Upgrading from Martin Logan SL3s

Sorry for the trouble I may have caused you Ahendler, my bad. Won't happen again. All critisisms aside, may I also suggest Usher speakers as a possible option for you Lostbears. I cannot recommend a specific model as I don't know their line well, however, I have always been very impressed with the sound of them. Every year when I am at C.E.S. in Las Vegas their room sounds GREAT! granted, they are running all of their own gear which I believe makes for a synergistic match up, but Usher speakers are a great value and a big performer. The price point makes them big bang for the buck,(in my humble opinion),and I would own a pair in a heartbeat if not for my recent MBL purchase. Definately worth some research and an audition if you can.

Alright, alright, alright!! I got it. Give it a rest will ya? My eyes are old and I can't see so well either. I vow not to contribute anything else in ALL CAPITALS. Are we good now? Can we all just get along...and move along to more important matters...like talking about this wonderful hobby we are all so passionate about. All this wasted pissing and moaning over something so petty is making me loose interest too! Jeez.

I OWNED MARTIN-LOGAN QUEST Z'S FOR YEARS AND DROVE THEM WITH BOTH KRELL, AND AUDIO RESEARCH. THE AUDIO RESEARCH WAS NOT TUBED, IT WAS SOLID STATE. LS3 PREAMP AND D400 AMP. THE SOUND WAS VERY ARTICULATE AND A BIT BRIGHT WITH CERTIAN RECORDINGS. PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE TRIED OUT TUBED A.R. BUT I NEVER DID. INSTEAD I SOLD IT OFF AND BOUGHT KRELL AMPS ,MDA 300'S, AND A (TUBED) B.A.T. VK51SE PREAMP. NOW THAT WAS A GREAT COMBINATION AND WORKED WELL WITH MY M.L.'S. THE 6H30'S IN THE B.A.T. PREAMP REALLY SMOOTHED OUT THE "EDGE" OF MY SOUND, MAKING THE WHOLE ENTIRE PRESENTATION MUCH EASIER TO LISTEN TO LOUD. LESS FATIGUE. SMOOTHER HIGHS, YET STILL VERY WELL DEFINED. THE KRELL MONOBLOCKS MATED WELL WITH THE B.A.T.PREAMP. I SOLD THE KRELLS AFTER A FEW YEARS AND BOUGHT B.A.T.VK600SE MONOBLOCKS, THEN UPGRADED MY INTERCONNECTS TO BALANCED XLR TRANSPARENT. THE SOUND WAS SPOOKY GOOD. I AGREE WITH YOU ABOUT THE MAGGIES AND VANDERSTEENS. GREAT STUFF IF THAT'S YOUR CUP OF TEA. I HAVE FRIENDS WHO OWN BOTH BRANDS AND THE SOUND IS LUSH, AND LIFELIKE. THEY RUN TUBED ELECTRONICS TOO. I MYSELF DO NOT THINK MAGGIES OR VANDERSTEENS WOULD MAKE ME HAPPY IN THE LONG RUN. I LIKE MY SOUND MORE "FORWARD", NOT "IN YOUR FACE" FORWARD, NOT AGRESSIVE, BUT A LOT MORE LIVELY AND EXCITING. I ALSO PLAY ALOT OF JAZZ FUSION, CLASSIC ROCK, JAZZ, AND ELECTRIC BLUES. AND I TEND TO PLAY IT LOUD. (LOUDER THAN THE WIFE WOULD HAVE ME PLAY IT, BUT THANK GOD FOR A DEDICATED LISTENING ROOM!!). IF YOU HAVE OWNED M.L.SL3'S FOR AS LONG AS YOU HAVE,(AND BEEN HAPPY WITH THE SOUND), MY GUESS IS THAT YOU PREFER A BIT MORE OF AN "IMMEDIATE", SOMEWHAT FORWARD SOUND?? I DID NOT FIND MY M.L.QUEST Z'S TO BE "ETCHED" OR "BRIGHT", BUT THEY COULD BE DEPENDING ON YOUR ROOM FURNISHINGS AND THE TYPE OF GEAR USED. WITH YOUR A.R.C. GEAR I WOULD SAY VON SCHWEIKERT WOULD BE A GREAT MATCH. LIKE A PAIR OF VR4'S. MAYBE A SMALLER PAIR OF MBL'S, SUCH A THE 111F'S. I THINK YOU WOULD REALLY DIG THAT SOUND AND THEY DON'T REQUIRE AS MUCH HORSEPOWER TO RUN AS MANY WOULD BELIEVE. YOUR ARC REF.110 WOULD DO NICELY. AFTER I SOLD MY QUESTS, I GOT A PAIR OF MBL111E'S AND LOVED THAT COMBINATION. PLAYED LOUD AS HELL TOO, WHICH IS GREAT FOR A "ROCKER" LIKE ME! AFTER ABOUT 2 YEARS I UPGRADED TO MBL 101E MK2'S AND THAT IS SMOKIN' GOOD. AND IT ROCKS LIKE A BIG DOG! YOUR ARC IS GREAT STUFF LOSTBEARS, I WOULDN'T DUMP ANY OF IT SO SOON. MAYBE DO SOME NEW ELECTROSTATIC PANELS LIKE MOFIMADNESS SUGGESTED. PRICE OF ADMISSION IS CERTIANLY REASONABLE. BUT VON SCHWEIKERT, MAYBE EVEN JM LAB/FOCAL "UTOPIAS' WOULD BE A KILLER COMBO WITH YOUR CURRENT GEAR, AND YOU CAN PICK THAT STUFF UP RIGHT HERE ON A-GON FOR A FRACTION OF WHAT IT SOLD FOR NEW, (OF COURSE YOU ALREADY KNEW THAT). FOR ME, THE ULTIMATE (AT THE MOMENT) IS MBL. IT'S ROCKIN' MY WORLD THESE DAYS. NO COMPLAINTS.

A subwoofer is a great idea in my humble opinion. I found that using a good subwoofer to augment the bottom end of a Martin Logan set-up was well worth doing. Over the 14 years that I had my Quest Z's, I bought, (and sold), a bunch of different subs. Some I found worked better and blended seamlessly, while others were pieces of crap and only "muttled up" the sound. The good ones were: Velodyne, but NOT the big ones. 15" and 18" drivers can be too slow and plodding, did not mate well with a "fast" panel speaker such as M.L., so stay away from the BIG Velodynes, like the FSR18, F18, ULD15, ULD18. I've owned them all. Go for the smaller driver Velodynes if you must. IMHO. Von Schweikert used to make a pair of subs, each containing two rear firing active 10" drivers in a sealed cabinet. Called the Towers of Power. Those were killer with my M.L.'s., (they were a completely black fabric covered pair of subs and looked like Vandersteens). Had them for many years and loved them. I ultimately ended up with a JM Lab/Focal Sub Utopia which is an awesome match, and just seemed to fill in that bottom octave without imposing itself. Very smooth and natural, and it's a beautiful looking, furniture grade cabinet with a 1000watt amp built in. It's built like a battleship. I still have it today and use it in conjunction with my MBL 101e Mk2's. Other subs I've bought over the years, but didn't like with my M.L.'s, (and ended up selling off pretty quick)- ANYTHING Sunfire. Had 3 different sizes of those little Bob Carver designed "true subwoofers"...basically a little nuclear bomb in a box. I found them to be sloppy and loose, and boomy. Not worth the trouble. To hard to integrate, crappy sounding. They're really just good for lots of noise, but suck for music.
I've also had one of those BagEnd "infrasub" 18's. The thing was GIANT, produced big boomy sound, and was slow as MUD. It's much better if used in a home theater system with the LFE output. Great for explosions, car crashes, Sci-fi space battle scenes, and loud sound effects. But NOT with music. NOT with M.L.'s
I would stay away from those if I were you. Now Martin Logan makes some great subs,(the Depth, the Decent, the Abyss i think they are called??), and while I have never owned a M.L. sub, a friend of mine did and loaned it to me, it was clear that it was intended for use with "fast" speakers, and really worked wonders with my Quest Z's.
So there you go Lostbears, from my firsthand experience I would tell you to go for it! Buy a sub and you will not be disappointed. They add a whole new dimension to an already great speaker. Just stay away from the crappy ones I mentioned. I see M.L. subs all over this A-gon so I know you could snap one up for a pretty good deal. Better yet go for stereo subs...buy 2 M.L.'s!! That would be a beautiful thing!