spritzer

I'm sure that you are right as (if I remember correctly) the maximum voltage swing of the H2 is 200v but they require a lot of current instead.

They say that about Iceland too though it's more like 3 minutes.

...or you could just run it off the BH.

I haven't read the article as there is only one audio publication that is worth paying any attention to, the rest is crap IMO. I'm drawing my conclusions from having lived with a few ML's (back in my speaker days) and having quite a few friends that do own Logans and are happy with them. I've also worked on them, replacing panels and the like. I'd love to be able to tolerate the Logan's as they are cheap and look good but they simply aren't good and the design sucks, even in comparison to granddad, the ESL57. It's my opinion and it is based on my knowledge of ES technology and studying how their speakers are built. If you like them, that's fine but never claim that they are well designed or built as that is a load of BS.

It is indeed sad and he's been asked time and time again to clean up his act but he never listens. He's also found the common weakness of all audiophiles and exploited it mercilessly i.e. a lot of upgrades promising better performance and charging a bundle for them. I couldn't care less about Mikhail but I do feel bad for the customers as their amps might become worthless (or very worth very little) on the used market. They could be fixed though and converted into something much better but it will require a lot of work and even more money.

Asking him to take a look wouldn't be a bad idea. All the SP designs are out there so the schematics are easy enough to come by if he doesn't know them already.

No grudge here except the usual of selling crap at high prices to people that don't know any better. A friend did buy a CLS Mk1 one and it works just fine and is a great speaker. The CLS was a labor of love and respect for electrostatics but those days are long gone for ML. They've been bought out and are not now only making money. They claiming that the care about sound doesn't make it true in any way. That's akin to Ray's claim of the B-52 being the end all preamp and some are buying that crap. If simple cathode followers and flimsy, outdated ESL's strapped to bass units that can't work together are your thing then more power to you. I don't see how discontinuing the CLX makes them care about QC other then that they want to sell products that work (i.e. produce some sound) so they don't have handle repairs all the time (like Quad). ML could have made a lot of money on the CLX if they had simply copied the CLS with a stiffer panel with a thinner diaphragm, more bias and in a braced aluminum frame. It's simple and works well. Another tweak they could charge a fortune for would be the stands to minimize room reflections. ML are a bit like Quad though as they started out doing something new but were bought out and are now rehashing the same old crap but the Quads are quite good when working right. To put all of this into context lets look at Sound Lab. The CLX was 25k$ so well into S-L territory. Sound Lab have been hard at work making speakers that last and are on the cutting edge with the ProStat and it's domestic variant the Majestic. They've reached new heights in producing stiff frames from wood and the 12kV bias is groundbreaking. They use teflon coated diaphragms to make the insane bias possible without the fear of arcing. They've also worked on the backplates making the speakers more efficient with better components in the signal path.

There was indeed a set in Friends but those were Audiostatic's in the House pilot. To bad they replaced them...

Nope but their product placements in TV shows is a clear indication of who they want to reach. I was watching Chuck earlies and behold, what is in the AV room but a set of ML's. Why would they make the panels smaller and smaller and concentrate so much on the look of the speakers if they were after SQ and not looks. They've also made the panel overlap the bass unit for years now which simply makes no sense except for aesthetics. Why would anybody give the backwave a nice sturdy surface to bounce back from? They've also spent more time on making the panels look better then spending R&D time to make real improvements.

That is seriously fucked up. I other SP news, a little bird told me that there are at least 13 broken SP amps out there of all types in need of repair and they won't send them to Mikhail. It seems that somebody could make a nice living cleaning up Mikhail's crap.

They are slightly curved but it's small compared to the ML's. They are the definition of crazy when it comes to speaker design. There seems to be a new kid on the block, has anybody heard these yet?

It's simply a pop version of electrostatics made for the look alone. Curved panels are a terrible idea so much so that even the inventor of the design wants nothing to do with it. Another make which is said to sound awful are King Audio. It's an interesting design for sure with wire stators and goes for maximum excursion on the thin but tall panel. The new models are active with Class D amplification.

Ohh, they are a vastly overpriced piece of crap using very outdated technology that are designed by people more interested in style then sound. When other manufacturers are trying to do something innovative (well Sanders, Sound Lab and Audiostatic) ML has been pushing crap like "Clearspar" or what ever they called it which were basically transparent spacers.

Ditto!

It's official, planars rule the world. Not that we didn't know it here with more electrostatics and isodynamics then anywhere else.

The condition of the pads is a huge part of the sound and also the angle of the drivers compared to the mic. The SR-Omega is much easier to measure as the drivers swivel and the pads hold their shape, even after 15 years.

Indeed I did and if I remember correctly the 717 didn't have the balls to drive it. The H2's need a lot of current which the small Stax amp could never hope to deliver.

Ok, I was just trying to get a reference in my mind. It does look inline with the SR-Omega graph which Stax posted back in the day and pretty close to to the ideal.

Last I heard Justin didn't have any boards and I was the only one with a few hanging about. I'm not going to sell any more though as I can't easily order more due to the messed up economic situation here. The BH is far from an easy project and makes most other amps look like toys. There are some new PSU designs being worked on which is why I'm keen to cobble together an old style BH to test them with. 500v output will be tough to get though as the capacitors are the limiting factor here but two 450v PSU's could be serial connected to give 900v and that opens up the world of DHT's and other such niceties. The SRD-7 Pro is just that, a Pro bias version of the original while the Mk2 features upgraded wiring. The difference isn't great though and there is so much more potential to be had with better transformers. You can't do anything simple to modify the stock bias supply but a new one isn't that hard to design. Does is say anywhere what amp was used?

Go on, take one for the team and buy a BHSE for that TakeT. The gain might have to be lowered though as they need less voltage then electrostatics.

FTW!!!! Could you make mine a little bit more silver though. If it means you have to spray paint the Stax sockets silver and scratch up the rest of the bodywork then so be it.

That's not ugly though I prefer silver... so stop trying to bribe Justin to let you have my amp!!!

You will not be getting my beautiful Stax connectors!!! Btw. What color did you choose?

Why don't you just build a BH? If you try not to blow anything up it could be built for about 1000-1500$ but it will not look as nice as Justin's work. On another note, an update on the Egmont. It works but there is nowhere enough gain in the current configuration. Some more test to do...