silver305
Well-known member
Hi there,
As many of you know I had created a thread earlier regarding my issues with the stage x. I couldn't get it to sound good enough. I felt the midrange muddy or hard to understand at times. I called Martin logan and they had me make sure the panel was working (which it was). Long story short, I ended up buying a classe monoblock cam300 for it and tried to feed it more juice to see if it would open up, but no luck. I had it wall mounted and I STILL think it was NOT a good match/blend with my Montis. It was so hard to understand if I sat off to the side. It loses its "sweetpot" rather quickly which I will say that the MOTIF X did not do. I owned 2 motif x speakers and I didn't feel they lost their midrange the way the stage x did. I was happy with the motif x, but I assumed that the stage x would have killed it given its price difference and larger size. Boy was I wrong!
I gotta tell everyone here, the martin logan stage x IS NOT to be wall mounted. It DOES NOT do well mounted on the wall. The sound gets trapped between its panel and the wall which is only about a 10 inches away from the panel. I felt very unhappy with its design, terrible off axis performance. This is by far the pickiest and most difficult center channel to position. I IMMEDIATELY know when something is not sounding right. I would say that Martin Logan really needs to revisit this design and come up with something a lot easier to place. I talked to several audiophile friends and one of them actually told me he sold his stage x as well because he didn't like it. It appears that the large electrostatic speakers swallow the center channel when it is also an electrostatic panel of smaller size. I didn't believe it until I kept playing with my set up and eventually ended up giving up on it and returned it.
With that said, if you are thinking of making the move to the stage x, MAKE SURE you are not planning on mounting on the wall and that you don't sit too far off axis or you will be very disappointed. i actually believe the motif x sounds a hell of a lot better when wall mounted than the stage x. i think it has to do with its design which makes it sound so much better when wall mounted.
With that said, i am in the market for a good center channel to join my montis. Right now, i am considering these speakers, but i am open to other suggestions from those of you who have tried other center channels with electrostatics.
1. Paradigm C5 (A review is floating around that says it blends really amazing with electrostatics, but a friend says paradigm signature is garbage and overpriced)
2. Bryston TC1 (MONSTER 102 lbs center channel. Handles gobbs of power and has outstanding bottom end. however, not a single review by anyone and it gets no attention due to it being built by axiom)
3. MOTIF X (i have considered returning back to this unit because i wasn't really disappointed by it. i just wanted the larger stage x which ended up being a failure)
4. Monitor audio PLC 350 ( I thought since it has a ribbon tweeter that it could be a good match for electrostatics)
5. ...........
i am open to any other options that make sense. Look forward to your input and thoughts!
As many of you know I had created a thread earlier regarding my issues with the stage x. I couldn't get it to sound good enough. I felt the midrange muddy or hard to understand at times. I called Martin logan and they had me make sure the panel was working (which it was). Long story short, I ended up buying a classe monoblock cam300 for it and tried to feed it more juice to see if it would open up, but no luck. I had it wall mounted and I STILL think it was NOT a good match/blend with my Montis. It was so hard to understand if I sat off to the side. It loses its "sweetpot" rather quickly which I will say that the MOTIF X did not do. I owned 2 motif x speakers and I didn't feel they lost their midrange the way the stage x did. I was happy with the motif x, but I assumed that the stage x would have killed it given its price difference and larger size. Boy was I wrong!
I gotta tell everyone here, the martin logan stage x IS NOT to be wall mounted. It DOES NOT do well mounted on the wall. The sound gets trapped between its panel and the wall which is only about a 10 inches away from the panel. I felt very unhappy with its design, terrible off axis performance. This is by far the pickiest and most difficult center channel to position. I IMMEDIATELY know when something is not sounding right. I would say that Martin Logan really needs to revisit this design and come up with something a lot easier to place. I talked to several audiophile friends and one of them actually told me he sold his stage x as well because he didn't like it. It appears that the large electrostatic speakers swallow the center channel when it is also an electrostatic panel of smaller size. I didn't believe it until I kept playing with my set up and eventually ended up giving up on it and returned it.
With that said, if you are thinking of making the move to the stage x, MAKE SURE you are not planning on mounting on the wall and that you don't sit too far off axis or you will be very disappointed. i actually believe the motif x sounds a hell of a lot better when wall mounted than the stage x. i think it has to do with its design which makes it sound so much better when wall mounted.
With that said, i am in the market for a good center channel to join my montis. Right now, i am considering these speakers, but i am open to other suggestions from those of you who have tried other center channels with electrostatics.
1. Paradigm C5 (A review is floating around that says it blends really amazing with electrostatics, but a friend says paradigm signature is garbage and overpriced)
2. Bryston TC1 (MONSTER 102 lbs center channel. Handles gobbs of power and has outstanding bottom end. however, not a single review by anyone and it gets no attention due to it being built by axiom)
3. MOTIF X (i have considered returning back to this unit because i wasn't really disappointed by it. i just wanted the larger stage x which ended up being a failure)
4. Monitor audio PLC 350 ( I thought since it has a ribbon tweeter that it could be a good match for electrostatics)
5. ...........
i am open to any other options that make sense. Look forward to your input and thoughts!
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