Hello from Seal Beach, CA.... New ESL13As on the way!...

[henryeng]

• Friday at 3:23 PM

I just joined the ML Owners group. I've been an audiophile for decades....and am finally upgrading from "cone-in-box" speakers to ESLs. My system is simple: McIntosh MCD550 SACD player and an MA8900 integrated amp, 200 wpc.
Since I listen mostly to classical music, accuracy, detail, and imaging are what's important.

I am new to ML electrostatic speakers. I just ordered ESL13As. They’ll be in a room that’s 18’ wide with 8’ ceiling. Speakers will be 8’ apart with my LP about 10’ in front of them. Stat panels will be 36” - 40” from the front wall, which is wood paneling. Very reflective. SO…my plan is to use one 2’ x 4’ absorption panel (from GIK) directly behind each stat panel. (The GIK 3.6" thick 242 panels have nearly identical specs compared to the 2" thick "spot" panels...so I went with the 2" panels.) Does it need to be a bit off the wall? Spaced 1” from wall? Or just mounted directly on wall?

Behind my LP I have 35’ of open space with furniture etc so no reflections from the wall behind the LP.
Any thoughts from the experts?
Thanks...

 

[Brad225]

Hi henryeng, welcome to the gang. I think you will be very happy with your new speakers.
You have a good kit to drive them.
Keep us updated with your progress and post pics. We all live for pics.

 

[henryeng]

Hi Brad....thanks for that encouragement.... I'll post pics as soon as I get 'em installed!

 

[Jeff Zaret]

Hi Henryeng,
I have GIK panels behind my speakers. I have the 244's, 242's and the corner traps. I would say yes you can have then directly on the wall. This is what I did and I have had no issues. In my old house they worked very well and took out the "echo" and reflectiveness of the room. I moved from California about a year ago. My new room is much more of a challenge. Things are different. I have a wood floor instead of carpet but bought a rug which helped a lot. I have the GIK 244's behind my speakers and the 242's as close to first reflection point. The issue I have is it is open to the right side and I have a pitched ceiling and it is a more "live" and open room.. I could go crazy with all of it but the main object is to listen to and enjoy music.
Good luck on your journey!

 

[henryeng]

Hi Jeff....thanks for that info! My room is reasonably 'dead' (carpet, upholstered furniture, etc) but I have a large sliding glass door on one side and a concrete fireplace on the other. The sidewalls are "live" and mess with imaging. This is one reason why I went with the ESLs....very little side radiation. If I can control the backwave, I'm hoping it will sound good and produce a nice solid stereo image.
Here's a pic (wide angle lens makes it look deeper than it really is)

.
My current speakers are Goldenear Triton One.Rs...they sound good but don't image well because of sidewall reflections. The ESLs should fix that...we'll see in a few weeks!

 

[Tmort]

Hi Jeff....thanks for that info! My room is reasonably 'dead' (carpet, upholstered furniture, etc) but I have a large sliding glass door on one side and a concrete fireplace on the other. The sidewalls are "live" and mess with imaging. This is one reason why I went with the ESLs....very little side radiation. If I can control the backwave, I'm hoping it will sound good and produce a nice solid stereo image.
Here's a pic (wide angle lens makes it look deeper than it really is)View attachment 24960.
My current speakers are Goldenear Triton One.Rs...they sound good but don't image well because of sidewall reflections. The ESLs should fix that...we'll see in a few weeks!

Where is your listening position in this image? I’d spread the speakers as far apart as you can in the room. The wider you can get them the broader the sweet spot will be for imaging. My classic 9’s are roughly 7’ apart and that’s room limited, the result is an incredible soundstage / imaging if you’re sitting in that exact sweet spot! If not, the sound is great but you don’t get that same effect of the center sweet spot. On the right side I’d consider putting a panel at the first reflection point along that wall, this would allow you to move that right speaker further right. You might also consider the 5” thick bass trap panels behind your speakers, they give you a 1” air gap built in to the front wall, that’s what I have and they work nicely.

 

[henryeng]

Hi Tmort....thanks for the suggestions. My listening position is on the sofa, between the speakers. The speakers are about 8' apart, and I'm about 10' feet in front of them. (The photo makes it looks much deeper than it really is.) I'm really the only 'ciritical listener'...so if the sweet spot is somewhat narrow, that's OK. I'll wait until I get the ESLs installed, then decide if I need an acoustic panel on the right side wall. We're having draperies installed on the left side, to mitigate reflections from the glass window. (Adding more acoustic panels increases the "spousal impedance"!)

 

[Paul172]

I’m using GIK Alpha 6A behind my CLX speakers with very good results.

 

[henryeng]

Good to know. And GIK shipped my panels yesterday, so I should have them next week. Speakers arriving the following week.

Thanks everyone...

 

[Brad225]

Nice looking room Henry. Very comfortable.

 

[henryeng]

Thanks!....yeah, we did our house in a somewhat Hawaiian motif. The peaked ceiling is covered with grasscloth, which really helps mitigate ceiling/floor reflections and echos. A happy accident!

 

[Steelhead]

Congratulations on your 13's. You should be excited and think you will be well rewarded for your purchase decision.

That room is gorgeous.

Welcome to the ML group

 

[henryeng]

Thank you…..I’m excited indeed!

 

[ejspain]

Because of the 30⁰ curvature of the panel, there really isn't a first reflection so a panel in this position likely won't serve much purpose. My first panel is at the second reflection point. Also because the panel is designed to produce front/rear firing sound, I found placing absorption behind it dramatically reduces clarity, depth and staging. BUT...all rooms and listening preferences are different so I'd suggest trying with and without. The 13As are great speakers...when driven and setup correctly you will enjoy them for many years. Enjoy the tunes.

 

[henryeng]

Thanks for that. Yeah I’m not gonna worry about sidewall reflections for now. My back wall (behind speakers) is hardwood paneling which is very reflective, so absorption will probably help especially since I can get the stat panels only about 36” from that wall. But I’ll experiment and see what sounds best. I can always slide the panels a bit sideways so that some of the backwave hits the absorption panel and some hits the wall. I’ll keep ya posted…

 

[Nuri58]

The woofer will cause 1th reflections. But if it's a pb is another matter. You could try with a mattress and see or rather hear what it does.

 

[henryeng]

Yep....I'm not too worried about LF issues. We'll see what happens when the music starts...ARC can help with LF issues...

Thanks,

 

[Leporello]

Hi Jeff....thanks for that info! My room is reasonably 'dead' (carpet, upholstered furniture, etc) but I have a large sliding glass door on one side and a concrete fireplace on the other. The sidewalls are "live" and mess with imaging. This is one reason why I went with the ESLs....very little side radiation. If I can control the backwave, I'm hoping it will sound good and produce a nice solid stereo image.
Here's a pic (wide angle lens makes it look deeper than it really is)View attachment 24960.
My current speakers are Goldenear Triton One.Rs...they sound good but don't image well because of sidewall reflections. The ESLs should fix that...we'll see in a few weeks!

Side wall reflections are less of an issue with ESL's, but not a non-issue--especially with ML's, with their 30 degree dispersion pattern. Have you considered heavy drapes--ideally drapes designed as acoustic absorbers-- across the glass doors that can be drawn for serious listening?

 

[Leporello]

Side wall reflections are less of an issue with ESL's, but not a non-issue--especially with ML's, with their 30 degree dispersion pattern. Have you considered heavy drapes--ideally drapes designed as acoustic absorbers-- across the glass doors that can be drawn for serious listening?

never mind, just read the rest of your post.

 

[henryeng]