What kind of power wakes up electrostatic speakers

Hmmmm.... Thanks for the info Btstrg. I'll have to check with my sources and see what the deal is. Sean
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You need high current for the reasons Audiokinesis so aptly stated above. However, high voltage is necessary as well and that is why tubes generally are a good match with stators, as Sean so rightly points out. The Innersound amps, though a little roughshot in their interpretation will do well, so do the Wolcotts with their better transformers, if not so much in the highs, defenitely excellent in their bass rendering and if you want to spend some more, the Jadis 200 is wonderful and liquid on most stators and if you want to go SS, the Spectral 360, but also their old 200 are both dynamic as well as refined. And yes, before I forget, I have an ancient Threshold Stasis, still made by Nelson Pass, the man, before Nakamichi gave Threshold a bad name and that drives Quads, Staxes, Sound Labs and whatever stators you throw at them beautifully...and it is more than 20 years old now and never saw a technician so far. I use it every time, one of my other amps decides to give up its ghost with excellent effect. It set me back $1800 at the time when I bought it. (I've just sold my Gryphon Referenes, which were just so so with stators, as well as all the Krell and Levinson stuff I auditioned with them, but I'll never part with that one. I love it.)

As I understand, switching amps (such as Bel Cantos, Spectrons or Ps Audio HCA-2s) are very load insensitive. Does anyone have any actual experience though?

I don't know about the Bel Canto's or Spectron's but the PS HCA-2 does not respond very linearly as impedance is changed. Both frequency response and distortion are effected as impedance varies. Sean
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Yesterday I was at the friends place as he invited me to listen to his new find. I was surprised to see a vintage Sansui Au-111 tube amp which was glowing and driving the CLS in a way which was shocking. This combination was so far the best we came across. I was accompanied by another friend who is actually into the bottles (Cary 2A3, Alon Adrianna's, Wadia 850) and he too was very impressed with the sound that was coming out of the CLS.

Now the friend with the CLS knows which direction he needs to go. Tubes and nothing else.

Meanwhile the Sansui which is a vintage model circa 1965 is under servicing and cleaning, including changing to new set of tubes. We will have a go at it again and see what the results are.

I thought I should update my finding on this thread.

Sean, if you are reading this, thanks for the detailed explanation. I appreciate it>