ESL are not as good as cone speakers?

[georgehifi]

Originally Posted by roberto
another cause of the loss of high frequency could be bad panels.

Oh, right....................this is going to turn into another clean and vacuum your panels thread isn't it.

What Roberto said could be exactly right kach22i, if he bought these second hand, and they were thrashed, they could very well be leaking the high tension bias voltage, and therefore sound the way he describes, don't be too quick to judge before all the facts are presented, the guy hasn't given the history on them or hasn't posted again. Wait for more info.

Cheers George

 

[Reverb2009]

Originally Posted by roberto
another cause of the loss of high frequency could be bad panels.



What Roberto said could be exactly right kach22i, if he bought these second hand, and they were thrashed, they could very well be leaking the high tension bias voltage, and therefore sound the way he describes, don't be too quick to judge before all the facts are presented, the guy hasn't given the history on them or hasn't posted again. Wait for more info.

Cheers George

Vinnyy Said in his first post that he had Sequel II’s and was using them on the same gear but recently upgraded to aeons. The aeon panels may be dirty and in need of cleaning, but they shouldn’t be that old they need replacing.

 

[roberto]

Vinnyy Said in his first post that he had Sequel II’s and was using them on the same gear but recently upgraded to aeons. The aeon panels may be dirty and in need of cleaning, but they shouldn’t be that old they need replacing.

Wow Joe, please, please don´t get me wrong here...I have replaced stat panels with only three months old...both panels, Sequel II as I remember, also C LS I, around the time that the Sequel II was at their last pproduction on the factory...then came the SL-3s...the age does not mean anything...I still have some custormers that are using original stat panels and they are a proud onwners of ML since over 15 years...the thruth is, even ML does not know why the stat panel goes bad. If they do know, they would fix it, and they have not yet. The product that we have now, is more reliable, but not perfect. I am strong thinking that his problem is bad panels, not power amp. issue. And I say this, because he is finding a tremendous difference between cone and electrostatic. I have with the company, as a dealer over 19 years now. I´m a witness of how the technology has change and and how the new stat coatings and experiments have been taken...and still, we all know that, we have failures...this does not means that the product is bad...no, no, no...it is the oposite, and we are so in love with this kind of sound, that we have a club of fans of martin logan sound.
First thing that I would do, is vacuum both of them, then the shower, and if this does not work, the change of the panels is a must. Hope this can help...happy listening,
Pura vida,
Roberto.

 

[Vinnyy]

Thanks for all of your replies!

To clarify, I am using the B&K AMP with 220 Watts@8hms to drive my Aeons (as Jim from ML recommended). The B&K was capable of doing 400W@4ohms according to the spec. The HK receiver was unquestionably too weak enough to drive the Aeons at all.

I bought my Aeons my an authorized dealer. The speakers looked gorgeous. They were in immaculate condition and the deal was too good to pass up. After reading many good reviews on ML speakers including Aeons, my mind was already set on a pair of those. The listening environment at the store was somewhat different - comfy leather chair, polished wood floor etc. I was not sure if my judement was biased. I auditioned the speakers briefly - music just floats from those panels and they did sound nice. According to the store manager, they had low usage but were broken in. They didn't have any decent cone speakers to compare back to back. At the end, I took the Aeon home.

My disappointment started when I compare the Aeons to my Klipsch RVX-54 back to back using ONLY the HK receiver at home. Clearly, the HK receiver was out of league for the Aeons - Aeons sounded terrible, no doubt. After some digging around, I went to get an B&K Reference amp. The Aeons sounded much better. After 2 weeks of enjoying the Aeons, I swapped my RVX-54 back just for the kicks. Suddenly, I found that trebles are particularly noticeable and they sounded a lot brighter than the Aeons. (To make sure my Aeons aren't defective, I borrowed a pair of Seqeul II and tried them out - man they were heavy!)

The mids from Aeons are much better than the RVX-54 but I was not able to get good highs I got from the RVX-54. (Even my RVX-42 surround speakers delivered better highs than the Aeons) May be this is my personal taste. I like music that is a little bright I think. As JoeyV mentioned, the RVX-54 aren't a balance speaker, and I don't expect my Aeons to match that.

What I am puzzling is if I bring the Aeons closer to my personal taste by investing into better equipment such as a better PreAmp or CD player? Or what I hear is simply the natural of ESLs and this is not the type of speakers for me?

Thanks!
Vinny

Aeons, B&K Ref 2220 Amp, HK Receiver, HK CD player, Audioquest cables,