Gliding Dutchman
Well-known member
Mini Review – Martin Logan CLS II
Initially I was a bit skeptical about the CLS II panel’s sound. The tight sweet-spot and somewhat scattered soundstage confused me. It has been 4 years since I sold my QUAD 57 electrostats and forgot the nature of panel speakers.
Doing a direct comparison to my Bowers & Wilkins Preference 6 dynamic loudspeakers I find the CLS II panels to be sonically very transparent – any QUAD user will know that the old 57 ESL panel speakers have a strong flavor of their own. Somewhat dull treble registers but certainly as plus point as the B&W’s sometimes seems over-bright.
Bass registers is beefy enough to keep most music lovers happy but I do miss those very deep registers that my B&W’s reproduce so nicely.
Response is lightning fast and very accurate. Piano and strings are just beautifully reproduced. Female vocals are a treat except for Diana Kralls’ which seems to coincide with a peak resonance of the panels.
They’re either very power tolerant or power hungry as my amp are driven almost full tilt to get the CLS II’s to sing. Luckily my amplifier is capable of driving very difficult loads and does feature a decent protection circuit.
I like these panels more and more… just a pity they are so massive.
Associated gear:
Valve Audio Exclame 100 hybrid amplifier
Pro-Ject Phonobox II
Kiseki Purpleheart Sapphire MC, Ortofon MC Rondo Blue & Ortofon Salsa MC (modded)
SME 3012 mkII arm
Dewaudio Credence turntable with off-board PSU
Nordost Blue Heaven IC’s
Anti-cable speaker cable + van den Hul CS122 speaker cable
Dewald Visser
Initially I was a bit skeptical about the CLS II panel’s sound. The tight sweet-spot and somewhat scattered soundstage confused me. It has been 4 years since I sold my QUAD 57 electrostats and forgot the nature of panel speakers.
Doing a direct comparison to my Bowers & Wilkins Preference 6 dynamic loudspeakers I find the CLS II panels to be sonically very transparent – any QUAD user will know that the old 57 ESL panel speakers have a strong flavor of their own. Somewhat dull treble registers but certainly as plus point as the B&W’s sometimes seems over-bright.
Bass registers is beefy enough to keep most music lovers happy but I do miss those very deep registers that my B&W’s reproduce so nicely.
Response is lightning fast and very accurate. Piano and strings are just beautifully reproduced. Female vocals are a treat except for Diana Kralls’ which seems to coincide with a peak resonance of the panels.
They’re either very power tolerant or power hungry as my amp are driven almost full tilt to get the CLS II’s to sing. Luckily my amplifier is capable of driving very difficult loads and does feature a decent protection circuit.
I like these panels more and more… just a pity they are so massive.
Associated gear:
Valve Audio Exclame 100 hybrid amplifier
Pro-Ject Phonobox II
Kiseki Purpleheart Sapphire MC, Ortofon MC Rondo Blue & Ortofon Salsa MC (modded)
SME 3012 mkII arm
Dewaudio Credence turntable with off-board PSU
Nordost Blue Heaven IC’s
Anti-cable speaker cable + van den Hul CS122 speaker cable
Dewald Visser
