Anyone heard of "Kingsound" electrostatic loudspeakers?

[Joey_V]

The older ML's were ok but once the company started to cheap out on its parts like the prodigy, ascent, aeon series they became unreliable. Most people do not realize how bad their panels have decreased until you hear other speakers in your room or replace the panels. That is the main problem, over time the panels decrease every time you play them. I would hate to hook up the new designs to a good 500 watt amp and see the speaker start to smoke.

Dude... I dont know where you're getting your information from but ML ESL are NOT made in China. Only the Designer series (Montage, Mosaic, Clarity, Fresco) are. The true ESL are all made in Kansas.... I bought from them and I was able to get my veneer custom made by calling the ML Headquarters and had the sales manager at hq send me pics of the cabinet as they were building and polishing it.

The Martin Logans are NOT prone to problems, so that alone shows that you have ZERO experience with ML and if you did have experience with it and you had problems with it, it's definitely an isolated incident. I've had the Martin Logan Summits for almost 1 year and there is absolutely no other speaker under $15K that I would trade for it... and even after 1 year, they perform like brand new and look brand new. No vacuuming either.

Lastly, I at an efficiency of 90db/1watt@1m, I dont know what kind of spl levels you're talking about with your 500w amp that you used as an example. I've used the Summits on a Rotel RB1090 dual monoblock amp that was feeding it 700w at 4ohms and I dont recall any frying of the components within the speaker???

So, get your facts straight before blurting out random stuff you know nothing about.

Joey

 

[stratman]

Hey Joey,

'fess up, you became a member to swat this guy I love M-Ls, I too have no idea where he was coming from. Welcome aboard.

 

[wire]

Low power handling, play some marilyn manson greatest hits at or near the ratted power output and you will start to blow out high voltage boards and power supplies very easy. The ESL panels crap out every 2-3 years on most of them and they require constant upkeep to sound best. This includes vacuuming, washing, keeping them covered, you can not just sit down and play the speakers. If you like playing classical music at low volume levels and fussing with your speakers before playing them each time then try them out.

You cant play these kind of speakers on main stream power A/V recievers , like Denon , H/K , Onkio and crap like that . You need some big clean power amps to keep these speaker Singing , Maggies , Silvers and Als , Love the Big power and need the power .

 

[Seth=L]

My dad has an older pair of MLs in his living room, he has had them for about 5 years know and plays loud music on a frequent basis. He is powering them with a Sunfire Cinema Grand amplifier, and has them Bi-amped, giving them 400 watts a piece. He has had no problems and he doesn't really clean them that often.

 

[wire]

My dad has an older pair of MLs in his living room, he has had them for about 5 years know and plays loud music on a frequent basis. He is powering them with a Sunfire Cinema Grand amplifier, and has them Bi-amped, giving them 400 watts a piece. He has had no problems and he doesn't really clean them that often.

Seth
You know your stuff .
How you like the sound of the Sunfire Amp ?( you Can tell i have followed Bob Carver . But i do own other equipment , like Bryston and the Onix SP3 and other lower end stuff . )

 

[Tawnos]

Here comes the ML lovers to try and save their pathetic product, why else would someone join just to post about my dislike for ML's? It shows how on edge these people are when they have to defend the brand.

If you want 2 ch playback through low power tubes for critical listening and don't mind fussing with the speakers each time before you play them then go for it. But as far as tube powered electrostatics being used for critical listening there are a lot better electrostatics out there for that purpose. The ML's integrate the woofer so poorly that I have no idea how they sell a single product.

He is powering them with a Sunfire Cinema Grand amplifier, and has them Bi-amped, giving them 400 watts a piece

Just because he has the potential for 400 watts does not mean he is using that much. What ML's was he using?

 

[wire]

Just because he has the potential for 400 watts does not mean he is using that much. What ML's was he using?

Just a thought
Maybe that is why he is using a Sunfire power block . Bob Carver designs these amps to sound like a tube amps ( but still have the Power of SS ). I personally have never heard a Sunfire (but would like to) , I own a TFM-35 ( which is alot softer sound than my Bryston) and 3 carver pre's .
I know and heard the Silvers and ALS (great sounding speaker) and they need big power (because they are so inefficient) and a good match for them where M1.5T's or M4.0T's ( these where modded to sound like a Conrad Johnson) , if you where on a budget .

 

[Seth=L]

Tawnos, I am not sure which ones he is using they are mid-sized ones. But, none the less, I like loud music, wait, I love loud music and those electrostats go far louder than I care to listen. Sunfire amplifiers are not known to be very hot when running heavy loads most of the time, well when it has been pushing those MLs for an hour continuously, it gets pretty damn warm, borderline HOT! The electrostats scream when you want them to, and no distortion (OK we all know there is always some distortion no matter what, but it is pretty darn low, less than audible).

And in the defence of the Sunfire, no noticable clipping, pretty impressive for an amp around 50 pounds. And someone mentioned them have a warm or tubelike sound, yes they do. I have yet to hear that kind of sound from any transistor amp, even my old 5 channel Carver.

Wait, when did this thread get high-jacked? Wasn't this supposed to be about Kingston ESLs?

 

[gnxsam]

revealed

what is the supposed advantage of using an electrostatic speaker, other then costing quite a bit of money- i notice martin logan's showing up at alot of local stores in recent times, popularity must be picking up for these systems- which to me means stay away

sam

 

[Tom Andry]

i notice martin logan's showing up at alot of local stores in recent times, popularity must be picking up for these systems- which to me means stay away

Wow, that is quite an astute statement... or do I mean asinine? I always get those confused.

 

[cstpeter]

Tawnos, you have nothing to back up what you're saying other than your ill-formed opinion.

Stratman, what Martin Logans are you getting?

EDIT: Oh yeah, sorry to highjack this thread. My bad. No, never heard of Kingsound ESL's.

 

[Joey_V]

what is the supposed advantage of using an electrostatic speaker, other then costing quite a bit of money- i notice martin logan's showing up at alot of local stores in recent times, popularity must be picking up for these systems- which to me means stay away

sam

Are you just saying this because you like owning things that arent in the hands of many? Your comment about popularity and staying away has almost no correlation from my pov.

And Tawnos...
Regarding having to run low power tubes into MLs to get any sense of satisfaction is quite a fallacy as I'm running a Cary SLP-98 Tube Preamplifier into a Plinius SA102 Class A SS amplifier rated at 125, 250, 500, 1000 at each successive halfing of the impedance.... this is similar in setup (tube pre + ss amp) to many others on the MartinLoganOwners Club. MLs can play excessively loud and I recall playing my Summits louder than any dynamic speaker I have had in my possession. The only speakers that can rival it from my experience are the BW800D and the Wilson Maxx2 ($40K) in terms of overall dynamics.

I'm not saying that you should love ML, but you need to have respect for this speaker manufacturer not only for the mere fact that it has a following and it sounds good, but mainly because ML actually tries to keep the bulk of the manufacturing here in the US at a time when more of our products are made from China - thereby circumventing our economy in the long run.

Joey

 

[stratman]

Cst,

I'm really haven't started to audition yet, and I really want to try out different models. I'll be running them with a Krell KST amp, Krell KSL pre,
Proceed PCD cd player, all using balanced connections (XLR). Anything you recommend I should try? I'm really going to get into it after Christmas.

Kingsound? never heard of them.

 

[cstpeter]

Strat, PM sent.

 

[stratman]

Thanks got it, i'll look into it tomorrow my dsl is acting up I think.

 

[Tawnos]

Tawnos, you have nothing to back up what you're saying other than your ill-formed opinion.

And you have proof to back up your opinion?

Joey_V

The summits are only rated for 300 watts max, so at around 116-117 db you will max out and if that is with anything other then simple classical music you will blow the speaker. Go play marilyn manson - reflecting god, and you will find out just how fragile your speakers are.

 

[JoeE SP9]

Are you serious? Who in their right mind listens to anything at 116db? Is your hearing already damaged? I'm tempted to ask, just what kind of speakers do you use and at what kind of levels?
If that's the kind of levels you normally use then you are on the wrong site. I suggest one that has a good audiologist on site.

 

[stratman]

You might as well go to the airport, sneak into the tarmac, find a 747 and stick your head in the turbine exhaust nozzle. You'll feel better, trust me.

Besides that Pratt & Whittney sounds better than Manson anytime.

 

[Seth=L]

What is this crap?

The summits are only rated for 300 watts max, so at around 116-117 db you will max out and if that is with anything other then simple classical music you will blow the speaker. Go play marilyn manson - reflecting god, and you will find out just how fragile your speakers are.

Read this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_pressure_level

At 120 dB, you can suffer permanent hearing damage in a short period of time. 110-140 dB is around how loud a jet engine will be at 100 meters. Now maybe if you listen to some MLs, and not the non-ESLs either, then you might change your mind.

 

[Seth=L]

You might as well go to the airport, sneak into the tarmac, find a 747 and stick your head in the turbine exhaust nozzle. You'll feel better, trust me.

Besides that Pratt & Whittney sounds better than Manson anytime.

I strongly suggest that, so you can't even claim the ability to critique speakers you have a bias opinion about.

Not you Stratman.