Martin Logan ElectroMotion ESL: Insane Audiophile-Worthy Electrostatic Speakers for Under $2000 [Speakers]
“Affordable” for futuretastic electrostatic speakers means a few grand. Martin Logan’s ElectroMotion ESL electrostratic speakers’ll be under $2000 when they’re out in March, using the cheapest full-size electrostatic transducer ever. They sounded superclean during a five-minute demo. [Martin Logan] More »
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Hmm… no upfiring tweeter. Maybe these really are full size? Hard to tell from the pic… I’d love to hear to see if they are missing any high-end – low excursion or not, it’s hard to get a large panel to move fast enough to reproduce highs truly well – and impossible to get a large panel to image accurately without setting up nodes that cancel each other out (one reason tweeter diaphragms/cones are smaller than the wavelength of most of the frequencies they produce!). It could be a disaster if listening off-axis…
But, ML is no peddler of low end gear… I’d love to hear, and move around the room as I listen. That’s usually a huge strength of ML speakers, because of their bipolar (no cabinet) by nature design.
geolemon
Copy/paste from an earlier comment I made of my feelings about the martin logans:
The problem I have with Martin Logans is that their electrostatic speakers are very finicky when it comes to placement. Ive listened to the preface and the purity on a few occasions (I dont think they make the preface anymore). The preface retailed for $1500/pair, and the purity is around $3000/pair. While I do think they sound AMAZING, they only sound AMAZING in one spot. The sweet spot for Martin Logans was a bit too sweet – perfection for a single listener, but a little disappointing for anyone else outside of that small cone (they list the horizontal dispersion as 30° on their site – I doubt its realistically that under normal room conditions, and is that 30° for +/- 10dB? 6dB? 3dB?)
spydr101
Can I get them in chrome with some red backlighting?
Disabled_Vette
I see they just missed the 6th minute distortion point…
Srsly, though: ML make great-sounding speakers. We used them for front L/R channels in the home theater room when I worked at the The Abso!ute Sound.
howdini
These will go great with my Magnavox TV!
tasteskindasalty
I thought they have been out for a long time. Maybe I’m thinking of a different brand, but I know I’ve seen speakers that look to be the exact same model out for around $1400 for a while.
vel0city
a 5 minute demo? That’s not a demo, that’s barely a highlight.
troy.overton
Bah. They only sounded good during the demo because of the monster cables they were hooked up with.
///M
My dad used to own a pair of Martin Logans, like these, when I was a kid. I used to bring friends home and watch them totally freak out when they couldn’t understand where the sound came from.
gloom
I hate having to wait… I guess I’ll just buy another car.
*The_Wizard*
My Grandfather has an old pair of elctrostatic speakers. Epic sound, but they require a ton of juice.
stan-the-man