Review: Martin Logan Odyssey Speaker

Category: Speakers

The speakers I were supplied with came from my local ML dealer and had already been broken in by the store manager in his reference room.
My listening selection was varied to say the least, so I will list my selection:
Ry Cooder - A Meeting by the River
Loreena McKennitt - The Mask and the Mirror
Enigma - MCMXC a.D. (limited edition version)
Depeche Mode - World In My Eyes/Happiest Girl/Sea of Sin (CD single)
Prokofiev - Romeo and Juliet
All the above were CD pressings, I tried a number of virgin vinyl audiophile records, but was not impressed at all. More of that later!
My room size was 22 foot wide by 35 foot long, this is my sole listening room and I was able to place the Odyssey's in a number of different positions ranging from experimenting with distance from corners and walls, to various toe-in settings.
Personally, I found these one of the most coloured speakers I have ever listened to. To describe their performance and sound could be likened to listening to the mid and treble frequencies through a metal tube, and the bass (which is user adjustable), ranges from flat and uninvolving to booming 'in-car' type response.
The Depeche Mode CD is a high quality USA pressing only available in the UK on import, the production on this is excellent and I use it regularly to test a systems ability to drop in the low frequencies, plus their speed.
It was an extremely painful listen on the Odyssey's with this CD, the material sounded weak, flat, and mid's were over emphasized.
I did not feel with any of the material that the Odyssey's provided any great detail or soundstage as they seem to be designed to provide their own type of sound.
If fact, when I returned them to the store manager and provided my feedback, he said this was a common response with ML speakers and althouygh he has them set up at home and loves them, he seems to one of few people who enjoy their sound.
It's really difficult for me to say what type of music or system these speakers would be suited in, they seem far too coloured to allow source components or pre-recorded material to shine.
As for my vinyl replay system, once again, just as with the CD material, the sound was metalic and mid's were over emphasized so that the sound at best appears to be firing at you down a long metal tube.
My recommendation is to set them up like I did in your own surroundings with your equipment and music and try them for yourself. At $6500, there are far more involving and less coloured speakers out there, and at a fraction of the cost. Personally, it's going to take an army of ML staff to audition one of their speakers again!

Associated gear
Michell Gyrodec with QC power supply
Rega RB250 - Originlive total modification
Audio Technica OC9 cartridge
Meridian 206b CD player (used as transport only)
Meridian 263 Alpha Sigma DAC
Krell KSP-7B pre-amp
Krell KSA-100 II power amp
Chang Lightspeed ISO9600 power conditioner
Transparent Audio power cables
Cable Talk Boradcast 2 interconnects
Straightwire Flex-4 speaker cable

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