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musicdude
 
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Default FA: Dayton Wright XG-8 Mk 3 ESL's

Extremely Rare Electrostatic Loudspeaker.
Considered to be One of the Best Sounding Speakers Anywhere.

This is a pair of Dayton Wright XG-8 Mk 3 Series 3 full range
electrostatic loudspeakers that I am selling. These have been my
personal speakers for the past 25 years. They have served flawlessly
over that time and have never been abused.

The speakers are covered with the original Wheat colored fabric with
rosewood veneer tops and bottoms. Package includes the black ST-300A
matching transformer unit/bias supply. Also included are the manual and
promotional brochures. All of the equipment is in excellent condition,
is working properly and sounds phenomenally great. These speakers sold
new for $3,500.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...y=14 993&rd=1


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William Sommerwerck
 
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Default Dayton Wright XG-8 Mk 3 ESL's

Sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong...

I can't speak for the honesty of the seller or the condition of these speakers,
of course...

But the XG-8 is one hell of a speaker, especially when you have a big amp to
drive them with. Not only are they 'stats, with the kind of sound that implies,
but they can play cleanly at ridiculously high volume levels in large rooms.
They're great for any kind of music.

The $950 BIN price is too low for speakers of this quality. If I had the money,
I'd buy them.

In case you're wondering... Yes, I'm waiting for you-know-who to come out and
make a further idiot of himself. "The Blue Book says the real value is $29.33 --
and the seller should pay shipping!"

  #3   Report Post  
David Malone
 
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Default Dayton Wright XG-8 Mk 3 ESL's

On Fri, 18 Jul 2003 09:58:18 -0700, "William Sommerwerck"
wrote:

But the XG-8 is one hell of a speaker, especially when you have a big amp to
drive them with.


I have to agree. I can remember visiting Leigh Instruments in
Waterloo, Ontario to audition these speakers in a concrete bunker they
built inside the factory. They were using a Dayton Wright 500 watt amp
built by Leigh to drive them. I was blown away and would have bought a
pair in a heartbeat if I could have found the cash.

That being said like all electrostatic flat panels the sound drops
away pretty smartly if you get beside or behind them so you'd want to
ensure you have the kind of set up where they are against a wall
firing directly towards the listening position.

David "The Hamster" Malone
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jav
 
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Default Dayton Wright XG-8 Mk 3 ESL's

I was about 27 years old back in 1977 when I first heard these speakers. They were
extraordinary, and created a holographic transparent soundstage which I've yet to
hear reproduced.

Unfortunately, I've heard that reliability is not one of their strong points, and they use
a very unusual gas in sealed bags...(something) hexaflouride. Might be difficult to
find if needed for repair. But if someone is enterprising and finds a quality pair of
XG-8's, they're in for an audio treat.

"musicdude" wrote in message ...
Extremely Rare Electrostatic Loudspeaker.
Considered to be One of the Best Sounding Speakers Anywhere.
This is a pair of Dayton Wright XG-8 Mk 3 Series 3 full range electrostatic loudspeakers that I am selling. These have been my personal speakers for the past 25 years. They have served flawlessly over that time and have never been abused.

The speakers are covered with the original Wheat colored fabric with rosewood veneer tops and bottoms. Package includes the black ST-300A matching transformer unit/bias supply. Also included are the manual and promotional brochures. All of the equipment is in excellent condition, is working properly and sounds phenomenally great. These speakers sold new for $3,500.


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...y=14 993&rd=1



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William Sommerwerck
 
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Default Dayton Wright XG-8 Mk 3 ESL's

Sulfur hexafluoride. It's not cheap, but it's commonly available because it's
used as an insulator in HV electrical systems. Completely non-toxic, but heavier
than air, and therefore suffocating.

I was about 27 years old back in 1977 when I first heard these
speakers. They were extraordinary, and created a holographic
transparent soundstage which I've yet to hear reproduced.


Unfortunately, I've heard that reliability is not one of their strong
points, and they use a very unusual gas in sealed bags...
(something) hexaflouride. Might be difficult to find if needed for
repair. But if someone is enterprising and finds a quality pair of
XG-8's, they're in for an audio treat.




  #6   Report Post  
musicdude
 
Posts: n/a
Default Dayton Wright XG-8 Mk 3 ESL's

These particular Dayton Wright XG-8's are in excellent condition. While
they haven't been recharged with sulfur hexafloride gas (SF6) and are
essentially filled with air like all other electrostatic speakers, they
can be played to very high sound levels with all of the crispness and
clarity that some other posters have mentioned. The SF6 would be
necessary only if you wanted to run several Kilowatts of power into each
speaker. Mere hundreds of watts is no problem. For more info see
http://www.dayton-wright.com/ .

These XG-8's are being auctioned on eBay at:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=3034970 349



jav wrote:

I was about 27 years old back in 1977 when I first heard these
speakers. They were
extraordinary, and created a holographic transparent soundstage which
I've yet to
hear reproduced.

Unfortunately, I've heard that reliability is not one of their strong
points, and they use
a very unusual gas in sealed bags...(something) hexaflouride. Might be
difficult to
find if needed for repair. But if someone is enterprising and finds a
quality pair of
XG-8's, they're in for an audio treat.


"musicdude"
wrote in message ...
Extremely Rare Electrostatic Loudspeaker.
Considered to be One of the Best Sounding Speakers Anywhere.

This is a pair of Dayton Wright XG-8 Mk 3 Series 3 full range
electrostatic loudspeakers that I am selling. These have been my
personal speakers for the past 25 years. They have served
flawlessly over that time and have never been abused.

The speakers are covered with the original Wheat colored fabric
with rosewood veneer tops and bottoms. Package includes the black
ST-300A matching transformer unit/bias supply. Also included are
the manual and promotional brochures. All of the equipment is in
excellent condition, is working properly and sounds phenomenally
great. These speakers sold new for $3,500.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...y=14 993&rd=1


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Guenter Scholz
 
Posts: n/a
Default Dayton Wright XG-8 Mk 3 ESL's

I have to disagree vehemently about the positive comments made about the
DW's. I speak as a past owner of 2 of the incarnations the Mk8/III and Mk10
that supposedly had all the problems fixed. the main problem, and Bill should
know this, is the impedance miss match between the very dense SF6 and the air.
It makes for reflections galore. On an A/B voice test, no one could recognize
the speakers voice when played through the speakers. This is an intrinsic
fatal flaw that these speakers possess. their impedance is horrendous, there
are almost no amps out there below kilo$'s that will drive them. You will need
the likes of a ML or if you are on a budget a Leach. The tweeters on the XG8
is a $5 piezzo..(Ok, I don't know the exact value).... give me a break. the
later Mk10 incarnation at least had a Matsu****a leaf (NOT ribbon) tweeter.
Anyone who thinks that these speakers gives an accurate presentation of what
is recorded has WAX in the ears, period! BTW, I am not saying that they don't
sound pleasant, hey I sound 'pleasant' singing in the shower (lots of reverb)
but accurate it ain't... so sorry.

In article ,
William Sommerwerck wrote:
Sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong...

I can't speak for the honesty of the seller or the condition of these speakers,
of course...

But the XG-8 is one hell of a speaker, especially when you have a big amp to
drive them with. Not only are they 'stats, with the kind of sound that implies,
but they can play cleanly at ridiculously high volume levels in large rooms.
They're great for any kind of music.

The $950 BIN price is too low for speakers of this quality. If I had the money,
I'd buy them.

In case you're wondering... Yes, I'm waiting for you-know-who to come out and
make a further idiot of himself. "The Blue Book says the real value is
$29.33 --
and the seller should pay shipping!"



  #8   Report Post  
William Sommerwerck
 
Posts: n/a
Default Dayton Wright XG-8 Mk 3 ESL's

I heard the XGs on many occasions and, as someone who is horribly bothered by
colorations of any and every sort, never noticed this supposed problem.

I understand exactly what you're talking about -- the speed of sound in SF6
being much slower than in air, there would be a significant reflection of energy
at bag's surface. You might be right (ar, ar) about this. I'd have to listen to
the XGs again to see whether I agreed.

The original XGs sounded a bit dull, and D-W added a cheap Motorola piezo
tweeter to extend the response. (Note that the well-respected Dahlquist DQ-10
used a similar driver.) I never heard the version with the "leaf" tweeter.

As for the electrical impedance, I agree completely. The XG speakers have one of
the worst impedance curves of any speaker ever designed. The impedance rises to
over 100 ohms in the low bass, and drops to below 2 ohms (IIRC) in the upper
midrange. You need an amp that can swing lots of voltage (as you would with most
'stats) while being able to pump a lot of current. At the store where I worked
we had them running with a Swiss amplifier that couldn't provide that current,
and you heard something you hardly ever hear from an amplifier -- current
clipping. This is a speaker that needs the likes of a big Krell.

Our customer bought two Crown DC-600 (or was it DC-1200?) industrial amplifiers,
one for each speaker. Although the 600 used bridged output stages, it could
itself be bridged (bridges on bridges!) to put out something like 1200 watts. It
just laughed at the XGs.

I have to say, you sound a bit like me criticizing Maggies... grin


I have to disagree vehemently about the positive comments made
about the DW's. I speak as a past owner of 2 of the incarnations,
the Mk8/III and Mk10 that supposedly had all the problems fixed.
The main problem, and Bill should know this, is the impedance
missmatch between the very dense SF6 and the air. It makes for
reflections galore. On an A/B voice test, no one could recognize
the speaker's voice when played through the speakers. This is
an intrinsic fatal flaw that these speakers possess.


their impedance is horrendous, there are almost no amps out there
below kilo$'s that will drive them. You will need the likes of a ML or if
you're on a budget, a Leach. The tweeters on the XG8 is a $5 piezo.
(Ok, I don't know the exact value)... give me a break. The later Mk10
incarnation at least had a Matsu****a leaf (NOT ribbon) tweeter. Anyone
who thinks that these speakers gives an accurate presentation of what
is recorded has WAX in the ears, period! BTW, I am not saying that
they don't sound pleasant, hey I sound 'pleasant' singing in the shower
(lots of reverb) but accurate it ain't... so sorry.


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