M/L Center Channel Speaker Choice

[Esl Mike]

To replace 11-year old Energy Veritas 2.3 bookshelf cone & dome speakers, I’m purchasing (4) Electromotion ESL’s for the (2) Fronts and (2) Sides in my Home Theater. The question then becomes which Martin Logan Center speaker should I choose?

I am a believer that the Center is one of the most important components of an H/T. However, I must say, that I have never tried NOT using a Center speaker. With the Electromotion ESL's and their great imaging, I plan on first trying them without a Center. However, I do have a very difficult H/T room -- it is anything but rectangular! So, neither the Left nor Right Electromotion will have identical surfaces behind and adjacent to them, which will probably negatively impact imagining and prompt my need for a Center.

At any rate, I’m considering either the Motif-X or Stage-X over the EM-C2. Voicing wise et al, will either the Motif X, or Stage X integrate well with the Electromotion ESL’s? Paired with the Electromotion ESL's, which of the (3) Centers would be your preference and why?

Home Theater Details (where the (4) Electromotion ESL's will be used):
TV is a 65” Panasonic Plasma which is mounted on a cart/stand. The bottom of the panel is 33.5” from the floor. The plan would be to place the M/L Center speaker as close to the bottom of the Plasma as possible.

I’m using a Marantz 11-Channel AV 8801 Pre-Pro. This piece has the Audyssey MultEQXT32, SubEQHT room correction system.

Amplification is provided by an Aragon 2007 (7) Channel Amp.

The (2) Subs are 11-year old Paradigm’s.

The Electromotion ESL’s will be used in the Home Theater room for movies and concert DVD’s.

I presently have a 2-channel audio room that is separate from the H/T room. The 2-channel room contains full-range electrostatic speakers, monoblocks, pre-amp, and USB DAC (all 3-pieces containing over 40 tubes), plus turntable. I have owned M/L’s (reQuests) in the past and auditioned the Electromotion ESL's this past weekend. So, am sure the new M/L's will be a good and beneficial upgrade from my present Energy Loudspeakers.

 

[roberto]

Hola Mike and welcome to the forum. The best center channel that ML has is the Stage X. The second best is the Motif X. Let your budget and ears decide which is best for you. Of course I do recommend to you the Stage X. This model offers more dynamics and better voice harmonic texture. But the Motif is very close. Both models exhibit effortless voices, but the Stage X has more realistic sound to my ears. I could live with any of those center channels. Happy listening!

 

[krozyck]

Both models are designed to sonically match MartinLogan’s current line of floor standing hybrid electrostatic speakers. Stage X proves an ideal match for MartinLogan Reserve Series products including CLX, Summit X, Montis, and Ethos. Motif X is well suited to match MartinLogan’s Ethos, Theos, and ElectroMotion ESL models.

 

[|Tch0rT|]

You still might be able to find the regular versions of the Stage and Motif at AudioAdvisor at a bit less than the cost of the X versions. I have the regular Motif and it blends in well with my EM ESL's. It's not 100% since it's not the same speaker but it works well enough that now I can listen to 5.1 music/concert discs now. I previously had an Encore TF and it was fine for movies but wasn't very good for music (at least horizontally, I never tried it vertically).

 

[JonFo]

Hi Mike, you are absolutely correct that the center is a very critical part of a multichannel audio system.

I usually recommend the biggest center you can afford/fit into the deployment. I second |Tch0rT| recommendation, as one can get a Stage for $1,500 at AudioAdvisor, which is a much better unit than a Motif-X for $500 more.

Keep in mind that even a Stage is still undersized relative to any ESL, but it's the biggest practical size most people can fit into their setups.

 

[Esl Mike]

Thanks for the responses!

Last Friday, I placed an order for the following:

(1) Stage X
(2) Theos
(2) Electromotion ESL's

To say the least, I'm obviously excited about replacing the Energy cone's and dome's I'm now using in my H/T room, with Martin Logan ESL's!

After owning M/L reQuests which I sold approximately 12-years ago, I'm also excited about rejoining the Martin Logan fold. I didn't say ESL fold, because the reQuests were replaced by Soundlab M1PX full-range ESL’s in the 2-channel audio room. So, while I had a hiatus from M/L, I choose to stick with stats at least in one of my audio-related rooms. Once, heard, it's darn hard to return to a non-panel, or ESL speaker, isn't it!?

 

[Holiday]

What did you end up doing?

I have from Esls and a theater center and I am just not happy with the way it sounds.

I do not have room to use a Esl as a center either. Was really thinking about trying a phantom center.

 

[Esl Mike]

What did you end up doing?

I have from Esls and a theater center and I am just not happy with the way it sounds.

I do not have room to use a Esl as a center either. Was really thinking about trying a phantom center.

I am now using the M/L's that I mentioned that I ordered above.

I haven't tried NOT using the center (Stage X):

First, my Marantz AV-8801 Pre-Pro, and its Audyssey MultEQ XT32 room correction system, performs exceptionally well and I didn't see a need to set up the Audyssey system sans a Center.

Second, my H/T room is large and anything but rectangular; which makes room correction all the more important!

Lastly, because I have a separate 2-channel room, I'm not interested in using my H/T room as a critical listening room, nor a 2-channel room, so I considered a Center, at least for me, the best direction to take.

Moreover, my assumption is that the Pre-Pro and its capabilities and set-up have a great deal to do with the end sonics. So, different Pre-Pro's with a Center and without, will make significant differences in the final results. Thus, that variable may skew your results verses mine, even more than simply using a center vs none does; and hence, my results with and without a center if tried, may not correlate with whether someone else may prefer using this configuration or not.

With that said, I must say that the Stage X and the rest of my M/L's perform quite nicely and I'm much more than satisfied with their aquisition!

 

[Duke]

Would a single electromotion fit under your TV? That might be best.

I use a pair of Theaters stacked on top of each other and use 4 clsIIz elsewhere as mians and sides. I would purchase another clsIIz and use it as my center by turning it 90 degrees using a metal frame to hold it in place. If only the clsIIz would fit under the TV.