I've read a lot about magnepans here and that they are a planar speaker, A friend of mine had a pair of Acoustat specra 22's that were electrostats that sounded very nice. What i'm not clear on is the difference ...electrostats have their own transformers that plug directly into the wall, do planars plug in also or are they passive....that being the difference. I was also wondering if a pair of 1.6's would be a worthwhile step up from my PSB's or should I listen to some bigger ones or whether or not they like to be connected to Musical Fidelity Gear.