MartinLogan ElectroMotion ESL Hybrid Electrostatic Each Black

These are amazing speakers. For me, the gold standard of how the stereo listening experience should be is as follows -1) immersive -- where you are in the sound stage and the stage moves all around you2) you are able to spatially locate the instruments in the music3) you don't get listening fatigue after somewhat longish sessions (I listen to prog rock and jazz fusion, both of which lend to deep immersive listening experiences)My buddy's rig is by far the best I've heard. He makes his own amps and DACs and uses a pair of Magnepans with separate sub-woofers and give's us the experience.Without using a custom amp or DAC, using an old Yamaha receiver and play standard CDs on a 90$ sony blu-ray player, my rig sounds pretty good already. It's not all the way there yet, but I think the remainder of the work needs to be picked up by a good amp and DAC.My experiences with the speakers -1) Fresh out of the box, I ran them with an unbroken (new) Onkyo receiver and was disappointed with the sound. It was harsh and while there was still the clarity, the sound stage was not there at all. I borrowed my buddy's old Yamaha receiver and immediately the effect was excellent.2) after playing with the distance from the back wall and the toeing in of the speakers, I finally was able to get a clear center-image and the soundstage started to form.3) After burning the speakers in over 100 hours, the sound improved. I had been using a MartinLogan 500W sub-woofer which I decided to disconnect. The woofers in the ESLs themselves are more than adequate for the type of music I listen to (prog rock, Jazz, Jazz-fusion etc).It took at least 5 days of tinkering and fine tuning the speaker placements for optimal (according to me) soundstage and clarity. If you aren't getting the best sound in the world from these speakers, make sure your Amp is of good quality and/or broken in. Also, do play with the placement of the speakers, the degree of toe-in needed for your room.One thing I found very interesting is that the sweet spot is slightly spread and not pin-pointed as some reviewers have mentioned. That implies that more people will get an excellent experience imho.UPDATE- 4 years into the purchase I’m over the moon in sound quality. The speakers broken in properly sound better than the magneplanars. I reintroduced the 500W SW and now am running a Sony CD player with coax out, a Mac mini with lossless audio tracks as well as a TV with optical out.Sound stage is brilliant and I’m using it for ji-end reference sound in my music production (amateur albeit).

These speakers sound other worldly. The hype is true. The soundstage is almost forensic. You can visualize where each instrument is positioned around you as though you are in the room with the musicians. The atmospheric clarity of mids and highs will astound you. The bass is balanced and tight. BUT! Be aware that the sound is more directional. You must sit in the sweet spot to hear the amazing clarity and presence of these speakers. Otherwise they just sound really really good. You need power to bring them to life. I’m putting 170W per channel through them to give you a benchmark. ALSO! You have to plug them into a wall outlet. Yes! They require power other than the speaker wire, so think about where they will go in your room and if you have 110 or 220 available near the speakers. They will put any flaws in your system under a microscope, but If you have the basics covered they are an amazing bargain.

Well, after trying out some Box Towers....that sounded like music in a box......I tried Magnepan MMGs. They HAVE to be the best in their class....about $600 the pair.....but typical planars....small imaging.....4 ohm power hungry.....sound slightly strained.....4 or 5 Feet out from the wall.....but still....I wanted more.I bought a set of ElectroMotion ESLs from Amazon. I power them with a 35 YO Receiver, the NAD 7175. It is so good, it is scary accurate.If you buy a Small stereo system, it sounds like you have a small sound coming out of a small box......If you buy Better tower Speakers.....it might sound like you are setting at a concert on the 50th row of a 100 row theater.If you buy some very, very good box speakers.....it might move you down to the first rows......And it might not.But if you buy really well made and balanced ElectroStatics, like these MartinLogans....the artists are in your living room.You can hear them breathing.......Some say the Bass is thin. Don't believe them. Unless you are a devotee of "Ace of Bass" music....the bass is Full and accurate.They are going to break in and get better........ :)These are fabulous speakers.BEST in class.

These speakers are simply incredible! I always look for speakers with a wide sound field and crystal clear reproduction and these simply hit the mark every time. I remember hearing them in a sound studio five years ago and they took my breath away. They were playing a Jazz track and I recall leaving the room to the lobby. As I was in the lobby, it sounded like the artist was playing live in the room I left. It is such a pleasure listening to them. However, you need to get high quality recordings for them. If you try an play MP3's you will notice immediately. These speakers CRAVE high quality recordings since you will hear the "flatness" and lack of dynamics in lower quality. Forget Pandora. Go with Tidal if you stream. Otherwise high quality CD's like Vollenwieder.

For the price I paid there is no other speaker that could sound this good, except the Magnepan 1.7i.

OK, let's say this: I NEVER ever wrote a review, despite the fact that in the course of the years I have bought a lot of items here.But it is impossible to keep silent about the unbelievable quality of these loudspeakers.The sound is crystal clear, precise, extremely musical.And the speakers that I had before (and that now will migrate to a surround position in a home theater) were a couple of excellent Paradigm Studio 100. But there is no comparison.I can't believe that they wrote in the owner's manual that they need some hours to get to their full potential: as soon as I played the first CD I was absolutely utterly and finally astonished. If this quality is going to improve I will have a permanent audiophile HIGH !!!!