WOW..fired up the new/old ESL JansZen's

had never heard electrostats before , just been educated.

see thread for pix

http://www.audioheritage.org/vbullet...ad.php?t=13007

was blown away !! sparkling highs , decent bass , really nice imaging, ( as long as you are ON AXIS). These seem mid 1950s vintage. I had never heard of the company , but they are still in biz . .

( http://www.janszenloudspeaker.com/products.htm )

with 3 models from $7,500 to $32,000 a pair. I only paid $10 , but GEEZE I'm impressed . The cabs are in good structural shape , but lots of deep scratches. On eBay it looks like they put the ESL HFs in cabinets and use outboard on many older ARs. Gotta figure out how to widen dispersion.

Also got a chance to play with the Henry Kloss pair of 8in subs. Put some little Optimus sats on top and they ain't too shabby either.:bouncy:

Runnin out of storage room ...need help:blink:

Yes, electrostats can be very sweet. Check out wether the Janszen has only one foil, sound would be distributed antiphase. In this case I would direct one flat side on a little reflektor like that of a Paragon. The sound would be fairly distributed.
___________
Peter

PS: My first electrostat experience was a Infinity Servo Static I with a sub around 1972 - incredible!

here is what it is . Thinking of transplanting drivers into a similar volume AR48 box. when you get OFF AXIS , highs almost completely diasppear.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SEAWOLF97

when you get OFF AXIS , highs almost completely diasppear.

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That's the case with ribbons too (in the vertical plane) and the reason that many electrostats are curved or are made up of an array of panels.


Widget

I have a set of stacked Quad57 electrostats with Decca London ribbon tweeters, with JBL 2231 / PR15-C subs. They are very sweet sounding --quite clear. They do have two faults - not much dynamic range -AND- as Seawolf97 reported, a very narrow "listening sweet spot". Above 7 kHz, (where the ribbon tweeters cut in) the sweet spot gets wider. (the ribbon is a much better point source than the ESL57s)

This phenomenon is quite typical with panel transducers - they are not a sonic point source. Many have tried to "fix" this issue with multiple panels in a curved array. A guy named Roger Sanders (in the 1980s) even designed a single curved electrostatic panel.... But the laws of physics don't change ... The further you move your design from a point source transducer the more likely you will NOT get very good dispersion in the passband for that transducer. (you will have multiple response lobes that result from vector sum / differences = lumpy response). This is only a rule of thumb -- but it works well for those not willing to calculate eigentones (anybody here a MathCAD weenie?)

I put up with that problem - the old Quad ESL57 system is a "one chair" audition system..and it works well on those 02:00 solo listening sessions.:bouncy:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by loach71

I have a set of stacked Quad57 electrostats with Decca London ribbon tweeters, with JBL 2231 / PR15-C subs. They are very sweet sounding --quite clear. They do have two faults - not much dynamic range -AND- as Seawolf97 reported, a very narrow "listening sweet spot". I put up with that problem - the old Quad ESL57 system is a "one chair" audition system...:bouncy:

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Well , Its a rainy day in Oregon (imagine that, if you can !!) ...anyway I went out to the patio to make sure the ESLs weren't getting wet. They were OK, but I thot that I've listened to these ON THE PATIO, but never really LISTENED to them in my real environment.
So I hauled them inside and rigged up on top of the 4410s. Slipped a little XM to them and sat. SAT TRANSFIXED !!:blink: It was like 1977 when we first saw Star Wars..!! I didn't want to get up out of the sweet spot. They are cleaner in HF than the JBLs. What imaging !! A 10in LF isn't going to shake the house, but I kept thinking " I cud live with these !!" , maybe add a sub....

Too bad the house is already full of speakers where to put them ?? (Oh yeah, I bot some Infinity's and 3way Acoustics yesterday...)

found this interesting tidbit:blink:

Electostatic speakers usually have to keep charged, so usually, they have to be plugged in. New or discharged speakers won't sound good until they've been "nibbling" on electricity for 3 or more days.

if you have any interest in ESLs , here is a good link
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/ar...p/t-54724.html

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SEAWOLF97

found this interesting tidbit:blink:

Electostatic speakers usually have to keep charged, so usually, they have to be plugged in. New or discharged speakers won't sound good until they've been "nibbling" on electricity for 3 or more days.

if you have any interest in ESLs , here is a good link
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/ar...p/t-54724.html

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My QUADs are always powered up....

Seawolf97,

looking at your picture I see three connectors. So it seems to me a push-pull arrangement. That's good for lower dissortion.

Janszen has sold these speakers in different arrangements, up to four units per box. The above shown version really distributes the sound antiphase out of the hole were the electrostat is mounted. This should be avoided. I's better to use the electrostat extern as a dipol.
My suggestion really is to make a damped closed little box - it can be made of cardboard - and let the front radiate on a curved plane. You would have a smooth distribution over 90 degree (applied optics ;), details on demand ) The only snag is that in this way SPL is lower, it would be fine if it is adjustable.

Your electrostat should have a voltage supply. When it is missing I would add it.
Mark Rehorst has written down some useful thoughts:
http://esl.rehorst.com/
____________
Peter