Hello Martin Logan owners!

[YodaEva]

I'm here in Bay Area, CA. I've been collecting Martin Logan speakers for about 15ish years. And have had to move a lot of my stuff around. Right now i have the Theater center, reQuests for fronts, Scripts for surround, motion FX for rear surrounds, and motion 4s has heights. But planning on moving the heights to center ceiling for the atmos format, which i dont have quite yet. Now that is all powered with the Emotiva XPA-5 gen 1 on it's own 15amp circuit, 2 basX A-150 plugged into a now very old Onkyo tx-nr929 which needs replacement...maybe an XMC-2. Those along with my 86in LG, Panasonic ub820 with 10 Phillips hue play bars connected to a sync box and 2 SVS SB3000s on a 20amp circuit. I also plan on adding a XPA-DR3 since i need a bit more juice for the front sound stage and i have about 80% of another 20 amp circuit free that may work. Didn't realize i was going to post so much. Anyways nice to be here with like minded individuals that love that Martin Logan sound/magic.

 

[twich54]

Welcome to the fold Yoda......

 

[JLasher22443]

Welcome!

 

[JonFo]

Welcome to the club!

To really improve the performance, you might want to look into more acoustic treatments for the room.
But I'll make one direct recommendation: Put an absorber directly behind the center channel. It will dramatically clear up dialog intelligibility, and will also have the nice side-effect of hiding the wires to the TV ;-)

You can purchase something of appropriate size (12" x 48" ??) from Gik Acoustics, or DIY a panel.

 

[YodaEva]

Welcome to the club!

To really improve the performance, you might want to look into more acoustic treatments for the room.
But I'll make one direct recommendation: Put an absorber directly behind the center channel. It will dramatically clear up dialog intelligibility, and will also have the nice side-effect of hiding the wires to the TV ;-)

You can purchase something of appropriate size (12" x 48" ??) from Gik Acoustics, or DIY a panel.

Hello JonFo! Nice to meet you and thank you for the suggestion. The room is in state of constant change and i have been looking into some new acoustic panels but more for the back and less for the front since i get a ton of absorption from my curtains which i love. But you make a good point. Now i can't actually put it up on the wall since I'm constantly playing with the cables and lights in the back. We can't forget about the lights which are reactive to the tv cant be covered. But mounting it on a standing frame and putting it about 1 inch from the wall is possible. Now it may not be noticeable in the pictures, that center speaker is 3 feet from the wall so I don't get too many reflections. But i can see benefiting from this. Once again thank you for the suggestion. Now I am curious if a emotiva DR3 can run on 80% of a 20amp since I'm taking about 500ish watts from other things connected to it. Would anybody have any experience with an Emotiva XPA-DR3 and its actual power draw?

 

[spkrdctr]

Unless your listening at ear splitting levels, that 20 amp circuit can easily handle what you have. I would suggest a sound level meter. That will let you know how much power you are really using versus what you think your using. Most people listen to movies at 95 to 105 db max. If you do the math with that, you find that most systems are not using much power at all. This allows you to have great headroom for explosions etc. You can listen to movies louder than that, but you will destroy your hearing in the long term. You have put together a nice system. I bet it sounds quite good!

 

[YodaEva]

Unless your listening at ear splitting levels, that 20 amp circuit can easily handle what you have. I would suggest a sound level meter. That will let you know how much power you are really using versus what you think your using. Most people listen to movies at 95 to 105 db max. If you do the math with that, you find that most systems are not using much power at all. This allows you to have great headroom for explosions etc. You can listen to movies louder than that, but you will destroy your hearing in the long term. You have put together a nice system. I bet it sounds quite good!

Thanks spkrdctr, exactly what I needed to hear. Just wanted a second opinion before pushing forward. 2k isn't chump change I did the math prior to this but I'm not an expert so figured it'd be a good idea to check with others. Thank you so much for giving my that much needed reinforcement to make a decision.

 

[JLasher22443]

Hey Yoda, I second JonFo's statement because he suggested I do the same with my Cinema I Center. Mine was setup at first almost exactly like yours and JonFo recommended absorption behind the center and to move it off of the wall to where it was inline with my Left and Right channels. Man was he right and the dialogue was much clearer and you could hear voices in movies very clear without having to blast the volume.

Now what I did was make my own absorption panel but you can buy one also. Mine couldn't be mounted permanently either so I hung it like a framed picture or art piece. But instead of using flimsy frame hangers I used heavy gauge hooks into the wall studs and tie wire on the back of the panel. Then whenever I wanted to get to thew cabling I just lifted it off of the hooks. This way it will just hang in front of your wires on the wall. Listed below is what I used.

Tie Wire.
https://www.amazon.com/12-401-336-F...ild=1&keywords=tie+wire&qid=1594657467&sr=8-3

Bolt for back of panel and to tie the tire wire hanger.
https://www.amazon.com/1-inchType-S...g+eye+bolt&qid=1594657626&s=industrial&sr=1-6

Into Stud Screw Bolt
https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Line-9...hook+bolt&qid=1594657709&s=industrial&sr=1-11

Here are some photos.

 

[YodaEva]

Hey Yoda, I second JonFo's statement because he suggested I do the same with my Cinema I Center. Mine was setup at first almost exactly like yours and JonFo recommended absorption behind the center and to move it off of the wall to where it was inline with my Left and Right channels. Man was he right and the dialogue was much clearer and you could hear voices in movies very clear without having to blast the volume.

Now what I did was make my own absorption panel but you can buy one also. Mine couldn't be mounted permanently either so I hung it like a framed picture or art piece. But instead of using flimsy frame hangers I used heavy gauge hooks into the wall studs and tie wire on the back of the panel. Then whenever I wanted to get to thew cabling I just lifted it off of the hooks. This way it will just hang in front of your wires on the wall. Listed below is what I used.

Tie Wire.
https://www.amazon.com/12-401-336-F...ild=1&keywords=tie+wire&qid=1594657467&sr=8-3

Bolt for back of panel and to tie the tire wire hanger.
https://www.amazon.com/1-inchType-S...g+eye+bolt&qid=1594657626&s=industrial&sr=1-6

Into Stud Screw Bolt
https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Line-9...hook+bolt&qid=1594657709&s=industrial&sr=1-11

Here are some photos.

Just have to say you guys are fucking awesome. Thank you for that idea of hanging it much better than the stand idea. And the pictures are perfect. Thank you guys so much.

 

[JonFo]

Now it may not be noticeable in the pictures, that center speaker is 3 feet from the wall so I don't get too many reflections

Hum, sorry, distance just adds delay, so at 3' you have 3ms before hitting the wall plus 3ms before it reflects back into the ESL and through it. 6ms total delay is right at the threshold of being clearly noticeable. But regardless, causes comb-filtering that impacts intelligibility.
Just wanted to clarify the time-domain behaviors, which are often not considered when placing ESL dipole speakers, yet make a ton of difference.

As JLasher points out from his own experience, absorption behind the center really works wonders. And the hanging concept is very practical. Only change I'd recommend is to make a frame for the 2" fiberglass absorber, instead of a solid backing, so sound goes through and then re-absorbed on the way back. That lowers the effective frequency and mitigates the highs better.