Listening Session (1 Viewer)

[kyle-sm]

I've never been exposed to high end speakers before but since becoming very interested in home audio I decided to make it a point to hear some really expensive speakers. Because of my interest in electrostatic speaker technology I decided to listen to some Martin Logans. I was able to hear a home theater setup with the more expensive sub they make, Odysseys in the front, theater i center, and I'm not sure what kind in the rear (4 feet tall martin logans, hung on the wall whatever that would be). Also I heard some Floyd on the Ascent i's.

I was really impressed by the sound of these speakers, it was incredible how clear everything was. I now know what people mean now when they write that highs
sound "transparent", and hearing that the speakers aren't struggling at all in any frequency ranges. Also the Ascent i's sounded like they were all around me, I actually checked some other speakers behind me to make sure they weren't on. I asked the guy if the CD was encoded with Q sound and he said it was not. Anyway it was a really cool experience, I enjoyed it, and thought I'd share.

 

[ChrisArmour]

Yeah, Martin Logans do sound pretty sweet. Martin Logans are Bipolar speakers, thats part of the reason that they sounded like the music came from all around you. The sound was being played out of the back of the panel at the same level as it was coming out of the front, this bounces the sound off the walls behind the speakers and effectivly creates a larger "sweet spot". I used to really like the way bipoles sound(Definitive Technology, Martin Logan), now I prefer the sound of ribbon speakers like VMPS.

 

[kyle-sm]

I looked up ribbon speakers on google, how do those things work?? Anyone got a good link that explains it?

 

[Chris Tabor]

http://www.vmpsaudio.com/ These all use ribbons, there should be some explanation on there.

 

[kyle-sm]

VMPS's description is pretty vague

 

[ChrisArmour]

Here, try these links.
http://www.slsloudspeakers.com/White...0paper.doc.pdf
http://3rd-st.com/ribbon.html
http://www.audiovideo101.com/diction...ctionaryid=377

 

[Rory Buszka]

But aren't the MartinLogans DIpolar instead of BIpolar? (that means that the diaphragm just moves in the air. A bit different effect from that created by bipolar speakers.)

 

[ChrisArmour]

I believe you are right about them being Dipoles instead of Bipoles. Dipoles and Bipoles both radiate sound from the front and the back of the cabinet, Dipoles do it "out of phase" and Bipoles do it "in phase". Since the ML's have one Electrostatic Transducer per speaker, they can't fire "in-phase". Good catch.

 

[Michael R Price]

Kyle, where did you go to listen to those MLs?

 

[kyle-sm]

http://www.tweeter.com

I think they have more than one store... the one I went to was near vienna off of lee hwy. The didn't have a shit load of high end stuff like I was hoping, but they did carry the ML's

 

[Michael R Price]

OK, darn, not the same place. You just reminded me of when I was first exposed to "really high end" audio stuff. I went to the Soundworks hi-fi shop on Connecticut Av and got to listen to ML Prodigy speakers driven by Krell's top of the line CD player and amplifiers (the system cost a total of around $60,000, I think). Woowee... I mean, now I know I would never want equipment like that, but it was still pretty cool.

 

[Joe Casey]

Magnepan is another manufacturer of planar speakers that use ribbon and 'qausi-ribbon' transducers. Martin Logans are considered electrostats whereas Magnepans are not, yet both are planars. In the planar world, there are basically two types of planars: hybrid and all-planar, with the former using a combination of dynamic and planar drivers and the latter being all planar. Some use ribbons, some don't, but overall planar speakers are quite different from dynamic or 'box' speakers.

 

[Marc H]

I just demo'ed a new M/L that does use a ribbon tweeter as a dipole. It's called the Montage. Very open sounding. Under $2000.00 per pair too.