flat speaker quandary


Hi folks...

I can't believe it, but after finaly getting the Martin Logans iv'e always wanted...i'm not satisfied.
I lack warmth, punch and musicality over what I upgraded from, which was Magnepan MMGs. I know, a much smaller speaker. I moved into a new house with a great big listening room so i figured it to be a good chance to buy the big ML's I had lusted over, which I did. Now that I have them...I'm scratching my head. Wost of all, its getting to the piont where I'm more focused on what i'm *not* hearing vs. what I am hearing.

I currently am using a nice tube preamp > mccormack dna1 > Martin logan SL3

this is an upgrade from a B&K st140 > MMG rig in a smaller room. THIS is the sound I need to re-capture. It just worked for me on so many levels.

I was thinking of maybe buying some larger maggies, like the 3.3r or 3.5r as they tend to pop up with some regularity and would be of equal value to what I could likely get for these SL3s I have.
I've never heard a big maggie before. How do the 3-way planars sound?

Should I just get a good sub instead? I know I need one, but If those larger maggies dont require one then that would be a + in their direction.
nickspicks

Showing 1 response by dannylw

Nick, I think Audiokinesis and Onhwy61 may have hit on something. Others also hit on a few issues. I own older Maggies and full range stats. I have also heard the SL3 but not in my house. The first time I heard the SL3 was with a Evo power amp. I was impressed. I know the room I heard them in was smaller than yours. The second time I heard the SL3 was at a Tweeter store driven by B&K. It imaged well but I can't imagine any buying them based on what I heard. They were sterile, cold and strident.

Audiokinesis spoke about the drop changes between a point source and a line source. I haven't measured it but he may be right. The ML's don't drop nearly as fast in level as does a point source. I have measured the ML in my room. My room is the same size as yours but I use physically bigger speakers. I use my ML biamped most of the time and adjust the woofer to my listening position. In my room every speaker has to conform to the same listening position. I don't have a lot of seating options. When I switch to my old maggies the listening position is the same but usually the speakers have to be in slightly different positions than the ML. Also my ML's have bigger panels than yours and may be harder to place. My maggies are also bigger than yours and are even harder to place than the ML. it usually takes weeks for me to get the Maggies right.

My basic points are: 1.Your amp could be the issue. ( I don't know the DNA1) 2. The speaker could be too small for the room. 3. To fix this problem could be an Odyssey (no pun intended) and certainly expensive. 4. The speaker could also be showing the weaknesses in your interconnects.