Sometimes an unexpected combination just snaps into place. This happened this week when I suggested to Achim we should perhaps try a class-D amp on his Soltanus electrostatic speakers. Sure, most folks associate ESLs with Martin Logan or Quad; each with their vices and virtues. The Soltanus is an alternative with superior quality and output than Quad and not suffering from the bass integration from most of Martin Logan's hybrid offerings.
We set it up with my hokey little 500W power amp prototype, fed by an Audiomat preamp and CD Player. At first, it sounded a bit.. boring. Then, after a bit of warming up Achim angled them a bit more inwards and shifted the listening position even closer. It should not work: 2.5m distance between the speaker centrepoints yet 1.5m to listening position. But boy it did. I got treated to a wall of sound, yet pinpoint precision of instruments. Guitar plucks were frighteningly realistic and with the distance the one remark was that they felt almost like a pair of large ESL headphones. It was so relaxing, enticing, the type you can either listen seriously to or just settle in with in a velour jacket while reading a newspaper. It's not the type of razor-sharp sound you will get from a set of top-notch Focal standmounts, it's more a home improvement where the music can play all day long without being imposing or creating fatigue.
Of course, having no bass drivers it will not be the best fit for extreme SPL, but then again not everyone needs or wants it. Despite the loft's large space it could go plenty loud, but it's not for the metalheads.
The one thing that really stood out for me though was the listening space possibilities from being seated so close: as long as it has some breathing space behind it, one can get a large, enveloping sound in a tiny room.
For those in the market for speakers, at the clearance price this is almost a no-brainer. A good integrated amp, either valve or class-D, should do wonders with them. Medium-power solid-state might not be the best match. Had it not been that I already have speakers on the way these would have been serious contenders.
Below is a (poor I know) picture of the setup: note the close seating position. The power amp is the almost-invisible little box behind the preamp in the middle.
We set it up with my hokey little 500W power amp prototype, fed by an Audiomat preamp and CD Player. At first, it sounded a bit.. boring. Then, after a bit of warming up Achim angled them a bit more inwards and shifted the listening position even closer. It should not work: 2.5m distance between the speaker centrepoints yet 1.5m to listening position. But boy it did. I got treated to a wall of sound, yet pinpoint precision of instruments. Guitar plucks were frighteningly realistic and with the distance the one remark was that they felt almost like a pair of large ESL headphones. It was so relaxing, enticing, the type you can either listen seriously to or just settle in with in a velour jacket while reading a newspaper. It's not the type of razor-sharp sound you will get from a set of top-notch Focal standmounts, it's more a home improvement where the music can play all day long without being imposing or creating fatigue.
Of course, having no bass drivers it will not be the best fit for extreme SPL, but then again not everyone needs or wants it. Despite the loft's large space it could go plenty loud, but it's not for the metalheads.
The one thing that really stood out for me though was the listening space possibilities from being seated so close: as long as it has some breathing space behind it, one can get a large, enveloping sound in a tiny room.
For those in the market for speakers, at the clearance price this is almost a no-brainer. A good integrated amp, either valve or class-D, should do wonders with them. Medium-power solid-state might not be the best match. Had it not been that I already have speakers on the way these would have been serious contenders.
Below is a (poor I know) picture of the setup: note the close seating position. The power amp is the almost-invisible little box behind the preamp in the middle.
