Gotta love those ET Speakers!

Posted by GStew (A) on April 10, 2004 at 18:56:12

In Reply to: REVIEW: Eminent Technology LFT-IV Speakers posted by slbenz on April 5, 2004 at 11:39:35:

Great review, SLBenz. I really wanted a pair of IV's for years... I even measured my listening space in one home I looked at to make sure I could fit them in ok.

But then I got a house that would fit my 1+1's and kept them for a few years until I blew up my amp and lived without my stereo for awhile... but that's another story.

Now I've got a pair of LFT-VI's since '98 or so and love them. They replaced ML CLS's and only give up just a little in coherency to them. I've also owned Acoustat 2's, 2+2's, 1+1's, Maggie II's, SMG's, and III's, and Spica TC-50's... and the VI's are my fav's by far... in all the other speakers I've had, I can find a speaker that does one thing better than the LFT-VI's (Coherency for the CLS's and Acoustat's, highs for the MG-III, bass extension and slam and overall sound volume for the 2+2's, imaging for the 1+1's and TC-50's) , but the LFT-VI will be a close second in that one parameter and best that speaker in all other ways.

The thing that you noted that blows me away so much is how good they make FM sound. One of my fav weekly listening experiences is a contemporary jazz program on Saturday nights on a local FM station... grooving to it as I type.

Compared to the MG-III's, the VI's tweeter is close, but the Maggie ribbon is better... IMHO, one of the best in the biz. But in all other ranges, the LFT's are more linear-sounding, more electrostatically pure and low-distortion while staying direct-sounding like the Maggies (no transformers).

Mods to the LFT's?

1. Good stands... I replaced the stock supports with Sound Anchor's which improved the resolution, especially in the bass and lower mids. I also have them braced to the back wall with a large-diameter dowel rod wedged against the speaker about 1' from the top

2. Damping the framework... the VI's frames are mostly welded steel angle or plate and only have a wood panel on the bottom and frame edges. I damped all the exposed metal on the front of the speakers including both the frame and the driver frames with Dynamat Xtreme... increased the resolution and level of blackness between the notes. I also damped the Sound Anchor's diagonal struts. For later, I have some felt to put onto the Dynamat to damp them even further and reduce defraction, but I have a couple of mid-drivers that need replacing and am waiting to get them from ET before I do this.

3. Crossover upgrade. I did the big Alpha-Core inductors and North Creek poly-caps with Infini-Cap bypasses, all damped with Sorbothane and mounted to a damped piece of Corian, isolated from the speaker by Sorbothane feet, point-to-point, mostly using component leads, and connecting via bare copper O-lugs or directly to the inductor leads. Increased naturalness to voices and mid-ish instruments like horns, also increased bass resolution (the coils) and smoothness in the highs (Infini-Caps, after they broke in).

4. Wiring and bi-wiring. I'm a proponent of the MIT cables (but only if you use them everywhere, including internal wiring) and liked the increased dynamics and resolution when I added a 2nd run of MH-750 to bi-wire them. When I put in the replacement mid-woofers, I'll be re-wiring the entire speaker with cable taken from a pair of MH-750's that I got to cut up for wire stock.

Mart, I have taken pix as I did the speaker damping and crossover builds and will do more as I do the wiring and felting for a future LFT mod page.

Enjoy your IV's!

Greg in Minneapolis

P.S. I never had the chance to compare the VI's to the VIII's, but there are a few posts here by people who have. Don't know of a IV to VIII or VI comparison, though.

P.P.S. I use toe-in to get the speaker time-aligned. After living with full-range electros and the TC-50s for so many years, this is an important parameter to me. I align them so they sound coherent at each ear at my listening chair... which has a point about 2/3 of the way between the tweeter and mid aimed at each ear. I do agree they sound more spacious toed-in less, but I can't stand hearing the tweeter ahead of the mids when setup this way. This was true for me with the MG-III's too.

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - REVIEW: Eminent Technology LFT-IV Speakers - slbenz 11:39:35 04/05/04 (25)

Gotta love those ET Speakers! - GStew 18:56:12 04/10/04 (0)

Eminent Technology LFT-IV Speakers - Tom C 19:00:05 04/06/04 (3)

Re: Eminent Technology LFT-IV Speakers - slbenz 20:09:28 04/06/04 (2)

Re: Eminent Technology LFT-IV Speakers - stjo100 20:50:07 04/13/04 (1)

Listening to LFT-VI Speakers - slbenz 10:15:15 04/14/04 (0)

Can you compare to Maggies? - sbrians 06:43:05 04/06/04 (10)

Re: Can you compare to Maggies? - slbenz 13:17:54 04/06/04 (9)

3.6 isn't push-pull - Mart 13:28:18 04/06/04 (8)

Re: 3.6 isn't push-pull - slbenz 20:16:52 04/06/04 (3)

see post below re: push-pull - Mart 10:52:17 04/07/04 (2)

Re: see post below re: push-pull - slbenz 21:21:14 04/08/04 (1)

ah, yes - Mart 22:23:34 04/08/04 (0)

Re: 3.6 isn't push-pull - Sampsa 14:42:52 04/06/04 (3)

Re: push-pull - Mart 10:42:10 04/07/04 (2)

Re: push-pull - Sampsa 10:48:25 04/07/04 (1)

haven't ABX'd ... MG20 -v- MG20.1 _ (nt) - Mart 11:17:22 04/07/04 (0)

is 12" deep a typo? _ (nt) - Mart 13:22:19 04/05/04 (7)

Re: is 12" deep a typo? _ (nt) - slbenz 18:31:33 04/05/04 (6)

Re: is 12" deep a typo? _ (nt) - Green Lantern 08:32:23 04/06/04 (1)

Re: is 12" deep a typo? _ (nt) - slbenz 13:21:22 04/06/04 (0)

so, there's a box like cavity back there? - Mart 18:43:11 04/05/04 (3)

Re: so, there's a box like cavity back there? - slbenz 18:59:58 04/05/04 (2)

Maggie "wing" pic... - Mart 05:52:21 04/06/04 (0)

so, it's like what Maggie tweakers call "wings" - Mart 20:54:56 04/05/04 (0)

pic ... - Mart 12:46:42 04/05/04 (0)

Follow Ups

Gotta love those ET Speakers! - GStew 18:56:12 04/10/04 (0)

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