Anyone use M1200s with electrostatics?

If so, your experience?

Ewe! The BHK300s were a major step up!

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I did. As you can tell Al didn’t enjoy the experience. I thought it was good. I definitely enjoyed the electrostats more with BHK 300’s and now the Diablo 300.

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I know it’s sacrilege to suggest a brand other than PS Audio but my Sanders Sound Systems Magtech amps drive my 'stats to breath taking sonic levels and they play quite loud as well. They are unique in that they use a regulated HV DC bus and are stable down to (and below?) 1 ohm which is typical of 'stats. They are a capacitive load (primarily) and as frequency increases impedance decreases to the point that lesser amps will either go unstable or even fail outright if pushed.

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Not sacrilege IME, and the Sanders Sound System Magtech for electrostats are a significant step up. Nice indeed.

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I’ve tried a Sanders Magtech this month with my V-steen 7.2s; sound was too thin for me…I like music with some warmth and richness.

The impedance of some ELSs does go below 2 Ohms in the top octave; with the Brilliance control set normally (that is, less than full open), the larger SoundLabs don’t get below 2 Ohms, and there is very little musical energy in that octave.

I’ve got a pair of M1200s that sound VERY good with the V-steens, so I’ll certainly at least try them with the SoundLabs and definitely during the three weeks or so of 24/7 burn-in.

Am also reconsidering a pair of BHK M600s; my recent experience with a pair was not positive, as both were damged in transit and had to be returned… (I think the strong men delivering for FedEx are a little too macho and try to carry each 126-pound carton manually; I know mine did.)

Funny thing on the M600s…PSA uses THREE-different full names for that amp in three different places… :roll_eyes: …and I’m not talking about casual use within paragrafs… Perhaps they should stay with that actually on the amp… But wait!..each amp has TWO different names on it! :joy:

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Why not look at Gryphon, Vitus, or Boulder?

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Have you tried the Vandersteen amps (M7-HPA)? They certainly should be the best match, at least to Richard’s ears …

Well, I’m trying to discuss amps for Sound Lab ELSs; finding great-sounding amps for the V-steens is sort of easy…and I have a pair of HPA-M7s.

Check-out what’s best, it may be a more appropriate source. Unless you are set on BHK mono-blocks.

Oops! I knew that but got Vandersteen stuck in my head when you mentioned the Model 7. Sorry about that …

Jeffrey

There is a member over on AudioShark in San Francisco who has been a Soundlab dealer for about 25 years. His name is Tom Bourret and he goes by the username of MtnHam. His business is called Ultimate Audio and he is listed on the Soundlab site. You might want to reach out to him and see what his experience has been with various amps. If I remember correctly he is using Pass with Soundlabs in both of his residences but I’m sure he has tried many brands over the years and may have some other suggestions. Coda comes to mind as another option to consider. The Class A model S5.5 might be one to consider.

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No, I don’t.

Darren (i.e. M1200 lead engineer) told me directly that he thought the Maggie 20.7 was a great match for the M1200s. He voiced the M1200s with Harbeth 40.2 or 40.3, so it’s a natural fit, but I was about to give the 20.7s a go on his suggestion. Good luck!

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