Martin Logan - wow


I heard my first electrostatic speakers yesterday, ML Ascent at a very helpful dealer. These are clearly my cup of tea -- I liked better than the B&W N802s I listened to at the same time. Vocals are amazingly present. So of course I have some questions:

1. The bass wasn't great. Better than a monitor (I listened to B&W N805) but not much punch, and more important, sounded a little sloppy. Are there adjustments that one makes to the crossover, some little magic knob, that might improve this?

2. Are most users combining with a sub for stereo use (I'm not doing HT)?

3. We listened in a small room (about 8x8) at the store. My room is about 25 x 14 x 8', with speakers along the 14' wall. What model of Martin Logan would do the best job in this room? Bigger, smaller? I mostly listen at low-ish volumes, but would like to crank it ocassionally?

4. My amp is a Classe CA-200 (the newer style, same as current CA-201). Will this amp do justice to the speakers?

5. Other speakers I should listen to? I hear "maggies" and "innersound" -- are there others to consider?

Thank you!
ehart

Showing 1 response by esoxhntr

Duke makes some excellent points - and he is right on when he says that the most important thing is to correctly match your amplifier with panel speakers. I have no idea whether or not your amp will match well with Martin Logans, but Ascents are not overly difficult to drive so you should be okay.

I have heard Ascents in a room almost exactly the same dimensions as yours, and they will sound just fine. Odysseys and Prodigys probably need a little more breathing room than 14' of width, and you will need to move your listening postion forwards and backwards a bit to find the sweet spot, but this won't take too long to accomplish.

Two more points - first, Martin Logans are not the sound for everybody, but if they are your "cup of tea", don't waste too much time talking to people who don't like them because they hear music differently than you. This is not a slam at anyone, it is definitely a "different strokes for different folks" issue. Instead, spend lots of time listening to other speakers to try to find something you like better. If you keep coming back to the panels, then you will know that you are a Martin Logan guy. I am a Logan owner, and with my gear, in my room, Logans (CLS IIz) are the answer for me. If I were to move to another listening space, I might change my mind.

Second, a subwoofer is not necessary with Ascents, but if you are a real "bass hound", you may eventually want to go that route. Martin Logan makes a decent sub, but there are other brands that may do the job as well. If you decide on ML speakers, give them a few months of breaking in and getting used to before you get too worried about a sub.

Happy Hunting!