Products related to this item
Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1
Products related to this item
Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1
Excellent speakers - takes a while to break in
These are amazing speakers. For me, the gold standard of how the stereo listening experience should be is as follows -1) immersive -- where you are in the sound stage and the stage moves all around you2) you are able to spatially locate the instruments in the music3) you don't get listening fatigue after somewhat longish sessions (I listen to prog rock and jazz fusion, both of which lend to deep immersive listening experiences)My buddy's rig is by far the best I've heard. He makes his own amps and DACs and uses a pair of Magnepans with separate sub-woofers and give's us the experience.Without using a custom amp or DAC, using an old Yamaha receiver and play standard CDs on a 90$ sony blu-ray player, my rig sounds pretty good already. It's not all the way there yet, but I think the remainder of the work needs to be picked up by a good amp and DAC.My experiences with the speakers -1) Fresh out of the box, I ran them with an unbroken (new) Onkyo receiver and was disappointed with the sound. It was harsh and while there was still the clarity, the sound stage was not there at all. I borrowed my buddy's old Yamaha receiver and immediately the effect was excellent.2) after playing with the distance from the back wall and the toeing in of the speakers, I finally was able to get a clear center-image and the soundstage started to form.3) After burning the speakers in over 100 hours, the sound improved. I had been using a MartinLogan 500W sub-woofer which I decided to disconnect. The woofers in the ESLs themselves are more than adequate for the type of music I listen to (prog rock, Jazz, Jazz-fusion etc).It took at least 5 days of tinkering and fine tuning the speaker placements for optimal (according to me) soundstage and clarity. If you aren't getting the best sound in the world from these speakers, make sure your Amp is of good quality and/or broken in. Also, do play with the placement of the speakers, the degree of toe-in needed for your room.One thing I found very interesting is that the sweet spot is slightly spread and not pin-pointed as some reviewers have mentioned. That implies that more people will get an excellent experience imho.UPDATE- 4 years into the purchase I’m over the moon in sound quality. The speakers broken in properly sound better than the magneplanars. I reintroduced the 500W SW and now am running a Sony CD player with coax out, a Mac mini with lossless audio tracks as well as a TV with optical out.Sound stage is brilliant and I’m using it for ji-end reference sound in my music production (amateur albeit).
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2016
1) immersive -- where you are in the sound stage and the stage moves all around you
2) you are able to spatially locate the instruments in the music
3) you don't get listening fatigue after somewhat longish sessions (I listen to prog rock and jazz fusion, both of which lend to deep immersive listening experiences)
My buddy's rig is by far the best I've heard. He makes his own amps and DACs and uses a pair of Magnepans with separate sub-woofers and give's us the experience.
Without using a custom amp or DAC, using an old Yamaha receiver and play standard CDs on a 90$ sony blu-ray player, my rig sounds pretty good already. It's not all the way there yet, but I think the remainder of the work needs to be picked up by a good amp and DAC.
My experiences with the speakers -
1) Fresh out of the box, I ran them with an unbroken (new) Onkyo receiver and was disappointed with the sound. It was harsh and while there was still the clarity, the sound stage was not there at all. I borrowed my buddy's old Yamaha receiver and immediately the effect was excellent.
2) after playing with the distance from the back wall and the toeing in of the speakers, I finally was able to get a clear center-image and the soundstage started to form.
3) After burning the speakers in over 100 hours, the sound improved. I had been using a MartinLogan 500W sub-woofer which I decided to disconnect. The woofers in the ESLs themselves are more than adequate for the type of music I listen to (prog rock, Jazz, Jazz-fusion etc).
It took at least 5 days of tinkering and fine tuning the speaker placements for optimal (according to me) soundstage and clarity. If you aren't getting the best sound in the world from these speakers, make sure your Amp is of good quality and/or broken in. Also, do play with the placement of the speakers, the degree of toe-in needed for your room.
One thing I found very interesting is that the sweet spot is slightly spread and not pin-pointed as some reviewers have mentioned. That implies that more people will get an excellent experience imho.
UPDATE- 4 years into the purchase I’m over the moon in sound quality. The speakers broken in properly sound better than the magneplanars. I reintroduced the 500W SW and now am running a Sony CD player with coax out, a Mac mini with lossless audio tracks as well as a TV with optical out.
Sound stage is brilliant and I’m using it for ji-end reference sound in my music production (amateur albeit).
Excellent speakers - takes a while to break in
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2016
These are amazing speakers. For me, the gold standard of how the stereo listening experience should be is as follows -Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2016
1) immersive -- where you are in the sound stage and the stage moves all around you
2) you are able to spatially locate the instruments in the music
3) you don't get listening fatigue after somewhat longish sessions (I listen to prog rock and jazz fusion, both of which lend to deep immersive listening experiences)
My buddy's rig is by far the best I've heard. He makes his own amps and DACs and uses a pair of Magnepans with separate sub-woofers and give's us the experience.
Without using a custom amp or DAC, using an old Yamaha receiver and play standard CDs on a 90$ sony blu-ray player, my rig sounds pretty good already. It's not all the way there yet, but I think the remainder of the work needs to be picked up by a good amp and DAC.
My experiences with the speakers -
1) Fresh out of the box, I ran them with an unbroken (new) Onkyo receiver and was disappointed with the sound. It was harsh and while there was still the clarity, the sound stage was not there at all. I borrowed my buddy's old Yamaha receiver and immediately the effect was excellent.
2) after playing with the distance from the back wall and the toeing in of the speakers, I finally was able to get a clear center-image and the soundstage started to form.
3) After burning the speakers in over 100 hours, the sound improved. I had been using a MartinLogan 500W sub-woofer which I decided to disconnect. The woofers in the ESLs themselves are more than adequate for the type of music I listen to (prog rock, Jazz, Jazz-fusion etc).
It took at least 5 days of tinkering and fine tuning the speaker placements for optimal (according to me) soundstage and clarity. If you aren't getting the best sound in the world from these speakers, make sure your Amp is of good quality and/or broken in. Also, do play with the placement of the speakers, the degree of toe-in needed for your room.
One thing I found very interesting is that the sweet spot is slightly spread and not pin-pointed as some reviewers have mentioned. That implies that more people will get an excellent experience imho.
UPDATE- 4 years into the purchase I’m over the moon in sound quality. The speakers broken in properly sound better than the magneplanars. I reintroduced the 500W SW and now am running a Sony CD player with coax out, a Mac mini with lossless audio tracks as well as a TV with optical out.
Sound stage is brilliant and I’m using it for ji-end reference sound in my music production (amateur albeit).
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on June 23, 2016
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2020
