The Eminent Technology LFT-8A's are a hybrid speaker (8" bass driver with push-pull planar mid/high)I had never heard of them, but was interested after seeing some for sale on Agon. They were inexpensive enough to merit buying a pair used from a guy one hour away and auditioning them against the Maggie 1.6's.
I have put a more through description of their sound/performance on the comments at my virtual system, but in short they were more robust, rich sounding, had stronger bass and quicker mid/highs. The push-pull design of the Eminents uses two sets of magnets with the mylar diaphram inbetween vs. the one set of magnets used by Magnepan. The difference in speed/detail is quite noticeable. I was an ardent Maggie fan (I still think they're nice) but my world was rocked by the Eminent.
I sold the Maggie 1.6's for $1175 and bought a used pair of Eminents for $800, which put $375 into my pocket after an impressive upgrade in sound. That's the holy grail of audio! An upgrade that pays you!
I have gone on to build a "super-speaker" system comprised of twin sets of Eminent LFT-8A's. You can also see this on my virtual system. I honestly don't know why the Eminent's are not more well known, but they certainly are an impressive speaker. Aesthetically they are not as "clean" in form as the Maggies, but in performance I put them in a higher category altogether. Their new price is almost identical to the 1.6, but used they can be had for well under $1,000.
I would love to hear if you ever decide to take the Eminent Challenge. I believe you'd be well rewarded.
