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Martin Logan Logos vs Theatre vs Cinema

We are putting together a planar speaker home theatre system. Martin Logan electrostats will probably wind up for the front/surrounds (CLS, Aerius) or Magnepans. The Martin Logans are more likely as the CLS is might attractive as a full range electrostat.

In any event the center channel speaker is an issue. We lean to the Logos as it is a true electrostat and not a hybrid (ie, no woofers..correct me if mistaken) and the Theatre and Cinema are both hybrids (as is the Soundlab center channel).

Is there a reason Martin Logan discontinued the all electrostatic center channel in favour of hybrid design? Is there simply not enough panel area to generate decent SPL and freq range?

Amplification requirements are understood for all of these speakers. Such amps as a Bryston 7b monoblock are being considered or older Threshold S/500 type things.
c123666

Showing 1 response by morbius396c

morbius396c
134 posts
 
C123666,

The current Martin Logan center channels are both hybrids - just like ALL of Martin Logan's current lineup.

It's difficult to make a dipole unit produce the kind of
long wavelength bass sound - the fact that it's a dipole
means that the bass emitted by the panel is acoustically
"shorted out" since it will have destructive interference
with the back wave.

A relatively small baffle like the Logos doesn't isolate
the front and back bass waves very well. When the
wavelength is bigger than the speaker - there's not much
the speaker can do. It's bad enough for a "full-sized"
electrostat - even more so for the diminutive Logos.

This is where the hybrid design comes in - the small
dynamic woofers in the Cinema and Theater are not hampered
by concerns about backwave cancellation.

Martin Logan discontinued the all electrostatic Logos
center channel - just as it discontinued the all
electrostatic CLS "full-sized" speaker.

Dr. Gregory Greenman
Physicist

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