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Realistic Electrostatic speakers?

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Wow I’ve seen a million speakers and I never knew Radio Shack sold that model. I’d definitely go take a listen and possibly buy them if they are in your area.
 
I've heard of them but have not heard them. I can't imagine that they're comparable to higher end ESLs - that arrangement on the panel seems like it would be an imaging and/or comb filtering nightmare, and they're only single ended.

There was also an Electrostatic model 3 which was just a standalone tweeter, meant to be accompanied by a woofer like the AR-1W.
 
Tweeters sound pretty darn nice, I had a pair.
Not too much bass though.

That’s a decent price if the tweets work.
Power supplys will need to be rebuilt though.
 
Do not over drive them! From what I've been able to find those tweets won't take much abuse and will be very hard to find if blown. I know someone that picked up a pair and the tweets were bad. To help insure the tweets stay healthy that power supply/ crossover should have those old electrolytic caps replaced. And check for any burned resistors.
 
I have a pair on my mad scientist shelf. I bought new woofers that go down into the high 20s and a 6x6 JBL horn and Dayton compression driver. My plan is to mount the horn in the middle of the stat tweeters and make them into a three way.
 
swechsler said:
Can you actually "blow" ESLs? What happens if you do?
Click to expand...
Yes, easily. Overdriving them means the membranes move too much, resulting in arcing due to the strong electrostatic field that "drives" the sound reproduction. The arcing slowly but surely damages/destroys the membrane. It was a common problem in Quad ESL-57s. The more damage, the less output the panels have. Ask Art Dudley.

https://www.stereophile.com/artdudleylistening/606listening/index.html
https://www.stereophile.com/artdudleylistening/706listening/index.html


606Quad3.jpg

The tweeter panel on this poor ESL-57 is badly damaged from being overdriven and consequent arcing.

The treble on the R/S Electrosat 2/2A is quite pleasant (despite the "theoretical" extreme nonlinearity of the cheap single-ended electrostatic elements, compared to 'push-pull' elements as used, e.g., in the aforementioned ESL-57). The bass... well.. that's a different story. Midrange is OK. Overall, though, way better sounding than most of the more familiar 1970s Radio Shack "monkey coffins", to my ears and taste.
 
OK, this is probably somewhat unrelated, but I have a tubed Grundig AM/FM/SW radio here and the schematic claims it has an "electrostatic" tweeter. There is some rectangular thingy behind the grille cloth (as seen from behind), but I don't think I hear any output from it, and I would think it is probably not repairable. The tweeters in this Realistic look somewhat similar (rectangular, silver). Interesting it would be used in a tabletop radio.
 
I had a set, I loved their highs and their clarity. As was mentioned, the woofer is an average 1960s-style, paper-edge, almost full-range-type speaker. It's needed because the tweeters don't extend very low (obviously). The cost is, of course, low-bass. I bet with a subwoofer they would be great. I didn't keep my set long, just because I bought them to flip them. The power cords were cut off, but after I replaced them, they worked perfectly.
 
Lavane said:
Do not over drive them! From what I've been able to find those tweets won't take much abuse and will be very hard to find if blown. I know someone that picked up a pair and the tweets were bad. To help insure the tweets stay healthy that power supply/ crossover should have those old electrolytic caps replaced. And check for any burned resistors.
Click to expand...


Just in case others find this post and read through it I figured I stop the misinformation posted here.

You can't blow the tweeters, what you can do is burn up the crossovers. I know that can happen from experience. The crossover is not really important to their operation, well if you're actually going to leave the panels in this cabinet with those useless woofers it could matter but I'm doubting you will notice if the crossover is bypassed or still working.

My advice to anyone who should happen to come across these is to remove the panels and mount them externally positioned on top of a well made cabinet thats solid enough to run a good 10" or 12" woofer or good sub. To make things a world better the best bet is to run these through an active crossover (preferably a 3 way so they can overlap an active) and use 2 sperate amps, 1 for low and q for highs.

Gauranteed you will say without a doubt, that you have the best sound for the money invested. Quite possibly the best sounding speakers ever heard if done correctly.
 
Reviving a dead thread here . I have found a pair of these locally and was curious about improving the bass could I just add a sub or is it like one of the posters above said where I would need an external crossover . Which I have never played around with by the way . Will I be able to tell if the stats are bad? I ask because in the photo he has the high frequency all the way up, so I’m wondering if it’s at flat neutral should it sound a certain way . I guess what I’m also asking is is there anything I should be looking for?
Thanks guys and all the best
 
Yes, you can add an external powered subwoofer, it will have a built-in crossover. You should be able to tell if the e-stat panels are bad since you will hear reduced or no highs. If the seller has the HF control all the way up, it's possible that some panels are bad.

Best way to tell is to play a song with a lot of high frequencies. Bring a paper towel or toilet paper roll with you, and put it between your ear and each tweeter panel in turn. That should let you know if any are bad. If none are working it could be a bad power supply, but while they are repairable, I wouldn't buy unless I had experience with such things.
 
I had a chance to buy some locally for $50 and after a bit of research I passed, regardless if they worked or not they just aren't the same quality as other electrostatics, they look cheaply made and the power supply looks like it came out of a 1960s transistor radio. I wouldn't expect them to sound any better than a cheap paper tweeters. I could be wrong but from what I saw I'm pretty sure I came to the right conclusion. Save up and find some JansZens or save up s lot more and get some newer (not necessarily better) renditions or Maggie's but be prepared to fix any of them you buy, that's typically when they are available for sale.
 
I wouldn't be surprised to see these used the same electrostatic drivers as the JansZens and RTRs of the era.
 
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