Building New House - Considering ML Source Speakers for HT Room

[GamingDaemon]

Hello Eveyrone,

I am 100% new to this forum and to Martin Logans. Listening to them in Magnolia's store, I was completely wow'd. I love their clarity, and they are exactly what I am looking for.

I am building a house, new construction, and am in the process of planning out my home theatre room. The room will be a basic rectangle, 20'10" by 14'. The front speakers will be about 9' to 10' apart, and I will be using in-the-wall ML speakers for the center and rears. And of course, a ML sub.

I am working with a guy from Magnolia who is really good. He is recommending Control 4, etc. He is also recommending the ML Source speakers, which is basically the cheapest set they offer.

I appreciate them not overselling me, but I do want to make sure they are really good speakers. I loved them but I also heard the $8500 pair and the $27,000 pair and was appropriately blown away.

Let's just say that I am in the ballpark of $15,000 already for this home theatre and really don't want to spend more than that. I can't because my wife would kill me. But I do want to make my money count.

So my questions are:

1. Are the Source speakers good enough?
2. Should I consider the Purity speakers?
3. Or should I be happy getting the Source speaker snow, and plan to look forward to something better perhaps in a few years when I can afford it?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Burke]

So my questions are:

1. Are the Source speakers good enough?
2. Should I consider the Purity speakers?
3. Or should I be happy getting the Source speaker snow, and plan to look forward to something better perhaps in a few years when I can afford it?

Thanks in advance...

1.) 'good enough' is something only you can decide. for a 20 x 14 room they are a little on the small side and the 'Vantage' speaker will fill up the room better.

2.) The Purity is a self-powered Source, no amplifier required. So if you are buying a good pre-amp/processor and a amplifier then the Purity is waste of money (buying the amp twice, not bad sounding). So, No I would not consider the Purity over the Source.

3.) Budget is something you should always consider first and then stick with it. Once you catch the upgraded bug (officially called Joeyists) you can not be cured. If the source is the best you can afford now, they are great sounding speakers, and if you do decide to upgrade then you can use the Sources for surround speakers, Most people will say that the surround speakers do not put out much sound and you can really cheap out on them. I do not especially with Blu-ray and Dolby True HD, I am seeing much more sound from them and Sources are great surrounds (No need to go better than Source on the surrounds).

 

[tsmooth]

Are the Source speakers good enough?

They are great speakers and I owned a pair before moving to the ML Vista. Source, Purity, Vista, Vantage would all be good for your application. I would recommend hearing each as much as possible to make your decision.

My biggest recommendation would be to NOT get an in-wall center channel speaker. You should look for either the Motif or Matinee (due to your budget) that can be hung on the wall. The center channel is very important for movies (heavy dialog) and you definitely want a tonal match with the three speakers in front (aka all panel speakers in front). For the surrounds, an on/in wall would be fine.

For my money:

Front: Vista / Vantage = $3,000 to $4,000 (or Source/Purity would be less)
Center: Motif / Matinee / used Theater I = $1,500
Rear: Vignette / Fresco / or Helos = Either two or four $1,000 to $2,000
Pre-amp/Processor: Something with all the bells and “preouts” = $1,000 to $2,000
Amp: Solid 2 or 5 channels = $1,000 to $2,000
Subwoofer: Depth i = $1,500

Any of the combinations above would make a great theater room for you.

You will definitely not want to run your Front speakers from a receiver; an amplifier will give you much improved sound quality.

 

[GamingDaemon]

Thank you Burke and tsmooth.

I was definitely thinking of going with the Depth i for the sub, and then the motif for the center. While the rears are important, I have always felt the front 3 plus the sub were more important and thus worth spending more. Given that I am also spending a lot on wiring the entire house, and putting up a screen in the home theatre, etc. etc., I may need to go for lower-priced ML speakers for the in-the-wall rears.

It is hard to do this all for under $15,000.

I will definitely have more questions over the next couple of weeks as I figure this all out.

Thanks again!

 

[Burke]

I was definitely thinking of going with the Depth i for the sub, and then the motif for the center. While the rears are important, I have always felt the front 3 plus the sub were more important and thus worth spending more.

Correct, spend your money were you get the most return, In this case the front four (I put my sub up front).

You may also want to consider the used market. Most ML speakers on audiogon are well cared for and about one-half to two-thirds the new cost. This may allow you get get better gear and stay within budget.

 

[FISH_MAN]

can you ask the builder to purpusly build the walls not totally parallel to each other in that room say each of the long walls out about 6" giving you a foot seperation creating a wedge effect I thing that would have a positive effect on the sound and nowbody would notice.it may not even need to be that much just enough to stop the sound ways from stacking

 

[tonepub]

Don't waste the time and expense on non parallel walls. It creates more problems than it solves.

Spend 45 bucks here:

http://www.getbettersound.com/

Jim Smith is one of the best setup guys in the business and he also says that the non parallel walls are a big waste of time and money. This book will give you a lot of great ideas that are very cost effective...

 

[Garrry51]

Vista or Vantage?

I have a somewhat similar question. I have a Pioneer Elite SC-07 Receiver and I currently use a Depth subwoofer and Motif center channel. I am debating whether or not to buy the Vistas or Vantages. Am I better off spending the extra $1,400 or so for the built in amplifiers in the Vantages or do you think i can drive the Vistas with the SC-07?

 

[David Matz]

I have a somewhat similar question. I have a Pioneer Elite SC-07 Receiver and I currently use a Depth subwoofer and Motif center channel. I am debating whether or not to buy the Vistas or Vantages. Am I better off spending the extra $1,400 or so for the built in amplifiers in the Vantages or do you think i can drive the Vistas with the SC-07?

Try the search functionality, as this has been discussed several times already. If something is still unclear, start a new post.