After 30 years, return to M-L with "downgrade" and...wow!

[pjr300]

A few months ago i decided to make a downgrade in my system by selling off a pair of Wilson Audio Sophia 2 speakers. These expensive speakers performed well (they should at $16k retail!) and excelled in many areas, especially in over-the-top build quality at throwing an image outside the speakers. However, they are very heady (>200 lbs) and portability might be essential in the next few years....and i ain't getting any younger.

After considering the marketplace for a suitable replacement, i decided on looking at the Martin-Logan family. I haven't heard them in years, and was always amazed on how such a niche product was sold at Best Buy..... but things have changed in audio! I owned MLs way back... in fact, I previously owned the original CLS and also the CLS 2 (circa 1990), and later, in a different house, a pair of Arius made its way in for a while (apx 1994). So it's been 30 years since I've owned a pair! (lot of life got in the way).

Anyhow, the Sophias were sold, and i acquired a used pair of ESLs. Again, this was a "downgrade" in comparison to my prior speakers. Anyhow, I've connected them to my existing components (Unison Research S6, a Class A single-ended tube integrated amplifier; and a North Star "Blue Diamond" CD/DAC, both from Italy).

In short, I've been blown away.

I'm continuously pulling out music that I've listened to for decades, and each session is like hearing it for the first time. The ESLs are not just pulling out detail (which it does), or providing great imaging (again, accomplished), but the music is no longer HiFi. This is heard to explain: instead of hearing a sound in space from behind the right speaker, I'm hearing an instrument; no longer just sound effects, but as if a real instrument is right in the room. It's quite startling!

Even voices sound so robust and full, with hearing such body to them, you swear the singer is there in the room. Not just a sound coming from an image between the speakers, but as if you're hearing the vocals right from the singer's mouth, with such true dimensionality you'd swear that you can tell the depth of each breath taken.

I've been "messin' with hi-end audio" for over 40 years and owned some great setups, but this is a new expereince. Very unexpected and somewhat at a loss for words, to be frank.

 

[Russr]

Cool! They could probably use your enthusiasm at some of the Magnolia locations!

Enjoy your tunes...

 

[JonFo]

Cool, glad you are enjoying listening to your favorite music.

The results can be radically improved with some judicious use of room treatments. Note that what and where treatments are placed are very different for ESL, especially in the >500Hz ranges; for bass, there is no difference.
There are plenty of threads on here in the Acoustics subsection, but feel free to start one with details of your room, and folks can chime in.

 

[Big Dog RJ]

Attn: pjr300

I hear ya! WOOF!!!
Many years ago, I had the chance to get hold of a pair of original Wilson Alexia's. They looked quite similar to the well known Watt Puppy's and at the time, most of our highend dealers were praising Wilson's as the benchmark of highend speaker design. They were extremely well built, there's no denying that. Also the attention to detail and craftsmanship is superb! But that's about it!

After those particular Wilson's, i managed to find a well deserved Wilson enthusiast in Sydney, so he bought my pair.
I ventured back into electrostats. Also owing the CLSIIZ's previously and the SL3's. Went through several Quads, ML hybrid stats and now the CLX Art's. Also owned several top tier speakers from Infinity's IRS series to Genesis, Theil and Paradigm, so really high performance stuff.

Having owned all these great speakers, some of which were above ordinary and really well designed, none of them were able to match the "extraordinary " performance of ML's. No chance Charlie! And that's simply because, ML stats don't have any box! No cabinets other than the hybrids that have built-in bass drivers. When considering the Stat panels, they're absolutely free from phase issues using different types of drivers in an array format, typically found in dynamic box types. Stats use only one driver, one type of material that is driven in uniform pattern. That's why what you hear is a more purer reproduced signal of the recording. Also, due to the lack of cabinets, there's zero resonance... because there's no enclosure for back waves to bombard each other, hence zero distortion and absolute pure signal transfer. All box type speakers, no matter what type of carbon this, graphite that or whatever eye-watering diamond material they use in their tweeters, will always have colorations and resonances regardless of whether they cost $100 or a million bucks!

It's just simple physics, there's no way around a box, color free, resonance free design, and the majority of those speakers, when compared to panel types (ribbons and stats) sound completely different to any panel type speakers. Stats are the most transparent transducers you'll ever come across. The majority of folks who say that panel types can't do bass or are bass-less... are mainly used to the box or some sort of enclosure to reinforce those LF's. When they listen to panel types, and especially full range stats, they can't quite understand how the transparency levels went up to sheer brilliance! Simply can't fathom the box-less design... and life goes on.

Once and if you get used to this color free, distortion free and highly transparent presentation, it's extremely difficult to go back to box designs. Having previously owned Wilson's, Infinity's and Genesis... going full circle and now CLX's, that's it for me! I'll probably be buried alongside my beloved CLX's. Have never looked back regardless of downsizing or not.

Cheers, and Enjoy those finest tunes!
WOOF!
RJ