Andy, one of my readers, shared with me a special moment that just happened to him: he got the speaker hes lusted after all these years, a pair of Acoustat 2+2. *He shared that experience with me because he knew were in similar situations: I have lusted after the IRS, he after the 2+2. *We both have what we wanted.


My first pair of high-end loudspeakers I ever took home was a pair of 2+2 Acoustats, so I know well what Andy was after.


These electrostatic loudspeakers are tall. *They are about the same height as the IRS, formed out of a stacked pair of Acoustat Fours. They go nearly floor to ceiling. *When I got my pair Terri was initially ok with me taking over the living room. *Well, not exactly. *Lets just say she agreed to let me put a pair of speakers in the room. *She had no idea of their size. *I figured Id get an agreement first, then share the details second. *Terri loves music and wanted nothing more than to have a system playing great tunes in the house. *I had other plans. *I wanted the ultimate pair of speakers and would go to any length to get them.


These speakers were monsters. *They took over the room. *My lovely wife wasnt thrilled but because they were thin, light and had a nice white grille on them, she reluctantly agreed to their temporary placement and waited patiently for music to come out. *Music did come out and there was peace in the McGowan household. *Entire albums were played with great happiness.


I think we lived with them for less than a week before I became dissatisfied with the dynamics and bass response. *The first weekend I started the painful process of moving the living room around to get better results. *Everything and anything was fair game: the furniture, the speakers, curtains open and closed. *You get the idea. *A darkening cloud was hovering over my more than tolerant wife. *I kept moving onward in search of the holy grail.


It was about this time I first got to know Arnie Nudell, founder of Infinity and later to be my partner in Genesis Technologies. *At a dinner he and I were attending I happened to mention the Acoustats and how they did everything wonderfully, except bass and dynamics. *Had he a suggestion? *Arnies answer was quick. *Sell them. *Get a real pair of loudspeakers. *Yikes!


The Acoustats were electrostatic. *There arent many forms of loudspeakers that are as quick and window-like in their presentation of music. *Even today, when listening to a great electrostat like Roger Sanders or Roger Wests creations, I am reminded just how quick and transparent these speakers are. *But dynamic they are not and bass has never been their forte.


The problem with these speakers is their acoustic membranes inability to move very far. * To get either dynamics or bass, you need to move air. *Lots of air. *So either you get a huge amount of surface area (like the Roger West electrostats) or you just add a subwoofer for the bass and tolerate the lack of dynamics. *I was not in the mood for either. *Besides, asking Terri if I could add yet another box to the living room was probably going to get me nowhere. *She was already happy with just having music in the house.


I kept asking around for what I might do the fix the problem of the 2+2

[Source: http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/22/12791/]