considering buying my first M/L / ESL

Hi all,
my first post on this forum, so go steady on me......

For a while now Ive felt the 'urge' to buy some M/L's. Looking at used either vantage or summit. A home dem would be the way to go however as Im looking at used I cant get the opportunity to do this. I heard them in show/demo-rooms before and have liked both the sound and looks... From my experience hearing a product at a dealers can be completey different to hearing it at home.

Brief system / room details:

My current 2 channel system comprises of (all electrocompaniet) EMC-1UP CDP/ EC4.8 PRE / AW-250-R POWER. EQ: Rives PARC. Speakers: ZU Druids. I use this two channel system for both 2 channel and A/V duties.

My room: (in metric; sorry...): measures L5 x W3.3 x H2.3M. My room is not a dedicated listening room and it also doubles as the main familly living room. Due to a number of reasons I have to listen across the shorter width of the room (3.3M). Two main points to note here: my listening position has to be close to the rear wall (behind me) and it limits the practical distance I can/could locate a pair of M/L speakers from the front wall. Poss could get the panel 55cm just under 2ft from front wall.

My main concern with making a change and going down the M/L route is my non-ideal speaker positioning limitations. The primary one being the limited distance behind panel and wall....

Any thoughts on the above would be much apprecaited.

Cheers,
Daz

I think you'll be fine. You might get more feedback with a picture of your current room/setup.

Having the speakers 3ft + from the back wall is not practical for most people. Also, another thing to consider is how far the left and right walls are from the speakers too.

I have had my speakers placed in a few different rooms - but it in each case the distance from the back wall to the panel has been about 2 ft. I have seen the greatest improvement when there's no TV or entertainment center between the speakers - but that is just my opinion. We have a number of forum members with flat screen TVs or furniture between the panels and it doesn't seem to bother them.

If you are concerned with the placement relative to the walls - can you move the speakers out when doing critical listening? That is to say when entertaining the wife's friends, the speakers are in position A, but when they are away, you can move them to position B (further from the rear wall)?

Lastly, you can consider room treatments. But if your gear is in a room that doubles as the family room/den/etc this may not be practical either.

Erik

Many thanks for the info above Eric, greatly appreciated. I do have some room acoustic panels (foam covered panels) mounted on walls already: behind current speakers / behind listening position and also one one of the side walls. The other side wall is a large patio widow (with curtains).

Understand that moving speakers 'out' when listening is an option but really dont want to go down this route.

They wouldnt be too close to side walls (the closest speaker to a side wall be about 70-80cm away over 2ft).

Yes there is a smallish AV cabinet and wall mounted plasma that will go in the middle of speakers. The cabinet is quite low. The front of any speaker / esl included would be level with the front edge of the cabinet thus reducing sound interaction with these objects. This is how I have my current ZU Druids set up.

Ive been going some more reading about Martin Logan products on their website and the internet. As part of my further investigations I will also add the Spire to my list. Im not a fan of rear ported speakers (tends to cause too many problems in my room). Noted that the vantage is rear ported in the bass box. Plus I now fear the Summit will be to deep in size. Thus poss leaving me with the Spire to have a look at.

Hi there and welcome. I hate to say it, but that really just reinforces why you have to hear them. MLs are very dependent on rooms, but that said, you can do a lot to help with room treatments.

MLs will certainly perform in your environment, but perform to the best of their ability maybe not. Now herein is your problem. It depends the reason for which you desire MLs. Personally, I'd still be happy with MLs providing less performance than 100% because they will still have that electrostatic signature that I love, crave and demand. You - on the other hand - may think different.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you crave that ES "zing" then go for it - you'll still get it in your room, if in a little less of a quantity than they're capable.

If, on the other hand, you demand the overall performance, you may be better looking elsewhere.

Remember: Plenty of us here (me included) are running MLs in less than ideal conditions. Easy answer - it depends.

Cheers for the welcome.

Thanks for the detailed post above. Ive heard ES speakers before both quads and M/Ls. Loved the detailed mids in particular on both of these. Both very nice, but the wife definately does not like the looks of the quads, but thankfully does like the 'look' of the logans.

Both the above brands of speakers were heard in demo rooms some months ago. TBH they did get a bit of getting used to first as Ive aways owned 'traditional' speakers - Monitor Audio, Sonus Faber, ZU audio etc. But as the dems went on they bagan to really grow on me.

Yep, understand that I wont be able to get 100% performance out of ES's in my current room. But then again I cant with other speakers either (thus the reason I employ a Rives PARC and a number of acoustic wall panels to help things along).

Spoke to a dealer yesterday whom thinks as you. i.e. I will have no problem getting them to work well (but not 100% perfect as with all speakers Ive previously owned) with my room. Also said that my current electronics would be a good match for M.Logans.

So what I need.................Is a home dem on a pair of Spires.

Only prob is... the dealers are all many miles away from my place. Will see what I can do.

The other thing to remember too is that ML, more than any other manufacturer of ES products (in my opinion), has taken steps to ensure their products perform acceptably in non-optimal environments.

amey01 said:

The other thing to remember too is that ML, more than any other manufacturer of ES products (in my opinion), has taken steps to ensure their products perform acceptably in non-optimal environments.

Click to expand...

Hi Amey01; thanks for that info. Thought this to be the case with a lot of the reading & investigations ive been doing. i.e. bass adjustemtent / curved panel etc etc.... One of the reasons Im currently focusing on M/L products at this time.