Planar speaker question


I am new to planar speaker, I have few NEWBIE questions.
1. How come Magnepan price is so cheap compare with normal speaker?
2. Do they need special amp to power up? I saw Magnepan speaker have special input.
3. For 1.5k, what is the best choice?
audiorichard
I feel that Planar's and Maggies are not a ton of money because there are not expensive cabinet considerations, no special amp is needed as long as it has alot of juice 200w plus is ideal IMO.
Eminent Technology LFTVIIIA is a great speaker with a cone woofer and planar mid and tweeter and is right around $1500.
As usual you also need room from the back wall to get them to breath life into your room with best results.
I agree with Chadnliz about the LFT8As. If you're looking to experiment with planars a pair of used Eminent Technologies is a great place to start.
I'd look at the Maggiue line iof the Emminents are to big.One knock I have heard about all planar is you nee to be in sweet spot to get most out of them and for some reason all more so with Emminent.Try the Maggie 1.6 or if bigger room you can get true ribbon tweeter in 3.5 and not pay price of 3.6.But all of them can SUCK current.You really want a nice amp.I recenmtly took out my freinds two Deno 1500 stereo amps run with the Maggie crossover (two 150 wat amps laterally that is one amp to tweter panels and one amp to bass panels equsl 225 wpc or 150% or sinmgle amp) and replaced with Bryston 4BST (Bryston is very poular combo with Maggie that and good 100 wat tube amps like Cary or Acoustic Research).The difference betwen decent midfi ampos and true audiophile amp was AMAZING!!!The Maggie line maybe the best value in speakers when you look at dollar buit because they reproduce so well you need good electronics to proceed them.Amp should be able to run well at 4 ohms and remain stable to 2 ohms (or less) and offer as much current as you can muster as I said they suck current.At thier porice point they are not going to get as loud as many coil speakers or be as deep in the bass so if you later ad a fast sub which not need be expensive like the Vandersteen 2wQ at $750 used and $1200 new for down to 35hrz or an REL sub for deper bass,or maybe for money the Martin Logan subs all of which use multiple small drivers to get low.Using 3 or more drivers breaks up the large surface area of a traditional 15 or 18 inch sub into multiple drivers with smaller magnets and motors and with this speed they are fast enough to respond to the speed of Plannars and electrostatics like Qauds.But you can get tradityional subs from Revel or say the DD series from Velodyne,Arail,Audio Physic but expect to pay big bucks ($3K and above).Big driver subs are fine for hopme theatre but drove Maggie and Quad owners crazy beacuse they just couldn't keep up with these fast speakers adn again for HT it's "boom in the room" you want but with thes speakers you want speed and pitch accuracy.See if you can listenm to 3.5 used or new 1.6 and 3.6 at a Maggie shop and ask them if these points were on target.If thier honest they'll say yes but if they don't have this type of sub they'll tell you I don't know what I am talking about.But I sold Hifi for 6 years and my best freind had me upgrade his rig with a few differnt maggies over time.And rember good amp.Bryston used with it's transferable 20 years wareranty is a great choice since you can get a good price( previous ST way lower then new SST series) maeans you can save dough and still get 15 years on the amps warranty with something that deilers the current they crave and the qaulity they deserve.
G'luck
Chazzbo