New ML owner from Oregon - n00b warning

[tweezak]

Hi all!
I'll admit I'm a little intimidated here. I've admired and been intrigued by MartinLogan equipment for years but never had a chance to hear them much less own any. I grew up a rural farm kid and didn't exactly run in circles with people who appreciated refined high fidelity listening.

Well, when I was recently at Magnolia buying a pair of Denon headphones I took the wife over to the listening room to make her look at the "cool" looking loudspeakers. The sales guy asked if we wanted to listen to them and after hearing Norah Jones seemingly standing in the room we were soon the proud new owners of a pair of Electromotion ESLs. We listened to the Theos in the other room but the smaller ESLs actually sounded better to me. To be fair the left channel of the Theo pair was buzzing at certain piano frequencies and the salesman said they may have been damaged by an amp that smoked a week earlier. This did concern me as I wondered whose warranty would cover mine in such a case.

Anyway - I'm a n00b and have all the standard questions that have been asked a million times over:

1. My Yamaha RX-V1065 receiver/amp is probably not sufficient for running these speakers at higher volumes. From the spec sheet they can run off an amp from 20-300 W/channel but my research indicates that with the varying nature of the panels it's far more complex than that. I'm debating whether to run them off a dedicated amp fed from the preamp on the Yamaha or if I should just replace the processor with a better integrated unit. The former would probably be more in my budget but I wonder about amplifying a noisy signal from my mid-range equipment. $2k is my upper limit.

2. I know dust is an issue and I've read the guides for showering your panels. My speakers came with a pair of "cloth" covers made from material similar to that used in reusable grocery bags. It's thin enough to see through and I can't detect an audible difference running the speakers with the covers on or off. At this point I'm planning on only removing the covers when we have company. Does anyone know if this is a bad idea (other than the speakers being really ugly with bags over them)?

Well, that's enough for now. Thanks in advance for your help and patience.

 

[edwinr]

...My Yamaha RX-V1065 receiver/amp is probably not sufficient for running these speakers at higher volumes. From the spec sheet they can run off an amp from 20-300 W/channel but my research indicates that with the varying nature of the panels it's far more complex than that. I'm debating whether to run them off a dedicated amp fed from the preamp on the Yamaha or if I should just replace the processor with a better integrated unit. The former would probably be more in my budget but I wonder about amplifying a noisy signal from my mid-range equipment. $2k is my upper limit.

Hi. To start off, buy a decent power amp within your budget and run this from the preamp output of your Yamaha. This is a really cost effective way to upgrade without going silly. Anthem make some good budget power amps, but don't discount Rotel. I had some bad experiences with NAD receivers trying to run my old Theos speakers, but I must admit their power amps are not bad.

If you are happy to buy something pre-loved, there's some good stuff out there from Classe, and for more money, maybe an earlier model Pass Labs X150 power amplifier (my all time preferred solid state brand for Martin Logan speakers). Others on this forum will have some great suggestions.

After selecting your power amp, you can look around for a nice 2 channel preamp with a home theatre bypass or even a dedicated HT preamp/processor like the Marantz AV7701.

Regarding dust covers. I leave my dust covers on my speakers during the week. On weekends I take them off for listening. I have never tried listening to my speakers with the covers on. Perhaps you're going to start a new listening trend!

 

[tweezak]

New listening trend...hehe...more likely people will start calling me the "double bagger". Seriously though - I suspect I'd do more damage to my panels by trying to clean them so I figured I'd try to be proactive from the start.

Thanks for the amp advice. There's a small high end shop not too far away that sells Rotel (along with McIntosh, B&W, Denon and others). I will see if they have anything I can preview in my home. What power range should I be looking for? Is it just a matter of getting the most I can afford? ie: is a 1500W amp justified over a 300W amp for these speakers?

Thanks again.

 

[edwinr]

I would go for 'quality watts'. I run my Montis with a pair of 50 watt tube mono blocs.

The Electromotion ESLs and the more expensive Theos speakers are a different proposition. They're a bit harder to drive, although I successfully ran my Theos speakers with a Bryston B-60 for about 18 months. In between using my B-60, I tried a number of receivers including the new NAD series. Every NAD receiver switched itself off when watching dynamic movies - even their near flagship model - very disappointing. But I tried a friend's Anthem MRX-500 and a Denon AVR2313. Both receivers didn't miss a beat, although they did run bit hot. I ended up with a Denon AVR3313 for a good price.

If I didn't purchase the Montis speakers, I would have kept the Denon and added an Anthem power amp - perhaps the MCA 20. The Rotel RB-1552 looks okay. Maybe the NAD C 275BEE?

 

[Larry]

Go for a good-quality used power amp. My electromotion els run very happily on a Classe CA 100 amp that I bought second-hand several years ago.

 

[MickeyVee]

For movies, my Rotel AVR drives my entire ML system quite nicely and beyond comfortable listening levels and doesn't skip a beat. Should be in your $ range.
Other options that I have tried are Parasound and a Rotel external amp (one of the 1500 series) to drive the Vista's. After I moved to my new place didn't bother to hook up the amp and I found that my AVR1560 drove everything quite nice and sold the external. Rotel 15xx series with 100 watts should be plenty and sound quite nice. Let us know what you end up with. Lots of options and great advice. Good Luck!

But I tried a friend's Anthem MRX-500 and a Denon AVR2313. Both receivers didn't miss a beat, although they did run bit hot. I ended up with a Denon AVR3313 for a good price.

 

[tweezak]

This is great information guys! I really appreciate it. I have much to learn and this will definitely help me get started with my research and previewing.

I'm also finding that with these speakers the poor acoustics in my room are much more of a factor. There's a huge brick fireplace on the left side of the great room that extends a good 3 feet from the wall all the way from the floor to the ceiling. We never use it and I'm seriously considering demolishing it. The acoustics (and usable space) would be much improved. Anyone here want to buy some bricks?