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So, my beloved Electrostatic Solutions modified Quads 988s have thrown another factory panel, which required a trip back to Kent.
While waiting for them to come back healthy, I had time to experiment with alternative planars available as a temporary or even full time replacement for the Quads.
I listened extensively to the MG1.7 and liked them quite a bit. Somehow, they eventually left me cold...different sound than I remember from the 1.6s I used to own.
I contacted Bruce Thigpen of Eminent Technology, who has been quietly refining his LFT system for some time. He has recently been getting some good press from AS and HIFI Choice. After some back and forth about power considerations, I purchased a pair of his 8B speakers, which were quickly shipped to the East Coast.
The speakers were easy to assemble and Bruce offers the dedicated Sound Anchor stands for them, which are a must, at a great price. They look good and have a very small footprint on the floor. They are subjectively "smaller" than the Quads on my thick maple block bases. The drivers are precisely made and simple - cleanly etched Mylar ribbons, nice quality metal work, very solid construction.
They sound like that too - clean and simple, very easy on the ear and easy to hear into the music. Uncolored like the Quads, but the midrange sound has more "density" to it. More like ESL57 than 988, for the Quad owners (I own both). Low end is much better than the Quads, in both quality and quantity, I am afraid to say. I use dual subs with both speakers and the Quads need the 55 Hz cut for the subs and the LFTs use 40 Hz (these are subs only setting, I don't use the built in sub cross over). I use self-made supertweeters with the Quads, but the LFTs essentially have a built-in one - their tweeters cross over from the midrange at 10 Khz. Not sure about soundstaging thus far - maybe the phased array Quads have an edge here. Looking forward to comparing them to the 988s when the repaired speaker is back.
So, overall, my sense is that this is an excellent and affordable speaker, especially with the ever increasing high end speaker prices. I believe them to be fully competitive with the Quads, certainly the stock version. Strong competition to the Magnepan line, which I also love and owned both the 1.6 and 3.5R. Easier to live with in a normal sized living room. Very low distortion due to the dual magnet structure - I think that higher end modern Magnepans have this feature for the midrange part of the panel as well.
These speakers have somewhat undeserved reputation as needing a lot of power. I am driving them to very loud levels with Canary 339s - which are only 50 W per side. I think any tube amp of this rating should do well, unless ear splitting levels are needed. May need more solid state watts, but these speakers are definitely tube friendly.
Overall, very pleasantly surprised and happy to be a new owner of these lovelies!
Follow Ups:
Feel free to add my review to your reading list; it's at Dagogo.com
If I were to retrograde back to an ultra-affordable full range system the LFT-8B would be one of the top contenders for the rig. Bruce gives the customer a ton of good sound for the buck.
The greatest impediment to advancing an audiophile system is the audiophile.
When I decided to sell my 2.7's I was looking for a pair of affordable LFT's but couldn't find any. I ended up with Carver AL-III+.I'm very happy with them, but can't help remembering the pair of LFT's I let get away 6 years ago:(
Edits: 08/13/15
I can assure you that the LFT 8B dont come off as well with a 50 watt class AB amp. I was not the first to try.
Very good concise review, thank you. Can you take the trouble to elaborate a little more on differences with the maggies you tried at home and in store, and perhaps a bit more detail on the comparison to the quads?
Audiophiles sure like to discuss power levels. This discussion is without any objective resolution, however.
I agree that in order to drive a moderately insensitive speaker to maximum levels it is capable of, high power amplification is needed.
To drive such a speaker to realistic home listening levels on jazz, blues, folk, chamber and most rock content moderate power levels are needed. Unless you require dance club or rock concert levels, great majority of audiophile will be satisfied.
Power supply quality and many other considerations are probably more instrumental in deciding on applicability of a particular amplifier to a particular speaker. Canary 339s are class A, with a very big power supplies - maybe that's the deciding factor that makes them sound good on the LFTs.
The difference of opinion on LFT8B power requirements is evident in the reviews. One reviewer, like yourself, says 200W is the key. Another, like myself, feels that good 20W is adequate for moderate listening levels.
I did not have a chance to AB the LFT vs. 1.7. I listened to 1.7s on a big tube amp at the dealer (150W) and felt that the upper midrange was a bit hard and mechanical sounding, in comparison to the 3.7s they had side by side. Could be any number of things, of course, but I also preferred 3.5s to 1.6s at home a few years back.
The Quads are special in many ways. My 988s from Electrostatic Solutions are wonderful sounding. They are also finicky and require service from time to time. They have slightly weak lower midrange to my years. 57s are better in that regard and have a denser, more direct sound, both qualities which I feel LFT8Bs share.
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