I don't know much about dipole speakers like the MLs, but I am not so sure they should be judged by the measurements that monopole speakers are typically judged against. I am not sure how the response sums up at the listening position, which is what counts most in the end.
They do sound awful if you listen.
It is absolutely impossible to integrate a moving coil monopole speaker with with a dipole panel.
Peter Walker tried for years. The only solution is a dipole bottom end. He worked with Gradient of Finland to come up with a fairly decent solution.
The problem is you just can't get round the problem of matching a dipole radiation pattern and a boxed speaker which transition from a half space to a whole space radiator. There is NO solution for this.
Every time I hear MLs, except the full range panels, I just hear that panel woofer transition the whole time. To me it just sticks out like a sore thumb, which it is.
If you are going to use electrostatic panels they need to be huge or you need lots of them. Then you will get decent bass.
In the SME demo room at Steyning Sussex, they use four Quad ESL 69 per side on a custom frame. Sounds wonderful, with plenty of bass. The speakers are modded also.
