English Beauty !

[richluvsound]

High Folks,


These are stunning .......http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/B-W-DM70-class...#ht_500wt_1043

Does anyone know anything about them .... ?

Rich

[Audiobeer]

I've never seen anything like it before. I didn't know that B&W was ever involved it Electrostatics!

[Latsa]

I had the chance to listen to the Continental model some years ago. Very impressive !
These are a kind of mix between a Quad ESL-63 and LE14A

In terms of beauty the continental model is IMO definitely nicer.

[hjames]

I had the chance to listen to the Continental model some years ago. Very impressive !
These are a kind of mix between a Quad ESL-63 and LE14A

In terms of beauty the continental model is IMO definitely nicer.

yes, I have to agree - I think they are gorgeous and quite stylish!

[BMWCCA]

Is the Pound really that worthless against the Dollar these days? Those only brought $800 in their last auction: http://ebayitem.com/230524994815

[SEAWOLF97]

lot of wasted real estate there..

had a single Infinity electrostat....sounded great when you stayed "on axis" , but didnt have curved array as the B&W.

[scott fitlin]

I've never seen a B & W electrostatic before, didn't even know they ever made them.

They look nice, and the acoustic suspension woofer looks like a big version, or similar to the old AR-3a. Wonder what they sound like?

[Audionutz]

I actually had two pairs about 8 years ago. Sold one and kept the other for about 2 months. They sounded "nice" - in other words great with delicate music and single instruments. Minimal dynamics though and light on the bass.

Similar sound to the old Crown speakers with the curved panels above, but more refined.

The finish on them was excellent with beautiful woodgrain. Very lustrous.

They're still highly prized, here at least and fetch good prices. I think I sold my final pair for about AUD$3000 ?

Cheers

'Nutz

[Chas]

Rich, a friend's Dad had a pair in white during the early seventies. Being English, he naturally had all Quad electronics, 33, 303 and later a 405 to drive them.

Orignally he had ESL57's but wanted wider range frequency response. I remember being quite impressed with them for their deep bass response and the clarity of the mids and highs in the living room where they were situated.

Of course, my ears were lacking in experience back then, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

[macaroonie]

The stat panel sounded really good and the curved array largely solved positioning issues , however the overall system efficiency was very low. Add to that the bass driver was shall we say polite all in all made for a pretty non involving listen.
Think gentlemans drawing room with some nice chamber music at a low level and you are on the money. Full on Wagner or Led Zep --- forget it.
After that they made the DM6 , one of the first time aligned systems , a truly ugly speaker with just the worst bass driver going , as I recall 12" with so much bextrene waffling around and no worthy motor power to move it.
They did have one of the first kevlar cones on the mid though. No stat panel.

[richluvsound]

Form before function ... I'm curious about the dark rectangular bits on the woofer around the voice coil ...... some kind of mass management thing ?


Rich

[macaroonie]

Them was dampening pads



More here

http://loudspeaker-repair-service.re...rbish_DM70.htm

[richluvsound]

Mac,

that guy is the real m'coy . Thanks for the link .

Rich

[macaroonie]

I think you should Google ' diy electrostatic loudspeakers ' plenty of info there.

BE CAREFUL ___ HIGH VOLTAGES !!! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!!!!!!!!!

having said that in essence they are really simple in concept , it is just the implementation that is tricky.
Here is a potentially simpler and safer plan , there are some really powerful permanent magnets available now ( NEO ) www.emagnets.co.uk. Look at Apoggee Magneplanar etc and see how they are done , spend 20 quid on some flat bar mags and some mylar metalised film or window alarm tape etc and make yourself a tweet. I'll fetch you from the funny farm in a year or two but at least you will not have frizzy hair and eyes like this

[richluvsound]

I'm still learning about ohm's law ..... I wish I hadn't smoked so much dope in school now