System #258 (SL3)

[Miikka Tikka]

1. Member Name: Miikka Tikka
2. Location: Espoo, Finland
3. ML Model: SL3
4. Year Purchased: 2001
5. Mods/Changes: None


6. Associated Electronics:
Rotel RB-03 power amps x 2 (horizontal bi-amped)
Rotel RC-03 pre-amp
Rotel RCD-06 cd-player
Rotel RDV-03 DVD player
AntiCables speaker cables
Interconnects between the amps are TaraLabs Prism 5500i and
between other sources are from Monster Cable etc...nothing too fancy.

TV is Panasonic LCD 26" (not so big but the image is good). The cheap & awful surround set is from Sony - I really don't count myself as a "surround enthuastic" - maybe someday? : D


7. Comments and/or stories about your Martin Logan experience:
I used to have half a dozen different kind of set-ups but all started when I bought my SL3's used. They were in excellent condition. First i drive them with Harman / Kardon and it didn't work So I tried different kind of equipment until i found Rotel. At this point I'm satisfied enough to enjoy my system...but i know that it's not final. Everything else is going to change but NOT Martin Logan....

 

[MotorToad]

NICE! I feel the same about surround sound... it just doesn't get me like 2 channel music. I do love those SL3s, though!

As for the amps, have you thought about running bi-amped instead of dual bridged? I've been wanting to try that but my Sequels aren't bi-wireable. The main reason I like the idea is that amps bridged mono tend to like lower impedance loads even less. Also, I've been curious about trying one amp for woofers and one for the panels, or running each channel of each amp to either a woofer or a panel (i.e. a left speaker amp and a right speaker amp, but individual channels, not bridged).

 

[philox]

Miikka Tikka, I also had a pair of SL3's & 1st ran them on a Yamaha amp, I bet that was worst than your Harman Kardon Your so right, Martin Logans need some power behind them.

MotorTodd, I am running a mono amp via true bi-wire to each speaker. It does make a difference. Each Aragon Palladium mono amp has 2 sets of binding posts, therefore one pair of speaker wires goes from the 1st set of posts to the panels and another pair of speaker wires goes from the 2nd set of posts to the woofers. I used to ran a straight bi-wires from an Aragon 8008 dual mono & it was good but lacked the clarity & power of the current set-up.

 

[JonFo]

Miikka, very nice looking setup there. I'm glad you are enjoying the wonderful ML sound.

I would recommend you investigate placing some broadband absorbers behind your SL3's, as they are close to the wall, and with what seems to be very little toe-in.

You might find the sound to much better defined and less fatiguing.

 

[Miikka Tikka]

Sl3

Thank you MotorToad for kind words and sympaty for my 2-channel "madness" :music: - I have thought bi-amping but haven't done it yet. Is there anyone with SL3's who have experience?

Philox, yes, I know exactly what you mean. These speakers like power and dynamics...nothing what i found from HK.

JonFo, thanx for the tip, I haven't done nothing to make the room sound better. We are looking for a bigger house (with a listening room also), so I'm waiting for to get into acoustical improvements...but not until a new house.

 

[MPS]

Hi Miikka,
nice to see a fellow country man in this forum. You are a long time ML-user I see. Your system looks wonderful and I bet it sounds even better...:music:

Just out of interest I'd like to know why you have desided to bridge your amps. Do you really need that extra SPL? Generally bridged amps do give more power as output voltage is doubled but that doesn't help in anyway with current and ML's are current hungry... Actually most amps suffer in their control capability when bridged as their output impedance is also doubled.

I would like to try vertical bi-amping. Maybe you already did? One bonus with that is the possibility to use something like this http://www.dspeaker.com/fi/tuotteet/anti-mode-8033.shtml

 

[Miikka Tikka]

Finland

Hi there Markku,

your setup looks really amazing and I almost know it sound super :music:

I wanted power to drive my speakers, so that's why the bridged mode (amps are 2x70 watts per channel on stereo mode). But now as i read your text, I think i'm going to try them in vertical bi-amped mode (i testdrive the Rotel set up with only one stereo amp and it sounded ok). But not until i get my new speaker cables...i was little bit ahead on my setup list. I haven't got my Anticables yet, but they are on their way...do you know about them? Heres the link: http://www.anticables.com/home.html

I think i'm going to try the other mode with them. The best in the cables are, that they are two individual stereo cables, not bi-wired, so its going to be easy to try the different amp mode. I get back when i'm through with the test.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[twich54]

Miikka,

Welcome and I must say your set-up looks mighty clean !

 

[MPS]

I think i'm going to try the other mode with them. The best in the cables are, that they are two individual stereo cables, not bi-wired, so its going to be easy to try the different amp mode. I get back when i'm through with the test.

Go ahead, try and see what happens to soundfield and details of instruments! Maybe nothing.
I have heard about Anticables but I haven't _heard them_. So no comment from me as of how they sound. I read their philosophy and it sounds very sensible and reasonable. Did you have a change to audition them yet?

 

[amey01]

Very nice! I share your thoughts on surround. In fact, you're ahead of me - I don't even have a "cheap and awful" surround system.

 

[Miikka Tikka]

Anticables

Hi there,

just got my two sets of AntiCables and I'm just burning them in. First impression is really good - I had Cambridge Audio cables bi-wired with banana connectors in my set - these (AC) wires increased overall high's in every way. The stereo image got better and bass got firmer and some sort of muddy in the lowest bass disappeared. I'm really amazed because I didn't believe until now how much cables can change the overall sound.

The change is almost as crucial when I bought my CD player to replace DVD player as main source for music.

I haven't tried to switch my amplifiers to stereo (bi-amping mode) yet but I think I'm doing that tomorrow...I'll write back when it's done.

 

[Miikka Tikka]

Bi-amping

Hi there!

Just tested different amplification set's and found the best one.

First we tested the vertical bi-amped mode. That means I drove the speakers individually with their "own" speakers. The result was better soundstage but we found that there was too much bass/weaker bass problems. It didn't work with elektronical music (Tool: 10,000 days) etc.

So we tried the horizontal bi-amping. In other words, we drove Stats with one amp and woofers with another. And that worked! The soundstage was in good balance and clarity was excellent. The biggest difference was still in the bass sector; it really cleared the bass and hits got so much better, without any blurriness.

After this 2-3 hour experimental I got result that feels like I got better amps in my system. Really nice! :music: