Audiophilepure

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/clarisys-aria-2-loudspeaker

y many measures, the Clarisys Aria MK2 is an impressive large loudspeaker system. The designer has chosen the sonic characteristics he desires because he feels that approach yields better overall long-term listening satisfaction instead of the approach of designing for a somewhat more linear frequency response. For the most part, the Aria MK2 is an engaging and easy to settle into speaker for extended listening. Clarisys’ approach of creating a gently sloping frequency response seems reasonable, and Wiegand has accomplished his goals from this perspective, although, based on my listening observations (later verified with measurements), there are some slightly more aggressive slopes at both ends of the frequency extremes. In the bass, the lowest frequencies at the bass panel resonance have a fairly low-Q boost of around 5–10dB depending on panel tensioning and room volume/setup. The high frequencies above 10kHz fall off a bit more aggressively, giving the speaker a gentler and less airy/detailed sound in the uppermost highs. 

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/alsyvox-michelangelo-full-range-ribbon-loudspeaker

The AlsyVox speakers, and the Michelangelo in particular, produce such a different listening experience that the familiar criteria are inadequate. The Michelangelo doesn’t deliver variations within the conventional framework; it changes the framework itself. There’s just something fundamentally different—and more realistic—about how this speaker reproduces music.

First, forget all preconceptions about the bass capabilities of a full-range dipolar ribbon. Many planar speakers have fabulous speed, coherence, and transparency, but lack density of tone color from the lower midrange down. The Michelangelo defies this stereotype. Even when driven by the Berning/Hi-FI One Reference SET amplifier’s 20W, it has fabulously rich, textured, weighty, and satisfying bass.

Although the Michelangelo can deliver plenty of bottom-end heft, what it does like no other speaker I’ve heard is present a bottom end that is completely “of a piece” with the rest of the music. The Michelangelo has a tonal, textural, and dynamic coherence from top to bottom that obliterates any notion of “bass, midrange, and treble.”

https://www.hifinews.com/content/quad-esl-2912x-loudspeaker

Sadly for me, these need more room than I could ever provide, my lust for them all but pre-ordained as I had fired up my ESL-63s in anticipation. Quad’s ESL 2912X does everything which made the original ESL-57 a hi-fi classic, although be warned if you’ve been nursing ’57s since Harold Macmillan was in Downing Street, as it’s less forgiving at the frequency extremes thanks to greater extension.

This loudspeaker unconditionally deserves recognition for its performance at any price, a mandatory consideration for panel speakers above £10,000. It does everything you could possibly want from a Quad electrostatic with no debilitating flaws nor compromises of any real import. It sounds as heavenly as its great-great-great-grandfather, and it looks sensational, too.

But the deal maker? Like every product made during the Peter Walker era, Quad’s ESL 2912X is a bargain so honest that it’s an indictment of its rivals.