Want help!! New owner here.

[dmusoke]

Disappointing. I guess the large ESL panels sound so unique that it's hard to match a conventional speakers to it. As for the sweet spot, I think this is an inherent limitation to electrostatic speakers. I sit about 12-14 feet away from my Vantages (and they are approx 10 ft apart) and I would say there is an 8 inch sweet spot. If I move my head off center by more than half a foot either way, the sound stage changes and I immediately know I am off center. Despite all the advertising, I think any flat panel setup is a one person listening affair. IMHO.

Thanks Invebio and all who helped ... i finally gave in, pulled the trigger and bought one. I really hope i do not regret this purchase ....

 

[invenio]

Thanks Invebio and all who helped ... i finally gave in, pulled the trigger and bought one. I really hope i do not regret this purchase ....

I don't think you'll regret it. I have heard people say really nice things about the stage. Also, if for some reason you really don't like it, I'm sure you can return it.

 

[projectormovielover]

I think you will love the Stage and don't worry about it not filling a room as you'l be very surprised at the performance you'l get out of it. I think the tweeter in the stage really bridges the gap between larger panel speakers. I did an A/B comparison with the tweeters on the Matinee and Stage and found the latter to sound way better. I found that the timber match was not good with the Source and Stage as it is with the larger panel Vista's. The Stage really puts out the best bass ever for a center, its very tight and way more articulated than other six and a half inch woofer'd center speakers I have previously owned. It also does a very good job for blending into 5 ch music on sacd in my setup

One outstanding thing about the stage and the most important in my book is how clear dialogue comes through when watching a movie. I can hear everything actors are saying with more clarity and detail without straining my ears at any time.

 

[dmusoke]

I think you will love the Stage and don't worry about it not filling a room as you'l be very surprised at the performance you'l get out of it. I think the tweeter in the stage really bridges the gap between larger panel speakers. I did an A/B comparison with the tweeters on the Matinee and Stage and found the latter to sound way better. I found that the timber match was not good with the Source and Stage as it is with the larger panel Vista's. The Stage really puts out the best bass ever for a center, its very tight and way more articulated than other six and a half inch woofer'd center speakers I have previously owned. It also does a very good job for blending into 5 ch music on sacd in my setup

One outstanding thing about the stage and the most important in my book is how clear dialogue comes through when watching a movie. I can hear everything actors are saying with more clarity and detail without straining my ears at any time.

Thanks for the re-assurance movielover! I really needed it as i wondered whether a center channel is really really renecessary in my 4.1 setup. You can tell that i have my fingers crossed

 

[autoformer]

I read this review a while back and couldn't hear what the reviewer was hearing. My theater uses a Stage with Summit Xs up front and I have yet to hear anything better. I continue to audition new theater setups at the local hi fi places, but haven't yet heard anything that would cause me to part with my system. Take the review with a grain of salt.

I just read a review of the Stage center (with Summits as the mains) and they mentioned mainly 2 negatives. Since its curves inward, the sound pattern only has a very narrrow spot and hardly any on the sides such that listeners away from the sweet spot will suffer. Secondly, that it was slightly tonally different than the Summits and not as blended as it could be. I wonder why they discontinued the Theater center speaker since its curved outwards like all other Xstat and has a wider frequency response?

 

[dmusoke]

I read this review a while back and couldn't hear what the reviewer was hearing. My theater uses a Stage with Summit Xs up front and I have yet to hear anything better. I continue to audition new theater setups at the local hi fi places, but haven't yet heard anything that would cause me to part with my system. Take the review with a grain of salt.

Ahhhhh!!!! Precious indeed! Thanks autoformer:rocker:

 

[MixinSammy]

rblum,

Again, I appreciate your feedback and support. I've heard of some stores price matching at the $299 mark for the motion 8 center speaker. Right now I have an old Yamaha center and trying to make do until I can purchase the motion 8. Movies just sound ok right now, but are better since I switched to the yamaha over my old KLH cube speaker I used for my center previously. Dialogue is important and it seems that when watching movies I have to crank up the receiver volume just to hear the voices properly. I'm thinking its my motion 4's overpowering the current center speaker. Sound effects are crisp, but with the center lacking it makes everything seem a bit flat. Will the motion 8 help my situation?? Let me know your thoughts.

 

[MixinSammy]

projectmovielover,

Please let me know if you can find me anything budget friendly as far as a motion 8 center speaker is concerned. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm trying to get one soon since I want my home theatre to be fully upgraded and working soon. I already have the motion 4's as my two front speakers and am running it off of my Pioneer Elite VSX-50 receiver. I also bought audioquest cinnamon cables to boost picture and sound quality. Recently, I brought out my older yamaha center and subwoofer to help until I can fully upgrade them. Right now the center is my focus since it is the heart of the home theater. Do you think the motion 8 will make a noticeable difference for me?? My current center is decent (old yamaha) and debating if the motion 8 will be worth the money? Any help or advice would be great. Thanks again.

 

[rblum]

rblum, Dialogue is important and it seems that when watching movies I have to crank up the receiver volume just to hear the voices properly. I'm thinking its my motion 4's overpowering the current center speaker. Sound effects are crisp, but with the center lacking it makes everything seem a bit flat. Will the motion 8 help my situation?? Let me know your thoughts.

Is there anywhere you can hear the 8? If so take your yamaha there and compare. The other option is order one with a return policy and try it in your home. It is good to have the same "voice" on the 3 fronts. Are you sure you have the levels matched on all speakers? I raised the level on my center a little higher than the calibration set it at to make dialogue easier to hear.... you might try that. Also, are you sure all the TV and Movies are 5 channel? A lot of TV is Dolby 2 channel, and unless a receiver uses something like Dolby PLII Movie to convert from 2 to 5 channel, you will hear dialog switching from the center in a 5 channel source to the sides in a 2 channel source.

 

[invenio]

rblum,

Again, I appreciate your feedback and support. I've heard of some stores price matching at the $299 mark for the motion 8 center speaker. Right now I have an old Yamaha center and trying to make do until I can purchase the motion 8. Movies just sound ok right now, but are better since I switched to the yamaha over my old KLH cube speaker I used for my center previously. Dialogue is important and it seems that when watching movies I have to crank up the receiver volume just to hear the voices properly. I'm thinking its my motion 4's overpowering the current center speaker. Sound effects are crisp, but with the center lacking it makes everything seem a bit flat. Will the motion 8 help my situation?? Let me know your thoughts.

Have you tried running the speakers with an amplifier. The Pioneer is rated at only 90 watts per channel and probably runs even lower with all the speakers on at once. Maybe you just need a little more power?

 

[dmusoke]

Thanks Invebio and all who helped ... i finally gave in, pulled the trigger and bought one. I really hope i do not regret this purchase ....

I don't think you'll regret it. I have heard people say really nice things about the stage. Also, if for some reason you really don't like it, I'm sure you can return it.

I think you will love the Stage and don't worry about it not filling a room as you'l be very surprised at the performance you'l get out of it. I think the tweeter in the stage really bridges the gap between larger panel speakers. I did an A/B comparison with the tweeters on the Matinee and Stage and found the latter to sound way better. I found that the timber match was not good with the Source and Stage as it is with the larger panel Vista's. The Stage really puts out the best bass ever for a center, its very tight and way more articulated than other six and a half inch woofer'd center speakers I have previously owned. It also does a very good job for blending into 5 ch music on sacd in my setup

One outstanding thing about the stage and the most important in my book is how clear dialogue comes through when watching a movie. I can hear everything actors are saying with more clarity and detail without straining my ears at any time.

Thanks for the re-assurance movielover! I really needed it as i wondered whether a center channel is really really renecessary in my 4.1 setup. You can tell that i have my fingers crossed

Ahhhhh!!!! Precious indeed! Thanks autoformer:rocker:

Finally got my ML Stage center speaker a few days ago and starting to wokr on it. How far should it be from the back wall? ML's document lacks this crucial piece of information...

 

[MixinSammy]

rblum,

Thanks for all your help and suggestions about the center speaker. I bought the motion 8 on Friday and still found that the dialogue was lacking. I've turned up the level on the center to try and improve my situation, but it really only made a minimal difference. When they were demoing the speaker for me in store (BestBuy), it sounded amazing and made a huge difference. At home, everything seemed just marginally better than what I had?? Am I missing something?? Also, I am using a Pioneer VSX-50 as my receiver to my home theater. It is supposed to have a function called "Dialogue E" that enhances dialogue for clearer/crisper production. The problem is, when I go to the setting I can only turn it on or to "Flat" which doesn't seem to help. In the manual for the receiver, it says there are other setting to set "Dialogue E" to, but I can't get my receiver to do it?? I'm honestly thinking of returning the motion 8 if I can't get it to reproduce what they did in the store. Can you or anyone you know help with this situation?? As always, any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[MixinSammy]

Invenio,

I'm not sure what the problem is actually. All I know is that dialgoue is weak and not impressing me much. I just bought the receiver a month ago, so don't have money to turn around and replace it. I was told that the Pioneer elite should be fine with what I'm running.
Any settings or changes I can make to improve my center?? I just bought the motion 8 on Friday and am underwhelmed. It sounded great in store, but weak and flat at home. Hoping I can do something with what I have to make things better. Any advice short of me replacing my receiver??

 

[invenio]

Invenio,

I'm not sure what the problem is actually. All I know is that dialgoue is weak and not impressing me much. I just bought the receiver a month ago, so don't have money to turn around and replace it. I was told that the Pioneer elite should be fine with what I'm running.
Any settings or changes I can make to improve my center?? I just bought the motion 8 on Friday and am underwhelmed. It sounded great in store, but weak and flat at home. Hoping I can do something with what I have to make things better. Any advice short of me replacing my receiver??

Hmm, I see. One thing you have to remember is that the Elite line of Pioneer is their high end, but there is considerable variation among this line (both in terms of performance/power and price). One thing you can do is see if your receiver supports biamping, this will double the power going to the speaker. If this makes it sound "good", then you know it's a power issue. One quicker but less effective thing you can try is turning off all the other channels and seeing how the center sounds as this will also give it "a little more" power (even though it's not documented to do so). Another possibility.... Do you know anybody that may have a dedicated amplifier lying around, you may be able to hook it up with the center analog rca output going to an amplifier (it should be rated at a descent output, over 150 watts per channel in this case). If you can do any of these and it solves the issue, you know that it's a low amplifier output problem. If your still having the same issues, then it's something else.

The other thing is that you mention that when they demoed the speaker at best buy for you it sounded "amazing." Do you know what receiver/amp they were using for the demo? That could tell you a lot about what the issue is. Sorry I can't be of more help, if owned that center I'm sure I could give better suggestions... hmmm, maybe I should get one...

 

[thazeldean]

Hi Sam,
On your question about Coldplay, REM etc. what you may find is that the speakers you now have are alot more revealing and are showing you just how poorly some of these albums are recorded. I bought the new coldplay album on LP and was really looking forward to listening to it but when I put it on it was almost unlistenable. I read a review from somewhere in TAS or Hi Fi News and the reviewer was saying how compressed the sound of this album was and this is my experience put into words. It is an unfortunate part of our hobby that alot of records are made to be listened to on MP3 players or cheap CD players and the album producers boost the treble and bass so it sounds good on these systems. They also compress the dynamics of the music so it sounds louder on cheap less resolving systems. Unfortunately when you buy better gear it reveals the shortcomings of the recording process. The only thing you can console yourself with is that well recorded albums sound great.
I know this probably won't help but unfortunately it is reality.
Tony.

I'm new to Martin Logan and just starting out. I am updating my home theatre sound system and trying to get the most out of my new speakers and receiver. I bought my first pair of Martin Logan speakers a week ago and am very happy. However, as I piece my home theatre system together I'm trying to make everything sound better and give me that true movie theatre quality to the sound. So far, I've bought new motion 4 speakers for my fronts. These sound amazing so far and I really love them. I am using a left over cube KLH speaker I used from my "theatre in a box" system that I used to have hooked up in my living room. I also bought a Pioneer Elite VSX-50 for my new receiver. I'm on a limited entertainment budget so can only do so much. With the new receiver and motion 4's in front, everything is much improved. My problem is that dialogue is weak and the effects from movies are just "ok". I was hoping to get a real surround effect and movie theatre quality sound from the Martin Logans. Is it worth my money getting the motion 6 center?? Or should I just jump up to the motion 8?? I want to keep the style uniform in my setup, so want to stay with the motion line. Anyone else using motion 4 speakers for music and movies?? I also have it all hooked up to a yamaha sub. I am still using my old KLH cubes for my rear speakers. I don't have the cash to upgrade that yet. I was told working on the front two and the receiver would be my best bet. So, that is why I decided to go that route.

I am also interested in what people are listening to on motion 4's or Martin Logan's in general. I have found that live and acoustic stuff sounds great, but modern music is a bit muffled. Tom Petty, Eagles, Bonnie Raitt, Ray Charles, Bruce Springstein all seem to be great on the system. Coldplay, Lana Del Rey, Rihanna, F.U.N., REM, and others not so much. Trying to find ways to make it all shine. Suggestions welcome.

I am hoping someone reads this and can help me with some of these issues. Really want to get the most out of my new system and especially out of the great speakers. Any help would be great. Thanks

Sam

 

[MixinSammy]

Tony,

Thanks for responding to my post. I have to agree with you on the new Coldplay album. Started listening and like Princess of China, as a song, but was hard to listen to on my Martin's . Sound was overly loud and bass was ridiculous. Had to turn my receiver down a bit to make it tollerable. Guess I'll be listening to that one on my Ipod. Besides that, a lot of good albums out there. Even some of the older stuff surprised me. Listened to the Eagles greatest hits and loved it. It seems a lot of acoustic stuff is great for detail pick up on the speakers. Like some of Jack Johnson's stuff and waiting to pop those in. Anything you'd recommend?? I'm open to most types of music. THanks again.
Sam