New Member

[SPEAKERNUT]

While on the lookout for a new digital camera I came upon a pair of claritys on sale and knew that the camera would have to wait. I have eyed Martin Logans for years and now was my chance.
So far I am impresed however I do have a question. The extra tweeter on the back I turned it off trying to be a purest. After all it is a two channel system. What is the general feeling regarding this up firing tweeter?

 

[Reverb2009]

Welcome to the club.

Works grate for home theater use. Leave it off for two channel.

 

[Jeff Zaret]

The tweeter is something that I believe was designed for filling a void in reflection. Although I could be so wrong it is unbelievable to think. Like Zip3kx07 stated, I would try that and see if it improves the sound or is too "bright". This also may depend on what is behind your speaker such as drpaes, pictures or a flat wall or window. Each one of these will "exhibit" a different soundstage to you. They few people I have talked with and posts on the board appear to be the tweeter is off more than it is on. Trust your ears they will tell you what you like and what is not pleasing to you.
Experiment you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Welcome, good luck and keep us posted

Jeff

 

[SugarMedia]

The tweeter, when "On" helps deliver a livelier, more open result for people who are standing and moving around.

 

[Reverb2009]

OK, as you may or may not know an electrostatic panel has it advantages and disadvantages over cone drivers. Electrostatic panels can give you a very realistic sound, full of life and energy that is almost imposable for a cone driver to accomplish. The down side is if the electrostatic panel was a flat 13” wide panel your soundstage would only be about 13” wide, and would literally beam the sound to you. To overcome this Martin Logan curved the panel 30 degrees to allow for a bigger, more natural sweet spot, this sweet spot is still limited for the small panels so Martin Logan came up with the idea to add a tweeter called the “NAC” (Natural Ambient Compensation) driver to the small electrostatic speakers to increase the sound stage for off axis listening.

In short, some people like it and some don’t. Martin Logan gives you the option to turn it on and off. Your best to try it and if you don’t like it don’t use it. I think most have it on when lots of people are in the room and leave it off when they are by themselves.

Hope this helps
Joe

 

[DavidG]

Tweeter effect

An interesting observation that I would make is that I find a much more noticeable impact from the tweeter when I'm listening to Vinyl. I still hear it a bit with CD, but on Vinyl it's really obvious between on / off!

Cheers,

David

 

[SPEAKERNUT]

thanks everyone for the tweeter on and off ideas. So far I think I like it better off. I am still expermenting with placment. So far the imaging is great but the low end a little weak. I understand this improves with breaking in. I am using a McIntosh MA 6500 which seems have pretty good control.
thanks Dan

 

[Steve]

Personally, I prefer the tweater off. I tried it both ways and found the tweater distracting with most music.

As far as the low end, I suggest adding a quick, musical sub. I added an REL Strata III to my Clarity's and they openned up very nicely. It took a while to get everything dailed in just right, but now I am very happy with the setup.

 

[risabet]

Never for vinyl!

I use the tweeter for HT and some CDs but never for vinyl, which comprises about 90% of my listening.