Just auditioned Martin Logan ESL vs 60xt

Martin Logan recommends amplifiers that double in power each time you go down in ohms (all the way to 2ohms or better. Example: 120w/ch @8ohms, 240w/ch@4ohms, 480w/ch @2ohms. The difference in the sound with this in mind is jaw dropping. I have gotten the ESLs to sound good with a Class D NuPrime STA-9 though ($659). I run a tube amp and it just didn't give the instruments realism. I bought a Krell amp used and serviced, and my world went into a real sound system that gave a sound that was one of those "regardless of price" quality. I have since bought more powerful Krell amps and upgraded to a much more expensive ML Montis that I bought used. Also with (2) REL S3 subs sitting on the inside of the Montis, I have dialed the system into a finished state of the art sound system. Martin Logan base models ESLs need some sub love as well. Going up to the Anthem Correction ML models will give you the proper bass in medium sized rooms. But don't underestimate the magic of the REL sub systems. Don't bother with electrostatics if you can't give them proper amplification. I learned this thru experience. Don't be afraid to buy some items used for your sound system. Most of us..... it is the only way to afford "high end" sound. My 2 cents.

I stumbled on this older thread helping a friend to do a proper evaluation.

It’s great folks here truly recognize you cannot just walk in to a BestBuy Magnolia type store and hear what the Motion or ESL Martin Logan speakers can do with a lame HT receiver through a junk speaker switcher with layers of poor interconnects daisy changed with garbage speaker cabling, bad connectors, and limited source components and expect it to perform correctly. Garbage in, Garbage out, and weak links end-to-end for sure.

They do the best they can with rushed A/B comparisons and lots of surrounding noises going on in a retail chain store. Pull the same speakers out and put them in a worthy setup at home. Much different.

Take the same Motion 40XT, 60XT, and ESLs, hook them up at home with a high quality dedicated 2-ch amplifier (solid state or really good tube system) with some real transformers and nice tubes behind it and experience a very different type of result and musicality from the exact same speakers. There are some very good speakers out there that sound much better in a worthy system at home.

The best buy near me didn't have the 60xt with separates, just ran them off their receivers and they sounded muddled without the necessary amp to run them. I bought them at a ridiculous clearance price and they sound a hundred times better (yes a hundred) on my cheap outlaw mono amps.  

I’ve tested my Martin Logan Motion 40s from my HT setup on my audio separates including a 100wpc Cary tube amp, a Cary solid state amp, a 10wpc Triode tube amp, then QS monoblock tube amps, and a high powered Outlaw Audio amp, bi-amped. Not muddy at all.  ALL tests sounded MUCH nicer than anything I ever heard at a BestBuy/Magnolia on a receiver there.

Garbage in = garbage out for most good speakers. A demo at home on good 2ch audio gear can make a notable difference.  

I have the 60 XTs which I had gotten a smokin' deal on from Crutchfield which I could not refuse. I feel that the muddiness in male vocals is due to their natural 80 Hz resonance frequency. It's recommended to read Brent Butterworth's review, he explains this. He's one of the most knowledgeable and senior people I can think of in audio. His exact words: "I heard some of the best midrange I've heard from any speaker": good enough for me to make a decision. I have a power amp that had cost $800 second hand: these speakers are so revealing, that my Quad and NAD amps, hadn't cut it anymore. They're both gone.

I heard Metallica on the ESL11As  at Best Buy in Frisco, TX: that was, without a doubt, the cleanest bass, I've ever heard. But, for a price.