Extract from World HiFi Forum

To my ears of the three pairs of electrostatic speakers I own, the Acorns are by far the best sounding of the three. One does not loose ambiance of soundstage whether sitting or standing. They throw a big convincing soundstage with fantastic transient attack and produce good deep, accurate and low bass. I think those attending the last EggFest would agree these speakers can deliver bass? These are the best sounding ESLs I have heard to date and well worth the extra cost over that of the ESLIII kit. As a comparison the ESLIIIs are a little lacking of convincing bass, but match the Acorns in the midrange and nearly match them in the high frequencies. They benefit from a subwoofer. They do not throw quite as large a soundstage as the Acorns and one looses ambiance if standing. But they are still better sounding than the Quad 57s to my ears and both the ER Audio kits do not suffer the single directionality of the Quads. Move a little from the sweet spot of the Quads and you loose one speaker, not so ERs. In fairness to the ESLIII these were designed around high power solid state class ëAí amps and seem to be more amp dependent than the Acorns. I have heard mine driven by a Sugden A21a amp and this gave amazing bass in comparison to my WAD 6550 amp but lost out to the better midrange from the 6550

So Michael:

NO the Acorns do not need a sub-woofer for normal hifi use.
 

Hi Colin (Toppsy)

Very many thanks for the listening session around at your place last night - I enjoyed myself immensely!

I would first like to say that I applaud the standards of construction and finish you have attained with your Acorns - I have seen commercially made products that do not come near to your efforts for presentation.

As for the sonics of the Acorns, I can honestly say that it is a pleasure to listen to such a wide bandwidth design.

A lot of folks reckon that electrostats need to be bolstered up with subwoofers and things - that relates only to inferior transducers, and although revolutionary in their time I am of course thinking of the Quads.
And that also relates to the current Quad product (although I haven't heard the stuff they've just released the same probably still applies)!

I've rarely heard a "stat" equal the lower register power of a box design - the Acorns do just that.
And then you've just got a beautiful seamless journey up to the limits of the audible frequency range.
And the Acorns image well - you're not as tied to the "hot spot" anything like as much as the Quads.

Of your two amps the Yarland gets better results with these speakers - the WAD design seems to be a little bit uptight and proper in comparison.

The Yarland/Acorn combo cuts the mustard, and that's a fact !

The only downside, as far as I can make out, is that one becomes acutely aware of things such as poor vocal mic techniques used in the studio - it takes a little mental readjustment to filter poor engineering techniques out and concentrate on the overall recording and performance(s).

Once again, thanks for a great evening.

Chris

Hi, I also had the pleasure of listening to Colin’s ER Audio electrostatics last night.

Now bear in mind these are the only electrostatics ive heard and i must admit for the first few minutes (sp) its quite odd how different they sound. Im so used to the presentation of box speakers it was almost unsettling for the first 10 mins
We started with the ESLIII and i was impressed, we spun a track or two of led zeppelin and it sounded very nice indeed, they even coped well with some reasonably pacy drum and bass (i apologise if that track isnt to you usual tastes )
However when we listened to Pink Floyds Granchester Meadows something seemed different. What did you think Colin? I’m very used to this track but it seemed a little thin and it was the only track that didn’t sound better through these than it does with my wd25as. I wouldn’t say it sounded worse though!

Onto the acorns, they just blew me away!!!!!!!!! What can I say, I’ve not heard anything like it, they made me smile almost constantly. Very Very good.So open, just a nice big open sound that just hangs in the air, superb bass, well, superb everything really. What really did surprise me was the detail of the bass notes rather than 'just bass'
Going back to Granchester Meadows, it sounded superb. The Acorns have more body, sound fuller and smother without being warm, just full and detailed. I really can’t fault them.
I know I’m reasonably inexperienced, but I just don’t really see how it can get much better than what I heard last night. I think I need to get saving. There amazing value in my eyes (ears)
Thank you for the opportunity, I think I’m going to be hooked on good ESL's

We also tried them out with my kel84 and it seemed to cope with the task very well. Maybe not quite as good as the Yarland which gave a little more bass and was generally just a little smoother. A swap for some Mullard ecf80's helped though.

Once again, thank you for giving up your time for me, much appreciated.