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Martin Logan Request
It's been three years since we last asked this question, and reader Jeffrey Michael suggests we ask it again: With all the different speaker technologies on the market, which technology have you adopted for your current audio system?
Planar Quasi Ribbon - Tweeter/midrange Planar - woofer Why is it in so many speaker reviews you see over the last 3 years or so the reviewer at some point (almost like clock work)will state that the cone speaker under review sounds as "fast as an ESL" or as "extended as a Ribbon driver". People who listen to Planars everyday know that this is very seldom based in reality. I think reviewers should stop making excuses for cone loudspeakers and start acknowleging Planars for their superior attributes (no matter how much more difficult they may be to drive).
Having owned several other ESLs as well as dynamic/cone speakers over the years, I enjoy my Sound Labs the most by far. Until someone produces a safe, easy to drive, massless driver full-range speaker (hah!), I have no plans to change.
For the past two years I have enjoyed my pair of Swans M-Series Speakers made by Swans Speaker Systems of Monterey Park, California, formerly from Canada. They combine a five-inch woofer with a true isodynamic ribbon tweeter. I tended to be very unimpressed with the current crop of shrill-sounding dome tweeters on the market. They are fantastic on classical, jazz, soft rock but can be too laid back, dynamics wise, for hard rock. Unless you spend thousands of dollars for a pair of speakers, there will always be a compromise. Mine will be a loss of macro dynamics. What I do get and enjoy very much is the resolution. Combine them with a good subwoofer or two and you have a great speaker system. My thanks to Stereophile for bringing this question back from the archives after three years.
I am still waiting for a single driver that covers the full frequency range. Meanwhile an electrostaic with hybrid and sub is my choice. I like the detail of an electrostatic midrange and my hearing over 14K is dead, so sizzle is not a problem. I still find the bottom end needs a sub and trying to find a reasonable match in phase and rhythm is what a hobby is all about.
Not having the room or money for several ssytems, I find that dynamic speakers cover the spectrum best. This includes big/small classical, jazz, rock, and pop... and movies. I currently use B&W N802 (front), B&W HTM1 (center), and Infinity RS4b (rear).