I'm a long-time NO dome/cone/box speaker guy! For example, I purchased ESS Heil AMT-3 speakers with my first high-end system in the early 70's. The AMT portion of the Model #, was an acronym for the dipole-radiating Air Motion Transformer. The AMT similar to my original, is still being produced and my original Heil speakers with their original AMT's are still being utilized by my son in a bedroom system.
At that time of my first "real" system (early 70's), I didn't hear the Quad 57's stats, but did have a very memorable audition of JansZen Electrostatics. As with panels and the JansZen stats at that time, the transparent mid-range was what I had been looking for, but hadn't found/heard until the JansZen's. However, the JansZen stats wouldn't play loud and the bass was minimal, to non-existent. Not a good mix for a rock-preferring youngster who thought loud was good and louder was even better (grin)!
So, at that time, the JansZen's were overruled by the Heil's -- but oh my, I never forgot that fantastic electrostatic mid-range. This is what prompted me to later purchase Apogee Stage's and then Martin Logan reQuest's, and finally, Soundlab M1-PX's for the 2-channel audio room and now, to be purchasing Electromotion ESL's for the Home Theater room.
This past weekend, my son and I auditioned the Electromotion ESL's. We did so against another stat variant, and the Klipsch Heresy III's that my son owns. The Electromotion's and the Heresy III's were our favorites. The M/L ESL's will be replacing Energy speakers that I've had for approximately 11 years. After recently listening to the new 2013 Eric Clapton Crossroads Blu-Ray at my son's on his Heresy III's, I did the same at my house on my Energy's. The comparison was less than favorable and I knew that I needed to replace the Energy's. In order to rule-out the variables of my room and up-stream electronics as being the cause of the results, we moved the Energy's to my son's house and re-did the comparison. We quickly found that the Energy's were the culprit! They just didn't get out of the way of the music like the Heresy III horns did. While I like what the Heresy III's do well, I don't like their at times, stridency, nor their size. The Electromotion ESL's sound equally transparent and delicate, but don't have the sometime stridency that the Klipsch do and I love their look. My ears being 30-years older than my son's, may also have something to do with the outcome, but nevertheless, for my purposes, the Martin Logan's win. Verses the Energy's however, I could live with either loudspeaker.
At that time of my first "real" system (early 70's), I didn't hear the Quad 57's stats, but did have a very memorable audition of JansZen Electrostatics. As with panels and the JansZen stats at that time, the transparent mid-range was what I had been looking for, but hadn't found/heard until the JansZen's. However, the JansZen stats wouldn't play loud and the bass was minimal, to non-existent. Not a good mix for a rock-preferring youngster who thought loud was good and louder was even better (grin)!
So, at that time, the JansZen's were overruled by the Heil's -- but oh my, I never forgot that fantastic electrostatic mid-range. This is what prompted me to later purchase Apogee Stage's and then Martin Logan reQuest's, and finally, Soundlab M1-PX's for the 2-channel audio room and now, to be purchasing Electromotion ESL's for the Home Theater room.
This past weekend, my son and I auditioned the Electromotion ESL's. We did so against another stat variant, and the Klipsch Heresy III's that my son owns. The Electromotion's and the Heresy III's were our favorites. The M/L ESL's will be replacing Energy speakers that I've had for approximately 11 years. After recently listening to the new 2013 Eric Clapton Crossroads Blu-Ray at my son's on his Heresy III's, I did the same at my house on my Energy's. The comparison was less than favorable and I knew that I needed to replace the Energy's. In order to rule-out the variables of my room and up-stream electronics as being the cause of the results, we moved the Energy's to my son's house and re-did the comparison. We quickly found that the Energy's were the culprit! They just didn't get out of the way of the music like the Heresy III horns did. While I like what the Heresy III's do well, I don't like their at times, stridency, nor their size. The Electromotion ESL's sound equally transparent and delicate, but don't have the sometime stridency that the Klipsch do and I love their look. My ears being 30-years older than my son's, may also have something to do with the outcome, but nevertheless, for my purposes, the Martin Logan's win. Verses the Energy's however, I could live with either loudspeaker.