Time to update this thread. I finally found the time to haul my Model Nine’s up to Columbus, Ohio and deliver them to David Janszen for a full restoration. He’s going to strip them down to the bones, replace and upgrade all the electronics, rebuild all the electrostatic bass panels, and replace the electrostatic tweeters with his own modern version (which has more surface area and better dispersion characteristics) and refinish the walnut frames. They will look and function better than the original once he’s finished. Timeline on the restoration is two to three months, but it’s fluid. I told him there was no hurry.
First of all, let me say that David is an absolute pleasure. He is laid back, congenial, and a joy to converse with. He took over an hour of his time to talk with me, show me around his shop, and give me a personal audition of his gear. His speakers are exceptional. I auditioned the floor standing passive version (Valentina P8) in a fairly small, but well-treated room. The system was simple. A Bluetooth receiver streaming tunes from his phone through a basic pro audio amp. Nothing fancy. But the speakers sounded great. They have the immediacy and realism we all expect from electrostatics, with pinpoint imaging and a wide soundstage, and just an incredibly natural sound. They are fairly diminutive speakers, only about three feet tall or so. But they put out a sound much bigger than you would expect by looking at them. The twin 8” woofers really do justice to any bass or percussion in a track, and blend seamlessly with the electrostatic tweeters. We listened to lots of different styles and genres of music and it all sounded great. Whether classical, pop, or rock, these speakers can reproduce it flawlessly. And the sound is even more impressive considering the size of the speakers. If you want the magical sound of electrostats, but the ML’s are too big or lack the necessary WAF, I highly recommend you check out David Janszen’s speakers. They are sharp-looking and produce exceptional sound.
After the P8’s, David let me audition his pair of restored Model Nine’s. These sounded nothing short of amazing. Just absolutely incredible. They are on another level, providing a full and completely natural sound that only a full range electrostat can produce. Everything sounded incredible on these speakers. At one point, he played some hard rock with screeching guitars, and it sounded awesome. I made the comment: “who says electrostats can’t rock?” Because they did! The guitar was perfectly reproduced, but with no painful artifacts like you often get with dome tweeters. Just good, clean sound. And amazing bass. I mean, it’s not hard hitting, because it only goes down to 40 hz., but you don’t even really notice that because everything above 40 hz. is prodigious. I was extremely impressed with how good the bass output was for these speakers. And it’s all so cohesive. The sound was pure and natural from 40 hz. up to well above my hearing range. I was also impressed with how loud they could play. My pair was volume-limited due to aging components, but David proved to me that a restored pair can play extremely loud and still sound amazing. These truly are one of the best-sounding speakers ever produced and it just blows my mind that they were designed over 60 years ago! I cannot wait to get mine back and set them up with my electronics in my own well-treated room. I love my ML Summits, but these Model Nine’s are truly on a whole ‘nother level. If you are ever in Columbus, Ohio, I highly recommend going by to meet David and listen to his speakers. You won’t be disappointed.
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