just starting... which ML's to begin with?

[abacus30]

Hi everyone,

Happy new year. I'm about to buy some new ML's and was wondering if I might get some advice, thoughts, feedback on which ones to purchase.

I've listened to the Theos and the electromotion ESL's at Best Buy (Magnolia's listening room) a few months ago and really couldn't tell that big of a difference - although we only got to hear one song through the Theos speakers and probably 5 songs through the ESL's. They both sounded phenomenal! Has anyone listened to the new ESL's and thought they sound comparable to any of the higher priced models??

I presently have a brand new Yamaha Aventage RX-A3010 receiver - "9-channel sound/150W per Channel (8 ohms, 20 Hz-20 kHz, 0.06 % THD, 2 ch driven)" in a 26x20' room, along with a Yamaha 5.1 surround "box" system I bought 10 years ago. I'm NOT an audiophile and don't even know how to download music. I listen to cd's and Sonos about 2/3's of the time and watch TV/Movies around 1/3 of the time. A lot of that 1/3 of home theater time is actually spent watching concerts on blu-ray or on the Paladia channel. My wife and I are huge music lovers (especially rock and blues) and have actually attended 1000+ concerts each in our lives... but not audiophile geeks. FLAC? SACD? hz vs. dB? WTF? LOL!

By freak chance, this past August, my wife and I happened to listen to some Martin Logan ESL's (and a pair of Theos) and realized we were really missing out on some good quality sound. I wanted to buy them immediately, but wife would never agree to buy ML's because of their height. She wanted "speakers, not furniture!" After many auditions of various high-end speakers (magnepan, focal, salk, B&W, definitive, Paradigm, BG radia, etc...) and not being content with any of them, my wife finally broke down this past weekend and said we could get Martin Logans. We must stay within a $10,000ish budget for a whole new 5.1 surround sound setup. So ESL, Theos or Ethos... I just don't know which is really better for us. I'm leaning toward the ESL's, since I don't use a DAC and love streaming audio from the Sonos system through my home theater. I'm assuming cd's and streaming sonos through my Yamaha receiver won't really be able to take advantage of what the Theos & Ethos have to offer and therefor it would be overkill to buy either of them, but maybe I'm wrong? After I figure out what fronts are best for us, I'll need to get a center along with them immediately... but in the end, all 6 speakers must stay within $10,000 - $11,000ish.

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[Ron]

Welcome to MLC. I have not heard either speaker. I am sure others will chime in.

 

[Brad225]

abacus

I sent you a PM here.

 

[abacus30]

What do you think about this combination - front electromotion ESL's, with a Motif center (instead of electromotion C2), and Depth i sub (instead of Grotto i) to go along with my Yamaha RXA-3010 receiver??? That's what I'm thinking at the moment. Thanks for any help guys!

 

[edwinr]

The Ethos are sensational speakers. I heard both these speakers and my current Theos together (in the same room). Initially the Ethos seemed to have more bass punch, but as I listened more, I thought the Theos sounded more 'natural' and I preferred this sound. Both speakers sounded identical from around 70Hz up. Regarding the Electromotion - in isolation they sound amazing. They are very close (as long as you don't push them too hard) to the Ethos and Theos. It's like anything though, if you require your speakers to reproduce more dynamics, loudness, fine detail and sound staging, your costs are going to increase. If you have the money, buy the Ethos or Theos. If money is an issue, the Electromotion ESL is a great buy.

If you go the ESL based system with the Yamaha receiver, that would be sensational. That receiver punches out over 150 watts per channel, so driving the ESLs should be no problem.

 

[Legis]

I would personally go for a model (ongoing of discontinued) that does not have "the" midrange glare like some models do. Of course this has something to do with cabling and amplification choices, but the tendency to have midrange glare is there with some models (like Vista). Basically the differences are mainly caused by differencies in XO-point, XO parts quality and the amount of voltage/current drive used in the particular model etc., so a DIYer could pretty easily fine tune every Logan to sound more as he/she wishes, but if keeping thing as stock, one has to listen the speaker before buying. Which is ultimately the best recommendation - listen before buying. The bass capacity and extension can be choosed from the data sheet, but the differences in the "voicing" of the ESL-element and the speaker in whole, is a mystery before one has heard it.

 

[edwinr]

I agree, Legis. There is always the recently superseded Vantage or Vista to consider. Some dealers may still have brand new stock available for a good price.

 

[abacus30]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate the help.

I finally made a decision after months of looking, well over a hundred hours of research, and auditioning at least 10 different sets of high end speakers across the Florida gulf coast. I ended up choosing the ESL's to be my fronts, along with the Motif center, Depth i sub, and a pair of FX2's for the rears. I'm totally psyched to be a new Martin Logan speaker owner and have the opportunity to listen to really good sound everyday for the rest of my life. YES!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[edwinr]

Good choice. I'm sure you have read the Perfect Vision's recent rave review of the ElectroMotion ESL system: http://www.avguide.com/review/martinlogan-electromotion-esl-51-channel-speaker-system-tpv-109.

Reading a review like that just has to make your feel real good inside when you've paid the dollars... :music:

 

[abacus30]

Just got my whole surround sound installed yesterday. They're sounding better by the hour! :music:

However, the installers didn't know anything about subwoofer (Depth i). So I gotta learn how to tame/utilize this monster to its greatest extent. I like to control the volume, but wish there was an automatic for everything else... guess I gotta read the User's Manual.

 

[Cat Blu]

Nice Gear! The RX-A3010 should have the ability to set the sub right in your system. Just run the YPAO. For ease in setting up the RX-A I recomend using the Receiver Manager - it is a tweakers delight.