Clarity ordered - have I made the wrong decision?

[SteveHorn]

A few days ago I ordered a pair of ML Clarity speakers and a Moon I-3 amp from a dealer in Edinburgh. They have not been delivered yet – maybe tomorrow. Up till a few days ago I had not heard of Martin Logan (I bought my last speakers, KEF 104s, in the 1970s). I had not intended to buy electrostatics but they just sounded so much smoother than anything else I heard. ‘Roughness’ particularly - on voices - is what is driving me to replace the old KEFs.

Here is my problem. The Claritys were the only ML product the dealer had on demo and he did not tell me about other models. Now I have been to this site I realise that the Clarity is a bit of a (literally) lightweight product compared with, say, the Aeons. I am wondering if I should slam on the brakes and try to change the order. I am not sure if anybody in Scotland will have Aeons on demo for me to listen to.

My speakers need to be installed in a corner (the TV is in the corner, I have no choice on this) and very close to walls. The room is big. The design of the rear of the Clarity looks a quite neat for this type of installation. Claritys also look great but that is not so important.

What should I do? I could have these speakers for the next 30 years so I would rather splash the extra cash now if the Aeons sound much better. Or should I just relax and enjoy the Claritys when they arrive.

 

[LOGANLOVE]

If you can afford to step up, then you should in my opinion. It just depends on what you can afford, the more you spend the better they are. Bang for the buck, the vantage rule

 

[TomDac]

I agree with LoganLove here... Cancel the order and go as big as your wallet will allow.

Claritys are fine speakers for sure, but bigger is always better when it comes to ESLs.

Let us know how it all turns out.

Tom.

 

[Joey_V]

The Aeons are being replaced by the Vista (a smaller Vantage-esque speaker)... so my advice would be to NOT go for the Aeons.

However, I would CANCEL.. and go Vantage.

 

[Robin]

Cancel... Go for more Vantages or Summits...

The Aeons are being replaced by the Vista (a smaller Vantage-esque speaker)... so my advice would be to NOT go for the Aeons.

However, I would CANCEL.. and go Vantage.

SteveHorn,

Welcome to the ML Club!
I concur, IMHO try for as much as you can afford Vantages or Summits. I don't know if I'd mortgage the farm, but I would definitely for for it. Tom is correct, bigger is better with electrostatic speakers, especially the powered cone driver subwoofers on the Vantages and Summits, just makes these hybrid ML speakers even more complete...

Best of luck on your audio quest...

It is good to have you here.

 

[Kruppy]

Becareful....

MLs need space to breathe. I think placing them right up against a wall will not do them justice no matter which model you decide on.

 

[SteveHorn]

The Aeons are being replaced by the Vista (a smaller Vantage-esque speaker)... so my advice would be to NOT go for the Aeons.

Good to know. Maybe it is Vantage or stick with Clarity. I have just done some furniture moving and I can see that the Vantages would rather big and domineering in my setup.

 

[twich54]

Think Back to the box ???

By all means if you are "stuck" with your Speaker positioning situation the last thing you want to do is spend bigger $$$ on other M/L's. Their are much better speaker choices out there if you are unable to give these the room they need. Upgrading to Vantages or Summitts given your situation would be nuts !!

 

[Reverb2009]

Go bigger if your room will allow it.

Like Kruppy said, Electrostatic speakers need room to breath to work right. Typically about 3 feet out from the back wall, two feet from the sidewall and 8 feet apart from each other, on average. If your going to put them in a small corner up close to a wall, then I say stick with the clarity. Because I don’t think you will see much of a difference from the aeon over the clarity, if your placement is not right.

 

[Joey_V]

Good to know. Maybe it is Vantage or stick with Clarity. I have just done some furniture moving and I can see that the Vantages would rather big and domineering in my setup.

You do know that Vantage and the Aeon are almost the same size?

I say, go with the Vantage.... almost no matter what. Space issues will clear up I'm sure and the money - well, it can always grow back provided it isnt too much of a hit... sacrifice like I did, eat Ramen Noodles for a month.

 

[DavidG]

Audition both!

Hi there,

I had the same dilema about 18 months ago. I *really* wanted Aeons, but wasn't sure about room interaction. My room is a very odd shape with one corner 'cut' out and generates some odd interactions.

So, I asked my dealer if I could home audition both Clarity and Aeon. They brought both models over. Put simply, Clarity worked well, Aeon i didn't. But this is purely for my room. From my experience, this is the case in small / odd shaped rooms - so you may well have made the right choice.

Cheers,

David

 

[SteveHorn]

I got the Claritys (picture)

The dealer does not have a pair of Vantages but I went back and heard the Claritys again, this time with a sub woofer. I knew right away that this gives me everything I want and need in a set of speakers.

Got them home yesterday and I am delighted. The roughness that has been stopping me playing so much of my music has gone. Last night I was re discovering my music again. Voices and strings are sweet. Every time I played a disc I was disappointed that it has finished. I couldn’t think what to play next because I had enjoyed the previous one so much. My first time with a sub woofer (Velodyne SPL 1200R) and, of course, I turned it up loud when we got to the rock music. By this time we had drunk a few glasses of wine.

Despite the ‘wrong’ placing of the speakers I can hear every detail in the music, fabulous. I think the stereo imaging could be better but for me that is of secondary importance to clarity and smoothness. There is some room for experimentation with placement and I can try soft materials on the walls behind the speakers. We are thinking of putting doors in the gap between the room sections.

I am very happy with my purchase and I am now a big fan of electrostatics.

 

[stesom]

Congratulations on your purchase. Being happy with what you have is one of the greatest things in life. You don't need to impress anyone else nor second guess yourself. This audiophile thing can be a real disease that requires a 12 step program to overcome. So being happy and enjoying the music is the bottom line.

May you have many years of enjoying the music on your system and don't look back........Have fun.....Steve

 

[Jeff Zaret]

SteveHOrn,
I totally agree!!
As long as you are happy that is all that really matters. You will experiment as time goes on but right now you will have to listen to your entire music collection all over again. It is like a kid ina candy shop. You will also enjoy TV and movies a lot more too.

Conratulations Steve

Jeff

 

[Joey_V]

Enjoy the Clarity! Looks nice and solid in your space. I'm glad you like it and reading your impressions on the sound mirrors a lot of mine when I think of ML speakers.

Stick around and post in the systems page.

 

[Reverb2009]

Looks good Stevehorn,

If it makes you happy, that all that matters. Some times you have to stop thinking about if it can get better and enjoy the music.

Enjoy.

 

[jmschnur]

I have Clarity's with a HSU sub woofer as part of my 5.1 system (Cinema i as center, NHT dipole's as surrounds). It has taken a good deal of tuning but I have gotten it fairly accurate. The sound is very nice for both stereo (2 channel + sub) and 5.1. I found the positions of the speaker did affect things and proper toe in was critical to good sound.

I am enjoying the system and really like the ML's while listening to a 5.1 movie as well as jazz with 2 speakers + sub only.. The sub takes care of any "weight problems". I cross all three ML's at 80 hz.

I did find that 30 hours break in made a big difference.

Let us know how it goes as you tune in the system.

Joel

 

[SugarMedia]

nice picture, and hope you enoy them. I think you bought the right combo and will continue to find them more enjoying as the months go by. I would probably think about repositioning my room though. You have them awfully close together and that will help the imaging problem you speak of.

 

[SteveHorn]

nice picture, and hope you enoy them. I think you bought the right combo and will continue to find them more enjoying as the months go by. I would probably think about repositioning my room though. You have them awfully close together and that will help the imaging problem you speak of.

The photo was taken with a wide angle lens. We are closer to the speakers than it looks. There is some room for experimentation with a wider spread or moving closer to increase the relative width.

Had a second night of enjoying my music. I now realise how much my old system was blocking things. We enjoyed music that came from TV because seeing at the musicians enhances the sense of performance and there is less of the brain to think about the sound. We enjoyed that very much with the old system (two SVHS tape machines to music record show and select tracks, but all digital since 2003) but we did not do a lot of listening o sound only music, especially acoustic or rock music were the voices were promanent.

I was always assuming that my old Beatles CDs were rough because the master tapes had deteriorated over the years before the CD was mastered. With the Claritys (or is it Clarities) I can hear multi-tracked voices and they don't sound like a single distorded voice. Still a bit 'in your face' sometimes but I am not reaching to turn down the volume and I am sorry when the disc finishes.

Although Beatles CDs like 'Magical Mystery Tour' or 'Rubber Soul' would not be considered Hi Fi by today's standards it was these CDs that really showed to me the merits of the electrostatics. I had stopped playing them on my old KEF speakers and to my ears they sounded a bit rough on new normal speakers - even some quite expensive ones. But the MLs remove the roughtness and let me hear the detail in the voices.

Thanks for all responses.

 

[Robin]

Your Clarity system looks cool...

Steve,

Excellent... As long as you love the sound of your ML's that is the most important thing... Congratulations!

Enjoy your beautiful new Clarity's.