MartinLogan ElectroMotion ESLPrice: $2195 per pair

Website: www.martinlogan.com

Hans said: The ElectroMotion ESL is the gateway product to MartinLogan’s more expensive electrostatic designs, and it’s easy to hear why they’ve stubbornly stood by the design, much in the way Mazda stood by its idiosyncratic rotary engine. Like the Wankel, the ElectroMotion isn’t perfect, but its qualities are manifest to my ears. There is no other product like it at or near its $2195/pair price. I suspect that many listeners who hear it will then find more traditional speaker designs to be irrelevant.

Read the SoundStage! Access review.

The gist: If you can’t afford a larger ‘Logan.