Purity

[Gordon Gray]

Hi Folks,

Had a chance to listen (briefly) to the new Purity at Best Buy / Magnolia. Needless to say, speakers not set up properly. However, first impressions were quite positive. Had the "house" sound. Love the looks also. Pretty compact / elegant design.

GG

 

[bober]

These are setup the right way at my MHT store These really do sound nice.. too bad I don't have the ESL line at my store to compare them to

 

[Rich]

Glad to hear it, Gordon. We heard one of these new models (can't remember if it was the purity or the source) at the Nat'l get-together and it sounded great. I think these are an admirable replacement for the Clarity (although I still like the looks of the Clarity better).

 

[renpar61]

Glad to hear it, Gordon. We heard one of these new models (can't remember if it was the purity or the source) at the Nat'l get-together and it sounded great. I think these are an admirable replacement for the Clarity (although I still like the looks of the Clarity better).

I'm with you Rich. I have the Clarity and saw the new Purity yesterday. Seems like the panel is smaller and I'm not sure about the design of the base...
Have not heard them though (didn't want to), I bought my Clarity 6 mo. ago knowing a new model was on the way. I hope they don't sound much better...

 

[eknuds01]

I listened to the Source at Best Buy last night. I wasn't listening to music, but I watched a good 30-40 minutes of transformers. The speakers were hooked up to the Abyss and a Pioneer receiver and DVD player (I believe both were from the Elite line). Now this movie has a TON of low end slam, and the sub was getting rattled quite a bit. So I turned down the level some so the damn thing didn't get blown to pieces like Megatron.

I was very impressed. They sounded terrific! I think the center was a matinee and it wasn't half bad at all. One of the sales people came in and turned down the lights and also turned off some huge plasma to my right (it was sort of distracting). I got to tell ya, I really like the overhead projection systems for movies. If I was going to set up a dedicated room for movies, that's the way I would go.

Anyway, I haven't had much listening time with multichannel ML speakers (for movies) and this one didn't disappoint.

Erik

 

[attyonline]

I plan to listen to the Purity over the next couple of weeks. I like the internal amplification and latest panel design. My dealer believes that ML is coming out with a powered center to go with the Purity and I would be interested in that too. Any one have experience lately with the Purity or know of the powered center?

 

[sleepysurf]

I believe the powered center he's referring to is the Matinee. It's essentially a Motif, but with paper cone woofers. Specs essentially the same.

 

[attyonline]

I believe the powered center he's referring to is the Matinee. It's essentially a Motif, but with paper cone woofers. Specs essentially the same.

Checked ML site and do not believe this is accurate. The Matinee is a passive speaker with no amp built in.

 

[sleepysurf]

Checked ML site and do not believe this is accurate. The Matinee is a passive speaker with no amp built in.

Ahhh... you mean fully powered woofers as well. The Motif and Matinee have wall warts to power the stat panels. I guess they would design such a speaker expressly for TV (set top box) audio out, for those who don't want to use a surround-sound receiver. Interesting!

 

[attyonline]

I am thinking more along the lines of a high end processor like an Arcam AV 9 driving the front three Logans line level with a small stereo amp driving my surround Frecoes. Sweet :bowdown:

 

[roberto]

I'm with you Rich. I have the Clarity and saw the new Purity yesterday. Seems like the panel is smaller and I'm not sure about the design of the base...
Have not heard them though (didn't want to), I bought my Clarity 6 mo. ago knowing a new model was on the way. I hope they don't sound much better...

Hola...regarding the panels, they are almost the same size of the Clarities, with a difference. The Purity has an Air Frame Tech, (Purity's electrsotatic panels are secured to speaker cabinets using MartinLogan's AirFrame technology. AirFrames, manufactured from aerospace-grade billet and extruded aluminum alloy, make the panels extremely rigid without obstructing playable surface area or interfering with their dipole sound radiation. At the same time, they provide electrical and acoustical isolation, minimizing intermodulation distortion caused by vibration and resonance. Overall, AirFrames enhance imaging, low-level sonic detail, accuracy, and efficiency.
)...also two powered woofers and panels...first full powered product from ML. Yes, I do like too what I listen from them. Also they do rock!...
Happy listening,
Roberto.

 

[ctbarker32]

Barron's Magazine gushes over Purity

Hi,

Just watched this fun video posted today at Barron's Magazine. They gush over the Purity.

Here's the link:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid452319854/bctid1381147930

-CB

 

[Rich]

Ahhh... you mean fully powered woofers as well. The Motif and Matinee have wall warts to power the stat panels. I guess they would design such a speaker expressly for TV (set top box) audio out, for those who don't want to use a surround-sound receiver. Interesting!

Sleepy, he is referring to the fact that the Purity has an onboard 200 watt amplifier that amplifies both the woofers and the panels. Thus it can be run with just a line level signal from a preamp. I do expect they will be coming out with a center channel that will have this capability. It is a natural progression of the product line. I expect it will just be a matinee with an onboard amplifier. Currently, the power supply for the motif and matinee is just to charge the panels (like all esl speakers). They do not have any onboard amplification for the panels or the woofers (yet).

 

[sleepysurf]

That TV setup is decidely low-end! Too bad he didn't also demo it with a true audio source, even an iPod! I guess ML is now marketing to the paunchy, middle-aged, baby boomer set!

 

[MickeyVee]

Purity Audition

I had a chance to adution the Purity's yestderday and was throroughly impressed at what they are capable of. The source was a MacIntosh CD player and the their music server through a pre-amp with the Purity's internal amp driving the speaker.
I wasn't sure as to how much of a difference the Mac souce made and I would be driving the stats with my Rotel receiver and let the internal amp drive the bass. Overalll, I beleve that this would be a very nice upgrade to my Clarity's.
Anyway, I was so close to doing a trade on my Clarity's and upon closer inspection of the speakers, I saw that the box section was coverd with vinyl looking wood. This was not nearly the quality of the Clarity cabinet and it pretty much stopped me in my tracks. Actually, on the Source, the vinyl was peeling.
Has anyone else seen this? They had the Cherry finish and I was wondering if the black was the same way or constructed like the Clarity.

So, my current thinking is to wait for a few years until I can save enough for the Vantage but not sure that the value to me would be twice the price of the Purity.

As a speaker, I love the Purity but the quality of the cabinet does not come close to what I would expect fom Martin Logan or a $3K pair of speakers.

Thoughts?
Thanks,
Mark