@Calvin: was the absence of cloth / screens mainly about appearance, or acoustics as well?
I did more listening tests and comparing, and the overall impression is that on average I prefer the woofer + esl setup to the esl only setup. The esl only setup is still very capable of producing LF, but the woofers produce just more pressure and, depending on the record, give a bit more dynamics, which I prefer. Still questionable if I would spend about 1500 euro's for just the 12 midwooders and dsp and stereo amplifier to power this hybrid setup, and in my case, being dependent on windows-only minidsp software, but I hope to extend the improvement by building a new, similar panel, maybe a bit taller, with smaller d/s spacing to improve sensitivity, so I can use easily obtainable, cheap toroidal power transforers, compared to the heavy, custom made full range transformers I currently use for my stats. And I expect an audible improvement in mid-range transparency, if remembering correctly from listening tests a few years ago, because I will use them without any cloth / screens, as I don't need to tame the fundamental resonant frequency of the stat panels.
I did more listening tests and comparing, and the overall impression is that on average I prefer the woofer + esl setup to the esl only setup. The esl only setup is still very capable of producing LF, but the woofers produce just more pressure and, depending on the record, give a bit more dynamics, which I prefer. Still questionable if I would spend about 1500 euro's for just the 12 midwooders and dsp and stereo amplifier to power this hybrid setup, and in my case, being dependent on windows-only minidsp software, but I hope to extend the improvement by building a new, similar panel, maybe a bit taller, with smaller d/s spacing to improve sensitivity, so I can use easily obtainable, cheap toroidal power transforers, compared to the heavy, custom made full range transformers I currently use for my stats. And I expect an audible improvement in mid-range transparency, if remembering correctly from listening tests a few years ago, because I will use them without any cloth / screens, as I don't need to tame the fundamental resonant frequency of the stat panels.