I've been using Acoustats since about day one. Late in '76, Reiman and Strickland flew a pair of Xs to Atlanta for Dr. Cooledge (JWC of TAS) to review. I had a chance to meet them and hear the new "budget" electrostats. JWC was using Dayton-Wrights at the time. In early '77, I bought a pair. Sometime in the '79 timeframe, they introduced the concept of the Monitor 4 that added a panel and raised them a bit atop a stand. I retired the servo amps and moved to the biformers with a Threshold amp.I used them until '82 when the 2+2s first came out. By '84, I had updated the panels to the latest OFC wire versions and the interfaces to the "C" (Red Medallion) spec. As with the Monitors, I discovered that the original "burlappy" grill cloth muffled the high end. So for a while, I ran them naked.
Eventually, WAF set in and I needed to re-sock them. The original beige cloth had become kinda dingy, so I had a new pair of socks made this time with a very fine doubleknit cloth. When I first pulled them on, I was incensed because it seemed they were too small. With more tugging, I discovered they were plenty big once stretched sufficiently. The result is a far more open weave that did not roll off the high end. You can easily see through the cloth to the panels. The next thing I did was to add some powered subs to improve what I thought was an inherently thin mid bass and bottom end. I had since moved to an ARC VT-100 MKII amp. I used this configuration for a couple of years.
I later discovered that the bass problems were simply due to the amplification and cabling. Acoustats do need some power and I find that the current 450 watt tetrode /225 watt triode VTL amps finally give them what they need. The subs were retired to the HT system. The result is far better definition on concert drums and the like. As for mods, I have rewired the transformers with DH Labs T-14 and bypassed the fuses. How do they sound today? Well, with every improvement in the rest of the system components, they continue to reveal even more resolution.
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Maintenance? I give the the panels an annual blowdry to keep the diaphragms taut. I learned that trick from Bob Reiman long ago. |
The diffusors tame the rear reflection. What you cannot see in the pics is that I also use some DIY room lenses directly behind the panels. Here is an earlier pic of the system (pre-diffusor when I used the subs) with a different view. |
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