kwr
Well-known member
The Martin Logan dealer in Sydney has recently had the CLX in stock and has it set up for demonstration. My wife and spent an hour listening to music via a very impressive system. The CLX was powered by an all Gryphon system Mikado/ Sonata/ Antileon stereo. The demo room is about 5m x 9m with a lot of other gear lining the walls.
The CLX were about 3.5m apart with about 2m to the front wall and about 4m back to the seating position. Initial impressions were of incredible detail and a Monolith beating soundstage. The stereo image was held well around the room even well off axis and the vertical dispersion seemed to be the height of the panel as it is with the Monoliths .Walking around the room revealed a wide sweet spot easily able to accommodate two people. The vertical blind effect walking from side to side of the soundstage was far less noticeable than with the Monoliths .
Music utilised to assess the capabilities of this system included was Bach Sonatas and Partitas, Tognetti, ABC classics; Exotic Dances from the Opera Oue, Minnesota, Reference Recordings, also from the same group the Copland Appalachain Spring and Fanfare for the Common Man; Spem In Alium the forty part motet, Tallis, Tallis Scholars Gimell; Erin Bode Over and Over, Maxjazz; Boccherini La Musica Notturna delle strade di Madrid , Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Tacet; Debussy 12 Etudes, Uchida, Phillips
The overall sonic impression was highly favourable with for once a high performance system sounding musical. The speakers were only a few hours old and my experience with Gryphon is that it is a drier sound than the Plinius amplification we are used to. With those provisos we did have a quibble with the treble which sounded hazy in particular the harmonics of the higher notes of the piano closed in and squashed instead of floating as they should. Tilting the panel slightly toward us helped that considerably but the ringing of the treble on a piano was still diminished. The bass was precise and tight but this speaker seems to require a subwoofer as the rich sonority of the hammer strikes in the piano and the growling foundation of a big orchestra on the move was not there. The bass panel moving is quite distracting but there was no evidence of any distortion on the mighty bass drum thwacks of Fanfare for the Common Man. This was played at a highish volume but we do not listen at the PA levels favoured by many.
Voice was wonderful and the Tallis Motet was the best I have ever heard. This piece raised an interesting point as initially this piece sounded very closed in but turning the volume up released the music fom the speakers. This is a complex piece with forty parts in a seven choir conformation. It tears most systems apart but beyond the need to turn the volume up, the ability of the system to resolve the parts was nothing short of extraordinary.
Overall impression was of a speaker that needed to loosen up. The price in Australia of $38,000 for the 25th anniversary model is steep and probably out of our reach for some time but the beguiling nature of a fullish range electrostatic is such that we will be back for another listen after the speaker has some more hours on it.
Our thanks to Joey at Audio Connection for setting up the demonstration.
Kevin
The CLX were about 3.5m apart with about 2m to the front wall and about 4m back to the seating position. Initial impressions were of incredible detail and a Monolith beating soundstage. The stereo image was held well around the room even well off axis and the vertical dispersion seemed to be the height of the panel as it is with the Monoliths .Walking around the room revealed a wide sweet spot easily able to accommodate two people. The vertical blind effect walking from side to side of the soundstage was far less noticeable than with the Monoliths .
Music utilised to assess the capabilities of this system included was Bach Sonatas and Partitas, Tognetti, ABC classics; Exotic Dances from the Opera Oue, Minnesota, Reference Recordings, also from the same group the Copland Appalachain Spring and Fanfare for the Common Man; Spem In Alium the forty part motet, Tallis, Tallis Scholars Gimell; Erin Bode Over and Over, Maxjazz; Boccherini La Musica Notturna delle strade di Madrid , Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Tacet; Debussy 12 Etudes, Uchida, Phillips
The overall sonic impression was highly favourable with for once a high performance system sounding musical. The speakers were only a few hours old and my experience with Gryphon is that it is a drier sound than the Plinius amplification we are used to. With those provisos we did have a quibble with the treble which sounded hazy in particular the harmonics of the higher notes of the piano closed in and squashed instead of floating as they should. Tilting the panel slightly toward us helped that considerably but the ringing of the treble on a piano was still diminished. The bass was precise and tight but this speaker seems to require a subwoofer as the rich sonority of the hammer strikes in the piano and the growling foundation of a big orchestra on the move was not there. The bass panel moving is quite distracting but there was no evidence of any distortion on the mighty bass drum thwacks of Fanfare for the Common Man. This was played at a highish volume but we do not listen at the PA levels favoured by many.
Voice was wonderful and the Tallis Motet was the best I have ever heard. This piece raised an interesting point as initially this piece sounded very closed in but turning the volume up released the music fom the speakers. This is a complex piece with forty parts in a seven choir conformation. It tears most systems apart but beyond the need to turn the volume up, the ability of the system to resolve the parts was nothing short of extraordinary.
Overall impression was of a speaker that needed to loosen up. The price in Australia of $38,000 for the 25th anniversary model is steep and probably out of our reach for some time but the beguiling nature of a fullish range electrostatic is such that we will be back for another listen after the speaker has some more hours on it.
Our thanks to Joey at Audio Connection for setting up the demonstration.
Kevin
