Several questions David: Which model SL did you hear? Can you please give us the associated electronics and a description of the room. The same rundown for the CLX as far as electronics and room. How far down did the bottom go for the SL, do you think?
Please understand since there are very few reviews of the Sound Labs product out there to have a "live one on the line" is exciting. So any other information you could relate would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, :bowdown:
I wish I could write as poetically about this as Jon Valin, but here is an analytical comparison of the 2.
The first time I heard the CLX, the equipment was Krell evo mono amps and evo preamp, and krell sacd and simaudio sources. The room was large, but not well treated. The second time was in the same room, but the amps were Manley 500 monoblocks. I was BLOWN AWAY by the CLX the first time. I enjoyed it a great deal the second time, but not as much as the first. These 2 experiences were probably different because I like the SS amps much better for their control of the panel.
In terms of the sound, as I said above, the CLX are fast, transparent, detailed, and have a huge soundstage. They are a mix of the CLS/ Monolith "big soundstage" sound of the old designs and the Summit type detail, dynamics, and accuracy.
When I heard the Soundlabs today, the source was my own Ayre C5xe, Atmasphere tubed pre, and SS Parasound JC1 Halo monoblocks. The speakers were U1's with the latest px technology. (The U1's are in the low $30's; the M1's are priced similarly to the CLX, and are supposed to give up only 5% or so of performance because of their smaller size). Physically, they are HUGE. The sweetspot was huge also. Walking around the room, and stepping into a different room did not take away from the reality of the music.
The biggest thing that sticks with me is that these speakers had all of the virtues I love about stats - transparency, soundstage, air, etc., but in addition to that they had very deep bass that was integrated with the rest of the frequencies. They had also NAILED the dynamic ebbs and flows of the music. I never experienced such realism from a system. The CLX sounds more hi-fi in my memory. This was despite the fact the 14 x 17 or so sized room did not have any bass traps. (It did have some resonators, though, and I am not really sure what they are.)
Coincidentally, I also had the pleasure of hearing 2 expensive dynamic speakers this weekend - Vienna Musics and Dynaudio Sapphires. I would take used $2K ML's, such as the Ascent, over either of those.
I think those who buy a $20K+ speakers are suckers not to hear as many models as possible. As I said above, those shopping for an electostat should hear both the CLX and the Soundlabs. When I purchase my next speakers, I would not be surprised if they are Soundlabs, although I intend to audition both in depth.
However, if pressed to buy one or the other right now based on my gut feel or intuition based on the experiences I have had, I would buy the Soundlab and never care about another speaker.
