ESL driver/panel matching

[kirkawall]

Hi,

So this may a candidate for stupid-question-of-the-month, but in thinking about why 'Logans sound as good as they do I noticed a number of new speakers recently whose manufacturers make much of their driver matching as one reason for their world-beating sound and I wondered whether this is of any consequence in Logans -- are Logan panels always already matched to very close tolerances and, if so, might this be one reason why they provide such a seamlessly coherent sound when set up properly? I own a set of Quad LS35a type speakers with drivers matched very closely and despite their tiny size and loudness/bass limitations they do have a remarkable midrange speed and coherence. Are all Logan panels created equal and matched?

apologies if this has been addressed at length before and best,

k

 

[roberto]

Hi,

So this may a candidate for stupid-question-of-the-month, but in thinking about why 'Logans sound as good as they do I noticed a number of new speakers recently whose manufacturers make much of their driver matching as one reason for their world-beating sound and I wondered whether this is of any consequence in Logans -- are Logan panels always already matched to very close tolerances and, if so, might this be one reason why they provide such a seamlessly coherent sound when set up properly? I own a set of Quad LS35a type speakers with drivers matched very closely and despite their tiny size and loudness/bass limitations they do have a remarkable midrange speed and coherence. Are all Logan panels created equal and matched?

apologies if this has been addressed at length before and best,

k

Hola Kirkawall. Did you mean Rogers LS3.5A? Those are designed under BBC specifications and a very good sounding mini-monitors. And are also mirror matched...just the same as ML stat panels. Before they are shipped, and just out of production, there is a special chamber where through a computer program, are tested, and then, all speakers are matched. Your ML speakers are serial number consecutive. When you buy them, at the carton box, they are matched with serial number also. These is why too, when you change the stat panels, always you change both...becasue they are matched together. Happy listening,
Roberto.

 

[kirkawall]

Thanks for the explanation, Roberto. Something I had wondered for a while now.

best,

k

 

[Caerus]

My Vantages came to me not consecutive as the box indicates. I had #1 and #153. I asked the question if they had to be matched and they said no. All the speakers have QC/QA standards that they all must meet and they are not a matched pair. So ML told me there will be no sonic difference having non-matched or actually sequential serial numbers to be exact. If any thing it reflected the wood veneer batch to ML, but that still does not mean they won't look similar. Bottom line ML indicated it's not an issue at all. I don't know if ML is giving me a line of BS, but I can't tell any difference between the two.

I think changing the stat panels two at a time is a prudent practice, since I'm sure there is some degradation over time. So I would not want an old panel with a new panel. There may be some sonically heard differences in this situation.

Brad

 

[amey01]

Although QC may be very high, there are always small differences within manufacturing tolerance. I believe MLs are matched because I noticed on my box I had words to the effect of "Serial number X, match with SN Y". I don't know how tight manufacturing tolerances are (and whether you would hear any difference if you had one panel from one extreme end of tolerance and another from the other), but I would still want matched.

 

[Caerus]

Martin Logan technical representatives indicated that their speakers (Vantages in my case) are "not matched" as a pair that must be together. They are not tweaked to each other to be a matching pair. The panels are not binned to match any thing other than a common specification and tolerance. They indicated they are all equally matching speakers and can pair with any of them. I asked why then put on the speaker box "pair with" two sequential serial numbers? They indicated there is no technical reason, but for inventory purposes they do it that way. They said it was a way that corresponded with batchs of wood veneer for tracking purposes.

I suspect thats the way they always did it and maybe in the past with other models they were "tweaked", "batched" or other words "paired" or "matched" to be with another speaker. Martin Logan was insistent that they are just sequentially paired off the assembly line and they are all equivalent speakers.

The manufacturing tolerance band should be set so that there is no noticeable difference between any speaker that meets said tolerance. As I said above, ML does not sonically match speaker pairs.

On my box they do not indicate "match" at all. They state S/N #1 pair with S/N #2.

I am just repeating what ML told me. But then I have been acused of being gullible before.

Brad

 

[Beat_Dominator]

Given that an ESL by design has far lower distortion than a conventional pistonic driver; I doubt there is much to be gained by matching pairs as the differences between panels is probably not worth measuring because it is so small.

 

[lugano]

A fact remains...

... and it is the established popular belief, regardless of brand. Which comes out when you decide to sell your stuff, and a pair of loudspeakers with incremental serials might get more attention and more money than a pair with serials 102304 and 254438... I remember when I sold my ML Stylos, which had non-seq serials: the buyer was not at all happy with this situation.