Beveridge speakers-does anyone still use them?

I have seen serveral pairs of the 2+2Ws for sale, as well as the 3s. Additionally, the Koss electrostats, models 1 and 2 show up from time to time as well as the Dayton Wright XG-8 series, which require a little more commitment as they need to be recharged periodically with carbon hexaflouride gas (check with your local welding shop for the correct spelling). The Infinity Servo-Statics are great and show up now and then. The Infinity 2000A are great hybrids, though they are let down by the Philips midrange units; the JanZen stat tweeters are great. I have enjoyed all of the above in friends systems and owned the Daytons. Many love the Quads, both 57 and 63, but they're not my cuppa. Perhaps less enjoyable, though less finicky, are the Acoustats and the Audiostatics, which I have also owned long, long ago. Most are really not for headbangers, except for the Daytons, which can rip your skull off.

Baby hasn't come yet but the posts have been great. Viridian,thanks for the update on speakers that you have seen for sale. 76doublebass, I would love to hear properly set-up model 2's today. I have been told there are a number of pairs still floating around the Chicago area.

To add to Viridian's post:
Beveridges don't appear all that often on the used market, although they can be found. I would characterize the sound of the original model 2 as very polite, which the 2SW family exhibits to a lesser degree, however integration of the subs with the stats can be tricky. The model 3 isn't in the same performance category as either, in my opinion. Harold Beveridge's son started up the company again a few years ago in northern California; he moved down to the Santa Barbara area a few months ago, to a location to be determined. Haven't heard anything since.

Dayton Wrights come up for sale once in a while, too, though the SF6 gas (sulfur hexafluoride) may be hard to come by, and the piezo tweeters may prove to be tough to take. Years ago I used Watson Labs Model Ten loudspeakers, designed and built by Mike Wright of Dayton Wright fame, which used bags filled with SF6 in the separate woofer enclosures. Dayton Wrights are quite large, and the transformer system which couldn't be used in a commercial product today due to its lethal voltages is a beast. Given enough power, the more the better, they can be very good although a bit dry sounding, and you may be on your own if something goes wrong.

I agree with the point about Acoustats and Audiostatics possibly being less finicky, although Audiostatic hasn't been represented in the US for several years, and based upon personal experience as well as comments from others, I don't have anything to say about Ben Peters of Audiostatic. Acoustat has a loyal following, and Jim Strickland is still around. With the Medallion transformers or used with the direct drive amps, they can be satisfying, though based upon experience owning 2+2s and in my biased opinion they don't equal the performance of some current ESLs.

Brian

My wife is now days beyond her due date without being in labor. This is hard to take. Thanks for all the posts. Bob

Hey Bob. You a dad yet? Interesting observations on the various electrostatic speakers. I have not seen nor heard the beveridge's in years but if memory serves I would concurr with Brian's "polite" sounding labell.I Still use a pair of servo-driven acoustat 3's as well as a pair of Dayton wright xg-8 mk3's in a rather large room in a second system and recently sold my 2+2's.Have used stacked Quad 57's,63's,stacked Dayton Wrights and a pair of soundlab A-1's in the past. Never really connected with any of the audiostatics or Martin Login's though. One's room size, power/current requirements as well as ones preference of music genre will certainly dictate your choice of speaker here. The sound labs and the dayton wrights will need to be interfaced with either very high powered tube amplifiers or high current solid state amps of equal pedigree to get the best out of them. The Dayton Wright's and soundlabs have a very similiar sonic signature, being very full range,very coherent from top to bottom and are extremely well focussed. The soundlabs have the more articulate and airer top end while the Wright's have more resolution and wallop on the bottom octaves. The wrights will also play at much higher sound pressure levels given the appropriate amplification.Given the propagation pattern of most planar types, electrostatic speakers need ample breathing room and need to be placed as far away from the room boundries as possible... the farther the better. Rumour has it that Janssen are now introducing another electrostatic to the marketplace.