Sanders 10e

No doubt they have a small sweet spot but not as dramatic as some are indicating.  I heard them at RMAF and was floored.  I thought they were superior to anything else there.  True story.  He was playing a variety of dynamic music which helped the evaluation process....unlike many of the other fine systems which I can only surmise were trying to recreate the atmosphere of a funeral parlor.  

One other thing...I'd be interested to have heard them without the room correction employed.  I think it would have been a different story.  I am becoming more convinced DSP is the way to go.  

I have owned dozens of speakers . All kinds, Stats ,Planars , Box , Open baffle . Each and every one sounds best sitting in the middle of the speakers . Move to the right or left and you lose the stereo imaging . If i am walking around the room doing other things i do not care about imaging . Only when i sit down do i care . Hifi listening is a one person endeavor IMHO

Sanders at RMAF
https://parttimeaudiophile.com/2017/11/03/rmaf-2017-sanders-creates-electrostatic-bliss/

While I think that all speakers have a sweet spot, there are a lot of speakers that do much better with off-axis color and imaging than others. Sanders among the very worst. Revel and Magico among the very best. 

The Sanders stats are really not comparable to almost any other speaker, including ESL's. To call it a "sweet spot" is to oversell it. It is much more like a "sweet dot" from which the most minute movements of your head will detract. 

Best,

E

I totally get the viewpoint "I don't care if there is a small speaker sweetspot since I sit in that spot to listen critically anyway."

It's much like the justification some on the AV forums gave for getting along fine with LCD display's limited viewing angles "Who cares if the color and contrast shift as you move off axis, I watch from the middle of the sofa anyway."

With the LCD displays the shiftiness of the image color and contrast always annoyed me.  I was aware of it as I moved to a position to watch the image, and still aware of it watching the image, to the degree I knew if I relaxed in to some other position the picture would alter.  Emissive displays like plasma were much more satisfying for me in that regard.

The same issue arises for me with speakers and small sweet spots.  When it gets too critical I become aware of the "shifty" quality of the imaging and tonality and it tends to intrude on the illusion of a performance happening in front of me; I'm reminded of the artifice.

A wider sweet spot that doesn't delectably, or significantly alter the tonality, or even imaging, if I want to end up in various relaxed positions on my sofa (within reason - not way off axis) is for me a more natural, relaxing experience.  I guess that's why I still own MBL omnis, but most of the speakers I still own, and have owned, have had excellent, wide dispersion/off-axis sound and never felt "finicky" to listen to.

To each his own, as always.  There are always compromises.