Eminent Technology LFT-8b in Harry's system


I recently signed up for the V.P.I. Industries newsletter, and today received my first such. In it, Harry Weisfeld reviews a Grado phono cartridge, but this post concerns one of the speakers he listed as being those he uses to listen to music and evaluate recordings through. All but one are traditional dynamic cones/domes in a box designs, only one being a planar/dipole. That planar is the Eminent Technology LFT-8b. I'm pretty sure Harry could, if he so chose, have instead as his sole planar a pair of $6000 Magneplanar MG 3.7i's, or even $14,000 20.7's. But nope, he instead chose the $2500 ET LFT-8b, imo the greatest value in a loudspeaker on the market. I compared it to the 1.7i, and the difference was dramatic.
128x128bdp24
@ rotarius "I really don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade but like every speaker I have tried, the LFT-8B have a few flaws and they can be quite intrusive. I had them paired to my Belles 150a amp. The bass from the woofer was never quite right in my room. Way to under-damped and boomy. The other issue was the panel itself. They are supposed to be crossed over at 180 Hz but I wished that wasn’t the case because at moderate volume, with bass heavy stuff (think Patricia Barber), the panel would distort, panel slap is what I have heard it called. So, they are nice, very nice for classical but not up to the reference quality some people here claim. I liked my Martin Logans I got after that a little more."

Well, sorry to say that, but your Belles amp probably is not a good match for the LFT 8bs to say the least (some would say it is distinctly mediocre, but we all hear differently I guess) .... That is a first time I hear panel distortion of the LFT 8s, or the bass issue you have described, and I ve heard about dozen of ET 8bs and ET 6 installations. The room and improper placement is usually the culprit. Also people using jumper cables instead of true bi-wiring affects their sound to the worse. Did you tighten the panel with hex screw driver as per ET/or your dealer instructions? The tightening (but NOT OVER tightening) makes a HUGE difference in the overall sound quality of the LFT 8bs... If you like solid state amps you should try once in your lifetime to buy used Electron Kinetics EKSC 2a stereo amp and pair it with LFT 8bs...

I ve pretty much heard all Martin Logans ever since late 80s, and the only pair that would match or better the LFT 8s (not to mention the superior, sadly long discontinued model 6s) in overall coherency, wholesomeness , realistic timbres, the ability to portray recording venue with realistic proportion, the freedom from having to sit smack in the middle with once’s head firmly affixed in one position was that model that features wide panels plus woofer towers, a la Infinity IRS... and those were about 25 grand back in early 90s....

The only speakers in my (NON) humble experience that would match or exceed the LFT 8bs performance in spatial, tonal and dynamic nuance would be Apogee Divas, and Apogee FRs, and Eminents own 6s... in a very large room.... The LFT 8bs can be magical even in small to medium size rooms...

Being one of those obsessive music lovers that like to own as many different speakers as possible, I was considering the purchase of new Bowers Wilkins 802d3, or 800D3.... So I went, and I listened, and I listened, and I liked what I heard ALOT... Then I returned home and after hearing the same music on my ET 8bs even in my second, less than ideal, small listening room, I could hear that the most excellent B&W were NOT as fast, natural, delicate, open and spacious as the LFT panels.

.... There is an audiophile in princeton, nj that has ET 6s with the Nestorovic subs with two pairs of german Symphonic Line 4 monoblocks with separate crossovers in a spatial room.... I ve travelled far and wide all over the world for work, and was able to listen to systems at different audio shows, and to the million dollar systems in homes of Russian oligarchs, but none of those were organic enough, or able to match this Princeton Eminent Tech based system.... . Bruce Thigpen IS a genius!!!!!!

So, yes, in essence the Eminent Tech 8bs are reference speakers, for ALL the possible musical genre as my 20 000 albums collection can attest.... if you know what the properly recorded music sounds like ;)
As an FYI the Belles amp in question and his amplifiers in general are simply outstanding. Easily one of the most overlooked builders in all of high end audio. I owned the Ref150 as well as the 350.  Wonderful in every way. 
No doubt the Belles could be outstanding as well within carefully matched system ...

kot, I tried for quite a while to find a pair of the LFT-6’s, but never did. I had to settle for the LFT-4, which it's sort of a half-size version of the 6. It’s great for smaller rooms, as long as one has the usual distance from the wall behind the speaker than dipoles require---3’ minimum, 5’ better.

The LFT-8b is a great candidate for bi-amping (or at least bi-wiring), and ET makes it easy. There are two pair of binding posts on the top of the woofer box, one for the woofer and one for the magnetic-planar midrange & ribbon tweeter drivers. The x/o is 1st order (6dB/octave), so one can bi-amp passively---it’s cheap! Vertical bi-amping with identical amps helps with that, as their input sensitivities are matched. Or, a moderately powered tube amp can drive the panels, and a ss the woofer. The LFT has a nominal impedance of 8 ohms, but the panel itself is 11-12 ohms, great for tubes.

I second kot's recommendation of the Electron Kinetics Eagle 2A, one of which I own. A great, great amp for bass in particular. I haven't heard the updated/modified version kot cites, but even the original is fantastic, a real classic.

I was told by my ET dealer that LFT 8bs while a relatively easy load can dip as low as 3 ohms at certain frequencies, that is why Electron Kinetics and Symphonic Line are such a good match with them.... Having said that I ve driven mine 8bs with AudioPrism (red Rose model 1) Debut 1 (35-40 of kt-77 watts per channel), quite nicely but in a relatively small room. Also have been using Rega Mira 3 integrated in the summer in the very same room as well with great results.. A year ago a fellow audiophile here in NY was offering Cello Duet 350 for sale, and we brought that amp over and moved the 8bs into my much larger living room to see how the combo would match.... Those 350 watts of Cello, man oh man, just grabbed the 8b with iron fist and refinement I seldom heard .... Too bad I could not physically accommodate the Cello in my room for permanent placement (domestic issues and all), but the result was musical neutrally redefined, and as neutral to the source (I used DAC straight into into Cello with adapters, using digital volume control on my MAC) as I had ever heard.... And that Cello can be gotten for about 4 grand these days.... Just make sure to use a true bi wire or shotgun Cardas Golden Cross speaker cables as the new Clear Beyond series we also tried did impart too much of an analytical signature .... In any event, it was an amazing combo for a larger listening space!!!!!