MartinLogan Motion Series coming soon

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SteveInNC

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I was poking around on ML's site and came across this:

Motion Series

In the next few weeks MartinLogan will introduce a new line of speakers. Be the first to find out about the exciting new Motion Series from MartinLogan. Give us your email and we'll let you know when more information is available.

I did do a search of our forums and didn't see any obvious threads discussing it. I'd be shocked if I'm the first to notice it.
 
It kind of looks like an on-wall box. Something with an integral swivel bracket? Not sure. Motion would logically indicate that it either moves or is portable, no? :) I guess we will see. There is nothing out there that I can find other than a similar thread at AVS....no response there either.
 
I would think that "motion' refers to something moving, as in moving or motion pictures (film/TV).
 
I suspect it's an on-wall speaker with a modern design and dimensions to match with flat panel TVs. Or it's a monopole ESL with a tweeter like the Stage/Motif but unlike a traditional ESL is designed to be placed close to the wall.

Or it's a boom box.
 
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I googled "Martin Logan Motion" and the first link is from ML's site and the subtext reads:

"Premium compact home theater speakers for audiophiles and home theater enthusiasts."

So I would imagine that these are indeed some kind of on-wall ATF speaker. Replacement for the Fresco I assume?
 
Hope it's not an iPod Boom Box!

what's wrong with that? I hope it is so they can make a lot of $$$$ and keep the Hi end alive in this terrible economy my opinion on these matters have changed over the last year or two.they are kind of ugly though.
 
From the above link:
MartinLogan's Peter Soderberg holds up a speaker tentatively called the MCT123 (he assured me that the name will likely change) that is part of a new series that uses an Air Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeter and dynamic woofers.
Huh? As in Heil Air Motion Transformer? I used to have (well, actually still have in my bedroom) ESS AMT 1Cs. I wonder if they're resurrecting that technology, or just borrowing the name?
 
From the above link:

Huh? As in Heil Air Motion Transformer? I used to have (well, actually still have in my bedroom) ESS AMT 1Cs. I wonder if they're resurrecting that technology, or just borrowing the name?

Steve, just so you know: there are very affordable spare parts for your Heil

But yes, it does indeed sound (and sort of looks like) a small AMT.

The patents have run out on the original AMT IRRC, so this could be an in-house tweeter using ML's own ESL elements in an AMT config.

I'm curious now. Seems like a great tweeter for a line array project :D
 
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It is the Heil technology and the tweeter is similar to what Burmester, David and David and a few others are using.

They are pretty fantastic speakers at the price point!

Curious to what you think Steve, I had AMT 1c's back in the 70s. Great speakers in their day...
 
I'm listening to AMTs - and they're great. The patent, taken out in the 70s, has expired, I believe.

Here's a review I posted on another forum, of the Mark & Daniel Sapphire. The kit I used was simply that on my system pages.

"I’ll start this mini-review by providing a link to a review: http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue38/mark_daniel.htm

That’s a pretty good review, I think. Not far off the mark (& Daniel).

Anyway, I first heard these driven by Chapter Audio amps at Bristol 2008 and was gobsmacked. Where’s the sub for these? Looked around – there wasn’t one, yet these little things were pumping out bass like there was no tomorrow. The woofer excursions where insane, and when you put your hand round the back of the speakers to monitor the airflow, the pumping you get is unbelievable.

Think Wilson for the cabinets. They are very inert indeed, and contribute substantially to holding that small dynamic drive unit steady, whilst keeping colouration from the box to low levels. It might be Corian, but I’m not 100% sure on that.

I tried them in the lounge with a Behringer A500, bi-wired with bellwire (seriously!) and a PC with a cheap on-board soundcard, mainly using Napster as a source. Results were OK, but not what I remembered. And nor should it be with that low bit rate source.

So I took them into the listening room last night for a good session. Driving components were as per what you can see to the left, plus a Trichord Delphini/Never Connected PSU. Speaker cable in use was Nordost Red Dawn Rev II bi-wire cables, with an Air Tight passive pre + $1000 upgraded pot.

The results were so much better than the earlier attempt with the Behringer. These speakers just love tubes, the Air Motion drivers in particular. Loads of space/air what have you. My wife said they sounded very detailed but in a way that is not at all harsh.

What really was impressive was the sheer speed of the bass. The 211s seem to control these speakers better than the Behringer, oddly sounding as though they had much more control over the speakers than the solid state alternative (200 odd Watts into 4 Ohms). But this control was free and easy, if that makes any sense, and I was presented with a huge soundstage for the size of the boxes.

I’d say the bass output was too high, really, in this environment. I felt the bass cones on my Martin Logans – 3 Descent and 2 Ascent woofers all moving along in harmony with the Sapphire’s! There’s also a guitar amp with a 12 inch driver in there too, so it’s not surprising. No way I’m hiking all that kit out, I thought.

I think they need to be gotten off the ground quite a bit. The M&D stands should do that when they turn up. They also need to be in free space away from corners/walls to stop any re-enforcement of the lower frequencies causing too much apparent output.

Overall, though, they are just really good for the £600 I paid for them ($2350 new) and £80 for the $700 stands.

The Air Motion tweeter/mid unit goes from 900Hz to 25KHz, and the blending with the woofer is fairly harmonious, but, as ever with most speakers employing dissimilar drive unit technologies, you do know it’s there. But it’s not as bad as most examples it this price range. In fact, it's pretty good. I must say the resolving power of the Air Motion unit is up there with an electrostatic panel. It retrieves copious amounts of very fine detail, and somehow does it without ever sounding harsh.

Required: a better PC soundcard, and some decent bi-wire cable. I’ve been suspicious of the on-board chipset, which simply sounds distorted with piano or some high bass notes, for some reason. If I do that, and use CDs as a source, I’m positive the Behringer combo will fare much better. I’ll probably report back on that.

Soundcard will probably be an Asus Xonar Essence ST."

All I can say is well done Martin Logan for realising AMTs are really good.:)
 

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what's wrong with that? I hope it is so they can make a lot of $$$$ and keep the Hi end alive in this terrible economy my opinion on these matters have changed over the last year or two.they are kind of ugly though.

The problem (I see) is that if this really does indeed make them a lot of $$dosh then they may in the future think "why the heck to we continue to dabble in this loss-making high-end business"?

It's happened to other companies. It has also happened to ML - just look - no more Statement.
 
The problem (I see) is that if this really does indeed make them a lot of $$dosh then they may in the future think "why the heck to we continue to dabble in this loss-making high-end business"?

It's happened to other companies. It has also happened to ML - just look - no more Statement.

Hm... the world is still in recesssion, Adam. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Statement launched when things get better...
 
From the above link:

Huh? As in Heil Air Motion Transformer? I used to have (well, actually still have in my bedroom) ESS AMT 1Cs. I wonder if they're resurrecting that technology, or just borrowing the name?

I wouldn't say "resurrecting" the technology - it can be seen everywhere today - not least my favourite speakers, the ADAM Tensors!
 
The problem (I see) is that if this really does indeed make them a lot of $$dosh then they may in the future think "why the heck to we continue to dabble in this loss-making high-end business"?

It's happened to other companies. It has also happened to ML - just look - no more Statement.

I can't afford a statement anyway and for that kind of money there may be better choices. their will always be somebody to trade your cash into HiFi dreams I would guess. I would not assume that they loose money on their Hi end speakers I imagine this is where all the mark-up is as they probably have slimmer margins on the cheaper stuff but count on moving a lot more of them.
 
The new M/L's sort of remind me of those wonderful computer speakers called Monsoon. I have not seen them around in quite a while.

Review of late model:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1091224,00.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsoon_(speakers)
Monsoon-branded products continued for a time under Eastech (under the Level 9 name), but by late 2004 Monsoon computer speakers had essentially disappeared from the U.S. marketplace. By 2005, Eastech no longer sold Monsoon speakers.[

Monsoon MM-700 Computer Speaker
http://www.eminent-tech.com/history/eminenthistory.htm
monsooncomputerspeakers.jpg

Eminent Technology had developed a still smaller transducer for a lower cost computer speaker. The smaller transducer was licensed to Sonigistix Corporation in Vancouver Canada. Sonigistix and Eminent Technology co developed home and computer products based on flat panel loudspeakers manufactured in Canada. These products carried the Monsoon brand. A smaller planar ribbon tweeter was created at Sonigistix and is used in Philips Consumer Electronics home theater in a box and other loudspeaker products. The tweeters are manufactured in China. Both the planar ribbon panel and tweeter products have found there way into several other loudspeaker company offerings. Modified versions of the Sonigistix transducers can be found in AV123 loudspeakers as well as models from VMPS and others.

I'm sure M/L developed their own drivers, just saying they remind me of some other stuff in a remote way.
 
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The new M/L's sort of remind me of those wonderful computer speakers called Monsoon. I have not seen them around in quite a while.

The Monsoons are great speakers for what they are. I've used a pair of Monsoon PlanarMedia 14 speakers for my computer for years!
 
I will be interested to see how the floorstanding speakers sound. I will be looking for something this year to do either a decent 5.1 system or a nicer 2 ch. rig.
 
I think the M&D Sapphire is a dipole in some sense. Why? Because the AMT driver is a dipole, and there are two ports at the back of the cabinet. Not only will this release air from the bass driver, but it will also let the AMT output come flowing out the back too. The ports are actually at the same height as the AMT driver. Be interesting to see if ML have done the same thing in any of their AMT designs.

I don't want to dig, but they do appear to be renaming the technology and claiming it is new in the blurb. That's marketing for you.;)
 

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