Planar Speaker Asylum

Model:	LFT-VIIIA
Category:	Speakers
Suggested Retail Price:	$1500/pair w/o stands
Description:	Hybrid planar magnetic/dynamic speaker
Manufacturer URL:	Eminent Technology
Model Picture:	View

Review by Stale ( A ) on August 18, 2005 at 12:40:03 IP Address: 64.108.210.66

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Foreword:

I decided to write this review for my recently acquired pair of ET LTF-VIIIA-s with Sound Anchor Stands since I feel that these speakers deserve more exposure then they really have. Also, due to some of the recent heated treads, I decided to give little bit longer review than originally planned.

(Note: I am not affiliated in any way with ET or any of their dealers, in fact I am not affiliated with anyone professionally related to audio industry).

ET LFT-VIIIA-s arrival:

Everything came, as you may expect in 4 boxes, 1 for the bass cabinets, 2 for the panels, 1 for the stands.

My set was really handled rough by UPS as they managed to get 1" dia. hole by 1 1/4" deep in bass cabinet's box, several 2"-3" long cuts thru exterior and interior boxes which are each double wall-ed (effectively cutting through 4 corrugated boxes) and numerous bumps. Still speaker themselves were not damaged which was really surprising.

Unpacking takes some time and helper is highly recommended especially when dealing with panels. They are wrapped in layers of bubble wrap and need to be unwrapped. This is my only (minor) complaint of packaging; it wont be easy to repack them as if it would be case with Styrofoam. Search for the screws took some time, bag was attached to one panel's wrap and was easy to miss.

Else, you need space, particularly length of the room since panels need to be pulled out of the box in the long direction.

Assembly:

Stands to bass cabinets: Easy, can be done by one person, use of few boxes/books to lift cabinets off the floor (laying on the side) and align stand holes. I have drill with screwdriver attachments so it was easy. The only note is not to tighten one screw at the time all the way since that unevenly compresses foam. Do it little by little in cross pattern as car wheel bolts. (if you do not know what I am talking about don't bother to assemble speakers alone, call someone who knows) I attached thick felt pads to the stands instead of spikes to be used until final location is determined. Note these have to be thick and hard otherwise screw heads will damage hard floor.

Panels to cabinets: Here you need someone to hold them in place otherwise you need lot of imagination to support them properly without help. Bring panel legs to the cabinets, some slight pulling of the legs apart may be needed (second pair of hand comes handy here :-). Be careful, there is left/right panel AND left/right bass cabinet, fifth screw in the center wont alight if mixed up. Care is needed to pull the panel wires up before bringing panel tight against the cabinet. Thick black wire barely made it. (Note to Bruce, can't it be soldered so that it points sideways not somewhat downward). Than come front 5 screws installed again using cross pattern for the final tightening so that the panel is against the cabinet, and finally two side screws. I encountered minor problem with the right speaker top middle screw where the panel hole did not align with the cabinet hole, so it went skewed. Otherwise, feeling is that screws are tightly secured in the cabinets. (I did not have feeling that reinstalling several times would create problem).

Attaching panel wiring to terminal block: Not much to say except that wires could be little bit longer to get some flexibility, and that spades fit very tightly between terminal block separator walls.

Grilles: Few small pads of Velcro is all that keep them in place. I would not mind couple more and larger ones, but these do the job. Anyway, they are stapled in and would be very easy to replace if ever needed.

Aesthetics, finish:

Well, these are planars, they are imposing looking. If you go planar route you know that they wont look like mini-monitors. What you see is black flat panel, narrower than and about the same height as MG 1.6QR. Interestingly, bass cabinets are not much noticeable, my wife did not realize they are there until week later she walked behind them. So, from a distance they look as good or as bad as most of the planars of the similar proportions. Close look, well, close look on what? You see grilles, side (oak) rails, and if you bend behind, black bass cabinets with connectors. Oak rails finished cold be better, but only if you look close. Bass cabinets are just black, finish is as nice as it can be for basic black. Cable posts look very solid. So nothing fancy, but IMHO, they do not look any worse MG 1.6QR, in fact I preferred slimmer LFT-VIIIA-s. With grilles off they look unusual for those not used to planars, Actually, the whole panel area is black coated steel, no particle board here. I actually like to look at the friend's faces when they say "what the f... is this". Not a looker unless you are in a Goth, SM, or any other scene where black and metal in combination is considered good looks :-). But both definitively bring attention.

Hooking up and first impressions:

My plan was to hook them up and let them play during the day for at least two weeks before doing any listening. Since location was somewhat different than Dynaudios, I needed longer cables and only long enough I had CAT5E (braided version) and older Naim/Chord that I used in my now defunct second system. Cables are fine for the price, but much below what LFT-VIIIA-s deserves.

After connecting them, I turned CD-pre and amp on not realizing that John William's' (El Diablo Suelto) CD is in the drawer (very good CD btw. both performance and Sonics). CD24Pre has (annoying) feature that starts the CD as soon as you turn the power on which it did while I was walking toward the other end of the room. Unsuspectingly, there was sound of the guitar behind me. I just had to turn and hold on for a minute. Apparent attack and sound of fingers plucking the strings was just .... much better than I expected. So my plan goes off the track, at least for a while. I did few quick CD swaps with different kind of music just to check it out.

Short time later, it was obvious that although they sounded quite good out of the box, (and while electronics being cold), there is tightness and dryness in sound with somewhat lacking very top and bottom end, restrained and lacking transparency. Since I could not be sure if it was electronics, cables or speakers, I decided to go back to my original plan, i.e. play them for at least two weeks, during the day light levels, high levels when I come home (but while I am not in the room), and search for a cables in the meantime.

About 6 weeks later:

For about 5 years I was using Dynaudio Audience 70 with various amps, front end, and cables. Although I think that they are very good speakers (especially for the price I paid), they tend to sound dry and lack musicality at low levels, had slight upper midrange harshness, top can bite, and in 3 different rooms I could not get rid off the dip in the mid-bass (in bass reflex mode it was there, not so in sealed enclosure but then they sounded emotionless). Please do not take this as a bashing/criticism of the Dyns, I would not keep them for so long that they were bad. They are fine speakers better than many in that price class with some good some bad points as anything else.

I wanted to originally give detailed break down of the different recordings and how what sounds, etc. But after I concluded that idea of the review will be better served if I give you few impressions first.

What I am talking when I say initial attack, as mentioned previously, is that instance when nail hits the guitar string, when stick hits the snare, when bass pedal kicks the drum membrane, onset of the note before you even realize what is coming. It is really something special and is rarely found in this class and number of more expensive speakers. From the first moment I new that they will be something special. Although I listened them elsewhere and knew what I was buying, it is always different hearing speakers in your room and with your equipment. I really believe that that initial attach gives a lot to naturalness and excitement of the music. Those who never experienced it would have to listen to understand.

Then, when I asked my wife several weeks later how do they sound, her first comment was 'clean'. Except her, there were couple of other friends whose absolutely unsolicited reaction (after the first usual “what … was that”), was “… sound clean…”. I have to agree with them, it is rare to hear speaker that sounds so clean without obvious colorations, and of course without boxiness, at the same time not being harsh in any way.

With dynamic speakers, clean sound is quite often followed by the harshness and listening fatigue, not so with LFT-VIIIA's. Sound is effortless, open without noticeable colorations. Details were clearly heard but not thrown at you. Nothing is completely clean, from the recording thru compete playback system. But if these speakers are colored than many amps, wires, etc. are using buckets of ‘paint’ while at ‘work’.

My wife’s second comment was about difference between previously owned speakers “If I listened than quietly, they did not sound so good, when I turn it up than I got headache, these I can listened as quiet as I want and they still sound good”. I couldn’t have said it better. What is remarkable is their sound consistency from softest to loudest passages on the same recording, or whether you are playing it quietly or playing at the full throttle.

Her third comment was “Cristina sounds soooo good” (singer Cristina Branko and her husband Custodio Castillo on Portuguese guitar). Oh, voices, they are just greeeeat. IMHO probably one of the best in business. Can’t say exactly how, but they are just right, they are hanging there in the air, with all the tiny clues, those small variations that make them alive, no chesty colorations but with the body, wholesome and just complete from top to bottom.

Last thing my wife commented was “I just enjoy listening”. And my ‘active’ listening time increased my by quite a bit, they are very musical, and just convey emotions of the music in very emotional way. Also, music thru LFT-VIIIs is just very engaging (don’t like to use term PRAT, since different people understand it differently or completely misunderstand it). I listened much “better” and more expensive systems that left me absolutely cold. With these, I want to sing and dance with music, or just to immerse myself in it (and believe me, the last thing you want is seeing me dance while singing). Lot of it has probably to do with the effortlessness of the presentation and lack of any obvious distortions.

The above are just impressions, but IMHO they are the essence of these speakers. For those who want to chop up sound in to pieces, here it is:

I do not have SPL meter but could not say that any part of the spectra is out of order, with the exemption of the minor midbass dip that is due to the room modes. How I know? Each and every speaker in this room had it at the same spot (look at my room size). But contrary to what I expected, it was not as noticeable as with the other. I thought that I will have much more trouble placing them in the room, but they sound good in quite a varying locations. Obviously, balance of bass/midbass would change when moved around, but as I said not as much as I expected some.

Midrange I believe that I covered with previous comments, so lets go to lower octaves. They go deep and it is quite well controlled, maybe with touch of warmth. Maybe it is not so tight as with MG1.6, but I am not sure if that is due to the speakers, amp or cables. (Also MG1.6 does not go as deep so it is hard to say). In general, over the time I realized that I prefer sealed than reflex boxes for the woofers (probably due to better transient response) and this did not disappoint me. Also, although I have sound anchor stands, I did not use spikes, yet. I already damaged hardwood floor slightly and have to make some under spike disks when I am absolutely sure about position. This may be the reason but cant claim until I try it.

I never managed to hear transition between bass and planar element, which is really remarkable.

Very, and I say very top end is on the less prominent side. This is noticeable only with instruments with high harmonic content in the highest range like cymbals. End is there, you can hear it but just lacks little spark. Unlike others, I do not think that it is the SPL it is more like having ‘pfffff’ instead of ‘pssss’, again to emphasize at the very very top end. And that would be very minor, and I say very minor negative, if at all. I have to say that many well respected cables AND amplifiers have more significant rolling of at the top end than these speakers. But contrary to many speakers, it is not etched, fatiguing and overemphasized. Many well reviewed speakers have much larger aberrations on the top end, mostly in the opposite direction that I find much more objectionable. If you can’t do it right, it is better not to do it. For comparison, I had Plinius 8100 with Dynaudios (and number of cables including AP Oval 9), and that combo although ‘advertised’ on the web had much more severe top end roll off, and Monitor audio silver series sounds softer on top with the same equipment.

Overall, I never felt that detail in overall is lacking, but it is not thrown at you, it is there, clean, but does not draw attention.

Overall balance is remarkable. I could not detect any part of the spectrum that is significantly sticks out, and I finally had midbass back. It is punchy albeit you wont feel it like with dynamic drivers. The only exemption is slight midbass dip due to room mode interaction, but less severe than with other dynamic speakers.

Soundstage is quite deep and wide, but of course quite dependant of speaker placement and cables used. Although it is tall, it not oversized (i.e. being much taller and nor wider than room itself) which I consider a plus. The best point is that localization is stable. I did not notice significant shift particularly in the vertical direction (I am not too happy when instrument/voice moves up and down as player/singer goes up and down the scale). Voices are in and beyond plane of the speaker, but on some recordings it may slightly in front.

Acoustical string instruments have body but without thickening or wooliness so commonly used to artificially get body to the sound. (In the highest tweeter setting, violins may get little bit metallic, but not much, and I do not use that setting any more, anyway)

Bass drums, except initial impact, are portrayed with that subtle growl of the membrane, snare kicks you right between the eyes, followed with 'shhh' sound of the wires, and in each case you can just hear that moment when stick (or bat) hits the membrane.

Voices, I said it above, enchanting.

Complex music was handled with ease and without lack of detail.

Dynamics is extremely good (please don’t mix dynamics with SPL). It can play soft to loud in the instance without any hesitation. And should I say again, they are quick. Drums, any percussions, plucked instruments or anything with sudden rush of the sound is portrayed with precision and force and speed that is hard to find.

Maximum output (not to be confused with dynamics) is probably limited in comparison to Dynaudios, but, although I do not know what is the maximum SPL these can give you, in my room I don’t need more. Typically, I listen at about 9:30 to 11 AM position, I tried it up to 1PM which was way to loud for me, and that was with 135 W/Ch and not hearing any strain yet. I guestimated maximum continuous SPL with my equipment at above 100dB, with some more powerful amp probably above 105db. I expected much worse reading the specs, it seems that due to size of the membrane listening position sensitivity is not as bad as it looks. What is good is that dynamic speakers changed character as were going louder, not LFT-VIIIa-s. They are sounded more or less the same at any level.

I listened lot of genres from earliest classical music thru Jazz, Rock, Pop, Folk, World, Electronic (no Rap Disco and Heavy-metal though), and they really shine with good recordings of acoustical, jazz, folk, or voice music, but they never disappointed me with any kind of music.

And the best part is that they let me enjoy the music. Some of the speaker that will give you this kind of detail will also give you headache, fatigue or lack of musicality.

Placement, cable, amplification comments:

Speakers are sensitive to placement, no surprise here. It is not easy to find balance between imaging and balance of the sound, and I believe that I did not perfect it yet. However, to comfort myself, it is not much worse than problems I had with dynamic speakers in the same space. Actually, midbass dip is now much less prominent. I lack any room treatments at this time.

Cables make quite a difference. I tried PNF Symphony, Exposure (older), AQ Slate (circular model), DIY Cat5e (two versions), Goertz MI-2 speaker cables, and Chord Chameleon 2, Nordost Blue Heaven, Goertz, DIY (first Cat5e, second PTFE Silver coated wrap wire in XLO gometry), AQ King Cobra interconnects. Depends on the combinations sound may become duller, brighter, dryer, warmer, deeper, more free or more restricted, or anything you want. I did not try biwire at this time although I believe that traditional biwire cables may not work too well due to very low crossover point. Probably double full range wire would be better bet. I will try to test some other cables, bi-wireing, and especially power amps since I fell that I cold improve lower end. I intentionally am not going to explain each change since that would be than cable review. But in overall, these are not to be used with cables that soften and/or slow down the sound. When I find time and source for better or other more powerfull amplifier I will check it.

Conclusion:

These are remarkable speakers and for $1500 MSRP, one of the best buys, and best that I had in my system.

If your music diet consist of acoustical music, voices, jazz, classical etc. or variation that include mentioned, listened at the sane levels (for me even loud), i.e. if you are more interested in speakers that do justice to acoustic and vocal music than to heavy-metal/RAP, do yourself a favor and plan some LENGTH listening sessions.

These will not draw attention yelling “pick me pick me”, but will get your love with ease and naturalness of the presentation. If you are thinking about MG1.6 or MG12 these should be on your ‘must hear” list.

If your are listening mostly rap, heavy metal, hard rock, use speaker for the parties, like to be overwhelmed with exaggerated midbass, screaming sound and other gimmicks, look elsewhere.

Partial music list (in no particular order):

Cristina Branko – Corpo Iluminado
Mariza – Fado Curvo
Acoustic Alchemy – Positive Thinking
Eric Clapton – Unplugged
Madredeus – Faluas do Tejo
John Williams – El Diablo Suelto
John Williams – The Seville Concert
Miroslav Tadic – Old Country
Miroslav Tadic & Vlatko Stefanovski – Crushevo
Marta Topferova – La Marea
Enya – Watermark
Kitaro – Dream
Diana Krall – Live in Paris
Segovia – The art of Segovia
Yo-Yo Ma –Soul of the Tango
Mstislav Rostropovich –Haydn Cello Concertos
Eric Burdon – Declares “WAR”
Zappa – Joe’s Garage
Sting –Brand new day
Charlie Parker – Jazz 'Round Midnight
Pretenders – Get Close
Maroon 5 – Songs about Jane
Carmen-Solti, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Troyanos, Domingo, Te Kanawa…
Der Ring Des Nibelungen-Solti, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Balsborg, Plumacher …
Bob Marley and the Wailers – Dreams of Freedom
Jean Luc Ponty – Live
Miles Davis – Kind of Blue, Love Songs
Dave Brubeck Quartet – Time Out
Buckwheat Zydeco – Menagerie
Eagles – Hotel California
Led Zeppelin – 4

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Product Weakness:	Although they are not as inefficient as you would expect, probably due to being planar, and not very hard to drive, power is needed, in addition to fairly clean front end and good cables. Not for parties, heavy metal, RAP, nor, (although it goes deep) for bass freaks.
Product Strengths:	Effortless, open, airy, musical, non fatiguing, uniform sound. Great low level detail, do not change sound balance over the dynamic range range, speed and attack without harshness. Great timbre of accoustical instrumentsa and quality of voices.

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Associated Equipment for this Review:
Amplifier:	Musical Fidelity A3.2CR
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	CDPre24
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	CDPre24, VPI HW19 MKIII/Rega RB250(moded)/Ortofon MC25/Phonomena
Speakers:	Eminent Technology LFT-VIIIa
Cables/Interconnects:	Goertz MI-2, PNF Symphony, DYI Cat5e, AQ Granite; Chord Chameleon, Blue Heaven, AQ King Cobra, DYI
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	World music, Classical, Jazz, Rock, Folk
Room Size (LxWxH):	16 x 15 x 9
Time Period/Length of Audition:	6 weeks
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

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