifier power. I've run all the way down to being powered by 45's. And the presentation similarities are actually pretty strong between them due to the fact I run multiple same drivers in a line. So I have a 48" source before and again now.

A pretty knowledgably audio friend even made the comment, after a listening session, that the OB's were "much like a Maggy, only better".

The big ML's have been around in a storage room now for about a decade and I've had no longing to go back.

EV3
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Curious which model (s) of ML you were running before?
 
We're running a pair of Emeral Physics KC Two Pro's and they sound great on 30 watts of tube power. That said I would rather sitdown to Acoustat 33's with big solid state.
 
Electrostatics and Panel speakers have the advantage of being line arrays and bi-polar to gain clarity and with proper placement and acoustical treatment a chance of being realistic. Cone speakers just mounted on a baffle are adding confusion to compromise. There is just no way they can compete against a good panel or electrostatics. I'll take a line array any day.
 
The guy that sold me the Martin Logans had gone to a pair of fairly high end open baffles and preferred them, largely due to the much wider range of options when it came to amplification.

That said, a few months later I saw them on the local Craigslist as well, so they clearly didn't prove the end all be all for him either.
 
I've heard some of Carl Marchisotto's Nola designs at Sea Cliff that were open baffle and quasi-line array for the midrange. Wonderfully open and dynamic sound with precise soundstaging. Walls disappear. All for a lofty budget. As a coherency freak, however, they just didn't reproduce certain instruments like piano with a single voice to me.

Which is why I favor full range dipolar line arrays. :)
 
I had Magnepan SMGas in the mid 80s, succeeded by Quad ESL57s in the late 80s (concurrent with LS3/5As). I learned how to DIY SE-DHT amps in the early 90s. By the mid-90s I was using Altec 755s in OBs. In the late 90s I started my compact Altec 2-way horn journey to see how far I could extend frequency extremes without compromising midrange performance too much, and also for greater efficiency so I can listen to different flea watt SE amps. I keep the 755/OB as reference for midrange coherence.
 
I've never owned planar or electrostatic speakers but I had a friend that owned Maggie MG IIs. I got to spend a lot of time listening to his. Soundstaging and presentation is very similar in all these types of speakers. I run OBs because I love Class A single ended EL84 amps. When combined with old alnico full range drivers the mids are just so spot on. The bass doesn't slam you in the chest, but it is very accurate. I also like that I can try different drivers or baffles without spending a fortune.
 
E-Stat said:
Nice.
Have you tried raising the drivers more than a foot off the floor?
Click to expand...

Bass extension is reduced if the OB is just lifted off the ground due to cancellation. I speculate that the low driver placement was intended by G. A. Briggs for bass reinforcement with the "tilt" as compensation so the drivers can radiate upwards. It never bothered me at a listening position that is at least 2 meters away. A "full width" stand is required if one really wants to lift the OB off the ground.
 
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