New Martin Logan Owner: Glendale, AZ - USA

Well I finally was able to afford my dream HTS (home theater system). And I chose Martin Logans because when I was apartment searching 4yrs ago in Los Angeles, I met up with the building manager of one apt complex. He showed me his apt as it was similar to the one that was going to be available but currently occupied.

When I went in, I noticed these strange looking speakers. He said they were "electro-something". Didn't know it at the time. But he said they are Martin Logans. Then he played music. WOW! Was I totally blown away at how detailed, sharp, crisp and warm the sound was. I was amazed and intrigued at how the sound came through the mesh-steel grill. Well I knew that if I got a nice speaker system it would be those.

And here we are today 4yrs later and finally got it. Proud new owner of a pair of Electro-Motion Series (ESL) Electro-Static Loudspeakers...and waiting on my back-ordered Electro-Motion Series Electro Motion C2 (Center speaker). Can't wait. I'll post a pic once I get the center, to then show all 3!

Currently paired with my audio/video receiver (Marantz - SR7005).

I found this forum from a reference on the Audio Video Source Forum (avsforum.com) - Speakers sub-forum.

Thanks,
Gio

Welcome - great to have you here!

Welcome Gio

"detailed, sharp, crisp and warm "... yes... and then some

Always love hearing stories like this.. The first time someone sees a ML and wonders what they are, and how they work. So fun turning someone onto the ML sound. Welcome, Gio!

TomDac said:

Always love hearing stories like this.. The first time someone sees a ML and wonders what they are, and how they work. So fun turning someone onto the ML sound. Welcome, Gio!

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Thanks Tom. I was going to go with Aperion, then Martin Logan came out with their "Motion Series" and was set on those. But then the siren sounds of the ESLs kept getting louder and louder! And voila here they are. See picture attached. Waiting for the C2 center channel, as it's on back-order as it just came out and it is matched up with the ESL.

Thanks everyone for the welcome. And behind the Right ESL speaker is the Martin Logan Dynamo 700 Subwoofer.

Welcome Gio! Congrats on the new ESL's!

New Martin Logan Owner: Glendale, AZ - USA

Welcome aboard
love the Electro-Motion Series

Thanks Churchill, Beek.

I would like an opinion or thoughts. I was recommended on a receiver from the sales rep at Magnolia Audio Video, from the one I was thinking of (Denon 3311Ci) to the one he suggested which I eventually bought (Marantz SR7005). Is this a good match of receiver and speakers?

Em esl

Jaramill,

Is this a good match of receiver and speakers?

I am gonna dump this in Churchill's lap I have no experience with receivers really dont believe in using any receivers with the resolution of your fantastic speakers
I would tell you to sweat it out till you can get decent separates that you can afford.
Others may not agree

I'm not much help either when it comes to receivers as I'm also using separates. I've had good luck with both Denon and Onkyo in past systems.

churchill said:

I'm not much help either when it comes to receivers as I'm also using separates.

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When you say "separates", can you elaborate? I've seen that term before along with pre-amps, and amps. Just trying to learn about audio ecosystem terminology. Thanks.

separates

A separate chassis for the Preamp,Basic amp,Prosessor,Tuner otherwise in a receiver one power supply is shared by all of these devices and it is seldom done correctly.
When a demanding passage comes up with separates there is no argument as to who gets what they need they are all fed from a separate supply less crosstalk,saturation and a bunch of nasties that would be too much to chat about here. If you look at the very high end of most of best stuff there are separate supplies for left & right channels this is the ultimate tied to 2 separate dedicated lines powering the whole system.

But there may be naysayers.................

I had the SR7005 receiver and upgraded to the AV7005, which is the same chassis but no amplification, only the processing is done by the Marantz. The sound quality of the SR7005 is very good, there was very little difference between the SR-7005 and AV-7005. It' very similar to the Denon 3311 you were looking at; the 7005 is actually in between the 3311 and 4311 in most areas. But, with the Electromotion ESLs you really need a seperate amp to power the front left and front right. The center, rear left, and rear right can easily be powered by the SR-7005. If you're looking for a good starter piece when moving into separates (AV Receiver or Processor connected to an amplifier with the RCA Pre-Outs), I'd recommend an Emotiva UPA-2 or XPA-3 amp. This is a great piece and will make the speakers sound completely different from the 80ish watts of actual power per channel your speaker are actually getting.

Or, return the SR-7005 and get an AV-7005 (same cost), and get an Emotiva XPA-5 amp that will provide 300 watts RMS per channel to every speaker in your system and pretty substantially increase sound quality. I'm just using Emotiva as an example because they're known for being one of the best values in the AV business and their holiday sale is right now, but companies like Outlaw Audio and used gear can be a great way to venture into this world as well. I have an XPA-2 powering my Theos and an XPA-5 powering my Motif, and 4 EM FX2s and it's simply amazing.

The reason the MAV guy probably didn't try to push a separate amp on you is because they dont carry anything cheaper than $1200 for seperate amplifiers (the Marantz MM7055) and he was afraid to try to upsell any further for fear of walking you.

jaramill said:

When you say "separates", can you elaborate? I've seen that term before along with pre-amps, and amps. Just trying to learn about audio ecosystem terminology. Thanks.

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Yes, a separate pre-amp and power amp and in my case having mono amps, basically an amp for each speaker.

Pre-Amps and Amps

mopar04 said:

the AV7005, which is the same chassis but no amplification, only the processing is done by the Marantz.

But, with the Electromotion ESLs you really need a seperate amp to power the front left and front right. The center, rear left, and rear right can easily be powered by the SR-7005.

The reason the MAV guy probably didn't try to push a separate amp on you is because they dont carry anything cheaper than $1200 for seperate amplifiers (the Marantz MM7055) and he was afraid to try to upsell any further for fear of walking you.

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churchill said:

Yes, a separate pre-amp and power amp and in my case having mono amps, basically an amp for each speaker.

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Ah I see! Now I get it. Makes sense. Kinda like buying a separate video card and sound card for your PC instead of using the motherboard and having both systems (vid/aud) hard-wired to the motherboard and using up the bandwidth and RAM. Which is what I did for my Dell XPS PC. Built it for gaming, and have a Creative Labs Sound card, and 2 dual linked via SLI nVidia GeForce GTX 280 video cards, each with 1GB RAM.

Thanks for the lessons.

mopar04 said:

The reason the MAV guy probably didn't try to push a separate amp on you is because they dont carry anything cheaper than $1200 for seperate amplifiers (the Marantz MM7055) and he was afraid to try to upsell any further for fear of walking you.

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Well that is highly likely. Though the one thing he KEPT on pushing was a Panamax Power-line conditioner I told him I'm not a believer in those but said that I could always try it out and compare and if I saw no distinct difference in image that I could return it. I may "test" out this theory.

Now being that my entire HTS (minus the furniture cost) was $8k, I'm definitely willing to spend on separating them out. So since the Pre-amp A/V processor AV7005 I can get and return the SR7005, is the Marantz MM7005 for the AMP better than Emotiva you mentioned/recommended? I usually like to stick with same manufacturer components .... in certain cases. Thoughts?

Eventually I will build up from a 3.1 to a 5.2 system with two (2) Surround Rear speakers (left, right). Thanks guys for the help.

welcome Glo, very nice start to what I forsee as a great journey !

twich54 said:

welcome Gio, very nice start to what I forsee as a great journey !

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Thanks twich. I'm glad I did the install myself instead of going with Geek Squad. There may have been a few stumbles, but reading the manual helps and for the most part everything was self-explanatory and obvious in terms of where to plug in certain things.

The marantz amp is much lower power, I'd go with the XPA-5 which is on sale for $899 I think, or if you want to go all out get an XPA-2 for the FL/FR and and XPA-3 for the CC/RR/RL which is basically what I use. I wonder why the guy didn't recommend seperates, there are very, very few receivers that can really drive EM ESLs to the best of their ability. I work with MAV on a pretty regular basis and most of those guys are all over it. you sure you were at MAV and not MHT? MHT is the baby version of MAV and can be found inside Best Buy in more affluent areas.

Also, Panamax is good stuff, id never run my system off a basic power strip, this gear is too sensitive. But, a possible reason he pushed it so hard is if you were at MAV he's on commission and Panamax's are high margin.

mopar04 said:

...there are very, very few receivers that can really drive EM ESLs to the best of their ability.

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+1

Also agree with the comment regarding the need for a well built power cond.