Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Axiom vs Planar speakers, any comments?

You've made a good choice and I think you will be thrilled. One thing that did not come up in this thread is electronics. As I mentioned in a previous post, I really enjoy the quality of sound that planar speakers are capable of, but you have to match them with serious power to achieve it. They require lots of wattage to achieve the similar volumes and some can present a difficult load for amplifiers. However, if money were no object, I would definitely find a place for a pair in my house.

When I was auditioning the 1.5s (or 1.6s, don't remember...), the guy was using a 50 WPC tube amp, which, AFAIK, is pretty honkin' huge for a tube amp. They started on a 20 WPC tube, I think, and when we put in Metallica, the guy came running out, stopped the CD, took the speakers, and hooked them up to the 50. And proceeded to turn up the Metallica louder than I would listen to it normally. Surprised the hell out of me...

Just out of curiosity, do you remember the brand and price of the tube amps?

FYI: Magnepans are planar (ribbon and quasi ribbon) speakers and Martin Logans are electrostats. And the twain shall never meet. We are talking about two different driver technologies here. To my ears, the only thing they have in common (sound wise that is) is that they are both dipole. For my tastes, I'll choose the planars any day.

Unfortnately, no. I just remember that the 50 WPC was black, relatively massive, and had huge heatsinks. Maybe Peter or Adam will remember.

What's the difference between the two?

Here is a brief, simple explaination that says it better than I can.

Thanks. A link actually was what I was asking for...

Wow, that's a great site! Now I've got some reading to do.

In reply to:

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Unfortnately, no. I just remember that the 50 WPC was black, relatively massive, and had huge heatsinks. Maybe Peter or Adam will remember.

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If they were big, black and had massive heatsinks they were most likely VTL equipment, though a quick browse of their website doesn't reveal any 50wpc amps in their current lineup. I think the ones that were hooked up to the 3.6Rs I listened to were MB-750 Reference monoblocks (750 watts/channel).