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Realistic Electrostat 2 what do you think?

A

aquajet

Member
Came across a set of Realistic Electrostat 2 speakers, in good shape at the local SA for $49. The power cords are cut, so there's no way to tell for sure if the electrostatic tweeters work. I've never heard electrostatic speakers before, I'm very interested in the sound, but I'm worried about spending $49 on these. The cabs are beautiful though. Tell me if you think they're worth it if I spent some time replacing the power cords. What's the story on electrostatic speakers?
 
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The Quad ESL-57 is the single best sounding speaker I have ever heard. Electrostatics do MR and treble like nothing else (except POSSIBLY a plasma "driver"). The Quad, of course, was a full-range electrostatic and they have some idiosyncracies, but you'll never forget them. The Radio Shacks aren't Quads, of course, but they should have the sparkle (no pun intended) of an electrostatic.

I'd probably pay $49 to find out if they work. I think they used JanZen electrostatic modules, but I am not certain. The electrostatic drivers are prone to several modes of failure, so you might end up wasting your money :-( Caveat emptor.
 
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The RS speakers did not use JansZen drivers but rectangular driver that actually seems somewhat common as electrostats go. From what has been discussed elsewhere it seems the elements are pretty hardy provided they are not overdriven or physically abused. Most troubles appear to be in the PS.
 
Yep, Brian is right. But the PS probs are usually an easy fix. They also had Foster/Fostex alnico woofers. My brothers best friend had a pair of them in the early 70's and I remember loving their rich sound. Bass may be a bit lacking by today's standards, but they have a creamy midrange.
 
I had a set of these for a while and loved them. It's a weird match between the paper (?) midrange and the tweeters, but they were an awful lot of fun.

For $50, I'd buy 'em for sure, but be sure to be very careful when powering them up...use the "inline ligtbulb" o some other safety feature, as there's no telling what the 35 y/o power supply will be like...


JC
 
I bought a pair of Realistic Electrostat 2a speakers recently for the same reasons you cited (never heard 'em before and curious about their sound). I got them for $25 for the pair and they are in very good condition. I agree with what the others have said (a little light on the bass, but not bad otherwise). If the ones you found look as nice as you say, I think you should give 'em a try!
 
Greetings all. I got a pair of 2A's for free. One stat tweeter works, the other does not. All fuses checked. Does anybody have a schematic for the power supply?

Thanks,
Jim
 
Sometime in the ensuing 4 years since this thread was new, I fell heir to a pair of Electrostat 2As myself :-P They are indeed surprisingly not bad sounding loudspeakers.

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I also have, almost inexplicably, a small box full of what appear to be brand new/ replacement electrostatic tweeter elements for these.

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What I don't have is a schematic or any insight to the P/S (never worked up the gumption to look inside). Probably very simple, but I dunno fo sho.
 
Wow an electrostat box speaker, weird. I know it's just because it also has a dynamic driver but still not what I was expecting to see.
 
Thanks, Mr Hardy. I design, build, refurb, modify, etc tube amps, so if all else fails I will trace out the good power supply, draw a schematic and note all of the voltages and component values....was hoping somebody had a schemo so I could save a little time!
 
Well I think I found the problem, or at least 1 problem, in the 2A that had no output from the stats. On the good 2A, I measured about 110VDC bias voltage. On the bad 2A, only about 50. So, it would look like I have a bad diode in the full wave (2 diode) power supply for the stats. It also looked like one diode was previously replaced in the bad 2A. I will replace both diodes tomorrow (so they are a like pair) and see what happens. If it works, both power supplies are gonna get totally rebuilt, new diode, caps, and resistors.
 
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Tom Brennan said:
I had some of those tweeters years ago, as I recall they were single ended.
Click to expand...

They are indeed single-ended. There's a good theoretical explanation of how nonlinear a single-ended electrostatic transducer must be (the laws o'physics, you know?) out there on the interwebs. I have no doubt that's true, but they're surprisingly pleasant sounding tweeters, making for surprisingly pleasant sounding speakers. No bass, though (the 2As, that is, not just the tweeters!).
 
I have 2 sets of 2a's.

Basically they snuck a very nice mid/bass driver in a well-desinged cab for small or med-sized rooms while the ad copy made a big deal of the E-stat elements.

(1) The E-stat elements are single-ended and will never compete with my dual stator types. The nonlinearity is because as the distance from the stator to the membrane changes and gets larger with higher excursion, the force driving them diminishes proportionally. So you have asymmetry (push PULL push PULL!) and compression.

But these loudspeakers have some good points too. The mid-woofer I guess you'd call it is a lively and smooth driver, like a Fostex. The teak cabs (not Teac...) are truly lush, and I seriously thought to reclaim them for a project.

What I don't understand is the cab type. Because the places where the E-stat foil elements are positioned have air openings, the mid-bass acts as a ported? or aperiodic like a A-25? or bandpass? or what?

And the cabs are not designed to be taken apart. Probably a good thing with high voltage in there.

For whatever reason, they sound better than I expected.

Either the designer kept to conservative principles and crossed it over high enough, or kept the tweeters' output low enough, or with 4 elements the excursion in each one is low enough, that they sound to me like I imagine a good single-driver should sound--and the tweeter assist is optional; if you listen too loud or the source is harsh they are harsh.

In sum: good fun/price ratio.



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