Further Electrostatic Adventures ... the Martin Logan Montis

Martin Logan Summit X - Perhaps the best Hybrid
Electrostat on the planet?  Certainly one of the better 'stats

My first real "Hi Fi" experience was about 1998 or so.  I had just moved into a house in San Jose, CA - a little shoebox of a place, but even then being able to afford and move into a house was a bit of an achievement due to the astronomical cost of housing in that area (and in subsequent years, it has even got more out of bed with incomes as waves of startup IPO money continued pushing up prices).  The point of this was that I wasn't exactly rolling in cash at the time having put my life savings into the downpayment, so I was only seeking a Tivoli Radio for the kitchen given the great FM reception and reasonable sound.

I wandered into a Magnolia Hi Fi whose newspaper ad indicated they had them.  And had them they did, but as I walked passed an open listening room I was promptly blown away - I had never heard sound reproduction sound so clean and good - and by then I had enough experience going to music in bars and live concerts to know the sound of live music when I heard it - and this was most definitely delivering the goods.  I timidly asked a salesman what the strange partly transparent speakers were.

"Martin Logans" he said almost with a sniff.

I slunk away, not yet having the self assurance you get with life experience to dismiss snobbishness.  That lack of self confidence was further compounded by a complete lack of respect for real-world budgets by most stores in the SF Bay Area (Did I mention the distorting effects of all that IPO money sloshing around?  Sucks if you didn't have any, even if you have a decent income!).  Despite the attitude, I couldn't have bought them at the time ... though I sure did want that sound!

That short experience didn't leave me, and over the next 5 years I yearned to replace my el-cheapo Klipsch bookshelf speakers with the Energy subwoofer I had picked up a couple of years previously.  It wasn't until a job change, a move, and a very inviting, friendly store (The Sound Concept - now defunct) that I took the plunge, but never got the Martin Logans.

Now, as we begin blogging the tortuous path to new speakers - we've been exploring several options, and I wanted Martin Logans to be in the mix.  For a couple of reasons - they have their signature electrostatic speakers right down to the "aspirational buy" levels around $2-3k, they have fantastic speakers cheaper than that with just an electrostatic tweeter, and the most expensive thing you can buy from them is a world-beating panel for $25k.  But the "sweet spot" in their lineup is $6-14k depending upon size, etc.  These are all large amounts of money, but for a speaker that plays with the "big boys" this is a remarkable value - especially since the "big boys" are multiples of the price of these guys.  Martin Logan is a relatively large player in this niche (and starting to compete in the lower priced speakers in the $2k range which amounts to dipping its toes into the "aspirational buy" market long dominated by Bose) which gives its speakers the prices associated with a economy of scale most other makers just do not have.  Also worth noting is that their enclosures for the woofers are much smaller than for non panel speakers - which means the inherent costs will be lower since cabinetry, bracing, veneers and finishes add quite a bit to the cost of a speaker!

Early Martin Logan Speaker with the founders
in business because the guys at Quad couldn't
fix their product's glaring problems until 1981!

A little background - you may notice that the speaker looks like a curved panel mounted to a small cube at the base.  This is because they combine a electrostatic panel for treble and midrange, that works in principle much like the Quad, but for bass they put in a large driver to take care of the bass.  They call this Martin Logan's "Hybrid Electrostatic."  Martin Logan was founded in the late 1970's (a US company - their history in their own words is here!) to address a number of weaknesses many users complained about in the highly successful Quad ESL57 and the KLH9.  Common complaints surrounding the Quads (detailed in other articles on this blog) were: loud volumes were known to cause damage to the panels, lack of bass response (or when you had good bass response the speaker was enormous), a sense of compression in the transients, difficulty in ideal placement for the best sound and narrow dispersion (1 person listening area, and don't move your head).  Martin Logan's design - even the early ones - addressed these issues.  Their design using a curved panel and integrated woofer presented a compact package, that had a wide sweet spot, decent bass response, and an ease of placement similar to a high quality conventional speaker.  Some research into coatings and ruggedness allowed them to be immune to damage due to overdrive without overly finicky protection circuits that the Quads used.  It wasn't without tradeoffs, however, and the early models had a loss of coherence as the panel crossed over to the woofer due to the different speeds of the cone vs. panel.  Some folks didn't care, some thought it was a deal breaker.  As Martin Logan continued diligently working over subsequent decades, they have done much to mitigate their initial weaknesses, and today's offerings generally have eliminated or minimized most of their issues.

We made arrangements with a local dealer to hear the "Spire" (recently replaced by the "Montis" but essentially the same animal) to see if this speaker would work.  When the day finally arrived, we were stoked!  We grabbed a few CD's and SACD's and made out way to David Lane's Stereo Shop and our good friend Bob Cesarini (Who used to be one of the partners at The Sound Concept).

Ella and Louis ... on stage and close!

Bob had the Martin Logan Spires (Link to Montis) hooked up to a Parasound A21 Amp, Parasound JC2 Preamp and Marantz SACD Player (SA-11S2 for those with a scorecard).  The speakers hadn't been warmed up, as Electrostats need to, but we decided to start anyway.  The sound was fine from the get-go but did improve slightly throughout the session.

Round One ... Jazz and acoustic rock ...

First up was our favorite, Ella and Louis.  The second song "Isn't this a Lovely Day" had near the holographic presence of the Quads, with some of the details and small sounds associated with people being near you.  It didn't have quite the illusion spun by the Quads, but it did have a more realistic sounding treble and bass - so although it wasn't as intimate it sounded more natural.

Next up was Eric Clapton Unplugged. Now we usually play the opening two tracks, but Bob wanted to hear "Lonely Stranger" and, of course, we acquiesced given he's such a good friend and the song is one of the best on the album. The presence was there, but it again wasn't as intimate as the Quads, although it sure sounded clean and present - probably more like it was during that concert, and less like the "next bar stool over" of brand Q.  And when we got to he opening tracks we usually play, the triangle sounded through better than with the Quads, the decay sounding more realistic than with the Quads which pretty much nailed it.  I think this was the first body blow to the Quads which were the reigning King in our minds up to this point.

Yes it seemed like this, but not the next bar
stool over ...

Round Two ... Rock ... and Martin Logan

The opening of Peter Gabriel's Us has an explosive start - and the Quads lost their composure, but you don't hear it until you hear it done right -which the Martin Logans did in a serious sort of way.  I don't think our Thiels handled it as competently as the Martin Logans.  The next track we usually listen to is "Growing Up" which has a propulsive bass line.  The bass line was far more propulsive with the Martin Logans than the Quads, and gave the Thiels a run for their money.  Wow!

And next up was Genesis Selling England by the Pound whose second track "I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)."  The close harmony of Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins wasn't as close as in the Quads, but it was pretty darn distinct, and far better than our current speaker.  The most notable thing was the solidity of the music. The bass extension of the Quads wasn't nearly as good as the Martin Logans, and our reference Thiels, while not notable for bass, aren't slouches above about 35Hz, but were clearly outclassed.  The Spire/Montis supposedly go down to a solid 29Hz (Summits to 25Hz which is decent subwoofer territory!) so it isn't all that surprising.

Genesis in proportion and rocking!  Propulsive bass, you'd
have to be insane (and loaded) to want more!

In fact, we'd say if the music that gets you, that moves you, has more in common with Rush and The Rolling Stones than Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington, the Martin Logans will be your Electrostatic Choice which comes with enough differently priced options that they might not break the bank (Soundlabs, we're looking at YOU!).

One thing we did take note of, was the lack of a distinct image. The stereo image was far less distinct and layered than with many speakers and in the smaller listening areas we were in, the speakers didn't disappear.  Of course with room effects, you always have to say "YMMV," but it was important to note that if you are a sucker for the pinpoint image, these won't deliver the goods in a normal sized room.

However ... we walked around the room during some of the music, and while we noticed some bass boost near the walls (below 35Hz in most rooms you will get them), the main speakers seemed to have solid tonality with just a ever so slight roll off standing up.  Not too shabby!

A quick note - despite the piles of warnings we got about this woofer/panel discontinuity given my fussiness about sound quality - I simply didn't notice it at all.  Clearly Martin Logan has reduced the problem of the "hybrid system" of panel + cone to cognitive dissonance rather than real world issue.  Just like how we found the Quads perfectly capable of playing loud with complicated rock, Martin Logans are just not showing the weakness for which they are notorious for.  I wonder if people heard them recently?  I couldn't figure it out - perhaps it is simply someone trying a bit too hard to find a weakness to report on - so had to dredge up past issues?  Who knows - I'd say for us we did not notice any sort of discontinuity with a variety of music.  We doubt you would either.

Also, while the ML's were being driven by a 200W Amp, given the bass section had it's own amplifier integrated into it, the outboard amplifier you supply is relieved of the duty of supplying the power to the bass - which is where a lot of energy resides.  So any amp you have hooked up will just be powering the panel, which allows for a wider choice of amp. Given a difficult impedance at the highest registers (10-20kHz, you drop to a painfully low capacitive load), it probably won't be the best choice for most tube amplifiers.  Given Quads - both the ESL63/2805's and the original ESL57's both have above 2-3 Ohms here, so a tube amplifier would work pretty well with them - so that may be a consideration for people who want a panel speaker and insist upon the "magic of tubes."  A typical solid state amp ought to work just fine.

Summing up

A selection of their lineup - $1k to $25k!
"Aspirational Buy" to "Hold no punches"
a rather complete lineup for all kinds of wallets

We absolutely loved the Martin Logan Spires/Montis.  It split the difference between a dynamic speaker and the Electrostatics - it gave us 90% of what we loved with Quads but with better treble and better bass, and handled transients really well.  We felt that overall it was a "better speaker" giving a far better experience with a variety of music, but did give up a very small measure of midrange magic and some micro-details to the Quads - though both wipe the floor with most conventional speakers.  If these two examples of electrostic speakers are indicative of how they behave - if you absolutely love a transparent clean midrange, then you are really shopping for an electrostatic speaker - and should have one in the mix, and it is just a matter of picking the best tradeoff for you.

But just like the Quads, the Spire/Montis, and the Summit X, are true "off-ramp" speakers for those seeking one stop satisfaction, or an exit from the merry-go-round that high end stereo can feel like sometimes when confronted with real world budgets (The only difference between the Montis and Summit X is the extra bass extension - the panels are identical - so it is down to bass extension and your room/needs).  But if these are rarefied air to you, they have worthy great sounding hybrids down to $2000/pr that are worthy of checking out - highly recommended.

I know they will be on our list once that lottery win comes our way!

(And special thanks to David Lane's Stereo Shop - they are a friend of the blog for helping us!)