Electrostatics

[Peter van der Laarse]

About electrostatics:

1. I have been sold on the electrostatic sound since 1981 (My first Quad ESL, the ESL57). The Martin Logan speakers are above 375 Hz electrostatics and below that (half of the hearable sound = in the middle of a piano keyboard) they have a (slow=distorted) dynamic subwoofer. That's why SAM does not function with electrostatic speakers and with Martin Logan's it can. (see 2). Suggestion: try full range electrostatics; it is another cup of tea;

2. Even many readers on this devialet chat side and dealers don't know why full range electrostatics will never get SAMmed. SAM only functions below a couple of hundred Hz and compensates for the problems an alectrostatic does not have. A dynamic loudspeaker is - compared to a full range electrostatic - so heavy and therefore so slow in the reaction to the sound that distortion figures like an electrostatic are not possible. In other words: full range electrostatics simply don't need SAM. When testing a full range electrostatic speaker like a Quad ESL 2912 or 2812 think of the famous waterfall graphics: the delay in which the speakers moves and stops is incredible more absent compared to dynamic speakers. Our ears are very sensitive to such kind of distortion;

3. I have a lovely wife: behind our ESL's the walls of the little room (320 cm x 650 cm) are plastered with sound-absorbing material. Very very long ago my child-room was plastered with egg-cartons, happily so bad isn't the situation anymore. Although.....

4. I own 3 sub-woofers: Rel studio I, Rel Stentor II, Rel stadium II. In my experience only the Studio (same price as a Devialet 200 and 93 kg) and the Stentor (€ 4.000 and 48 kg) are capable of reaching the necessary quality (not quantity) below 40 Hz; the Studio till 9 Hz -3 dB!). Because of the space I combine my Quads with the Stentor II and it sounds great. Of course the Devialet compensates for the distances between the speakers in milliseconds (30millisec per cm; the difference between the speed of sound and the speed of light as everybody knows).
By the way: you can combine such large subs with small rooms; most people think you need space for the organ sound. Nonsense; I own large and small and the Studio in a small room like mentioned sounds realy great. Okay, in the living room of 100m2 it sounds superb, but great is better then every sound I heard in Munich......

5. Quad 2905 similar as 2912...? Yes and no.
No: I own(ed) both of them and every Quad is really a step forward. The latest models (now I listen most to 2812) are very more accurate and especially the Devialet amplifiers can let you hear such differences. It's a marvel. I am on the Devialet website the only one which ownes the ESL 2812 worlwide and in fact you cannot understand that. My electrical TV picture of 310 cm wide is hanging above the Quads and therefore the 2912 were no option in that room/ house.
The newest Quads can play with the Devialet amplifier so loud, it never/ never shuts down anymore....In the old day's the ESL 989 on MarkLevinson shutted it down several times during a James Bond movie. The Dev is reading 60 degrees celcius, oké..... I am sure the 400 combination will bring some more compared with the 200 model. A Quad electrostatic eats power! I will try next year.
Yes: compared to the difference in sound between a dynamic speaker and an electrostatic; the difference between a 2905 and a 2912 is in that respect very small

6. I want to listen to electrostatic sound loud late at night in the middle of a town. So my idea was: buy 2 Stax headphones and how can I get the Devialet sound into that? Bought the staxes SR507 and a Woo audio converter and 16 (!) WBT nextgen plugs (more expensive then the WooWee) and voila! I was afraid of the switch into the loudspeaker cable, but it sounds great this way. The sound of the Quads didn't decline; I cannot hear the difference. Use of contact liquid vandenHul was usefull again!