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Arrived late to this thread but I can give the (subjective) opinion of someone who has owned a full Sanders System: 2 x magtech amps, sanders preamp and 10c hybrid electrostat
I loved them. But I sold them.
Why? Well, in the sweet-spot they are astoundingly good. Pin point imaging, coherent (the digital crossover time-aligns the panels and the transmission-line bass units. It sounds like a single speaker ... every other hybrid electrostat I’ve heard sounds to me like there are two different speakers in the room).
And well balanced tonally. And able to go stupidly loud with dynamics equal to or better than many “box speakers”.
In short, one of the best systems I’ve heard. Period.
One problem. Music is a shared thing for me. I love listening with my family, sharing tunes with my kids. Listening with friends.
So my main system is in my living room - a shared space.
And out of the sweet-spot, the magic isn’t there.
For me beamy speakers are off-putting even if I'm using them alone. There is a shifty quality to the illusion that makes me ultra-concious of the mechanics of the illusion, and feels less natural. It reminds me of those hologram displays of objects. They are really neat insofar as they are producing a 3 dimensional image of an object, but they are very angle dependant and the image has a "shifty, fleeting" quality vs a real object.
I had a similar reaction to LCD and rear projection TVs, whose screen technology produced beamy images requiring a sweet-spot. I preferred plasma back in the day because it felt more natural. Put an image of a painting on a plasma and it had a stability like the real thing you weren't made conscious of the illusion if you moved off axis. Whereas LCD and RPTVs visibly altered their brightness and contrast if you moved off direct axis.
I like to be able to slouch around or have some level of movement where at least the tonal quality doesn't alter obviously, end even better, if the imaging doesn't shift really obviously.
I used various Martin Logan speakers for over 10 years before switching back to direct radiator speakers.
They were amazing from the midrange up.
But I could never get bombastic classical warhorses like Dvoarak's 9th to have the somatic impact in the upper bass / lower midrange 'power zone' that I liked.
I think there is something different in how they pressurize rooms.
Martin Logan always preached that they were addressing the super tight sweet spot issue by curving their panels. I never found it did much good in practice. They beam like mad like most electrostatics (my buddy has some ML hybrids and I've heard many ML speakers).
I also agree about the difference in pressurizing the room. Like I've mentioned before, when I hear most electrostatic/dynamic woofer hybrids that's one thing I notice - the range covered by the dynamic woofer has some punch and solidity, but as the panel takes over the sound becomes more ghostly - clear and boxless, but doesn't seem to move air in the room the same way. That's why I moved on from Stats to dynamic speakers