The new CLX is HERE ........ indeed!

[User211]

Oh dear - too expensive in the UK!!!

Firstly - brilliant stuff miljac - look forward to the hi-res photos. Also, can you try and give a more detailed description on the sonics? In what way do they better Summits, for instance?

Secondly, can someone remind us how low the CLSIIz went/goes +/- 3Db?

Thirdly, once the UK importer Absolute Sounds gets their hands on them, paid import tax and added their usual insane margin, these will probably cost around £16K. That is a lot of money as the current dollar price translates to £10K. ML need to build a European manufacturing plant ASAP!!!

Fourthly, at that price, even on the 2nd hand market here in a few years time, the cost is prohibitive. This is because I rate the panels as good for 6-7 years before they need replacing - having owned Aerius and Ascents for many years. One for the rich - even though I could pay cash tomorrow for a pair I can't justify it!

Fifthly, I WILL go out of my way to hear a pair. Perhaps I should have flown to Munich!

 

[Cherian]

The weakness in the US dollar should translate into less expensive US goods abroad. It may be wise to try to import a set directly form ML. I’m not sure if this can be done but may be worth checking out. USA is on sale at 40% off at the moment to all you EU folks.

 

[C.A.P]

My ears can be deceived, but my eyes cant ! They would be a definite lights out listening experience for me.

I to find the wood design sub par. That being said Martin Logan has always had good wood working designs I am perplexed. It just doesn't look like a $20 k speaker. It may perform like one but it looks like a bunch of engineers had their hand in the design cookie jar. I mean a wing frame! With a rear side baffle. Its just not the looks of say a MBL or a Appogee Diva, Yankee Audio Planers, Souldlab !. New as It may be its not the eye catcher I would have liked !

 

[User211]

The weakness in the US dollar should translate into less expensive US goods abroad. It may be wise to try to import a set directly form ML. I’m not sure if this can be done but may be worth checking out. USA is on sale at 40% off at the moment to all you EU folks.

If only it were true. I think the importer just swallows the profit from the poor dollar. Summits here are £8400 right now. That makes the CLX closer to £17K. ML won't sell direct if there is already an importer in the country, I would guess.

I might be able to convince a US dealer to ship directly, but freight charges / lack of warranty / import tax (around 23% plus post offcie handling charges) are obvious issues.

There's a lot of money to be made in Europe - so c'mon ML!

Anyway - a bit off track. Looking forward to those CLX show pics!

 

[miljac]

OK ... promised to come back with more comments on sonics .... now the head has cooled down

the setup is easy to figure out from the photos. EMM SACD + Macs + CLX. Sorry, forgot to ask about the cabling.

Sonics - beginning from bass: Rich is right. Who cares how low can they go. But they are not bad in that respect either. On the contrary. I can only repeat: I did not miss the vibration in my abdomen at all.

I brought a nice CD that I like very much, Paul Chambers Quartett: "Bass on Top" . I can only say: Wow! Bass is incredibly clean, dry and fast. After all, an electrostatic panel is an electrostatic panel ...

Bass/mids blend seamlessly (and beautifully).

Midrange: very natural and clear. Vocals fascinating - just like one would expect, on different material ranging from jazz to opera.
Highs: beautiful. Details: immaculate.

Rimsky-Korsakow: Scheherezade on DG Westminster recording with H. Scherchen. The most beautiful recording of that particular piece that I know. Made shivers go down my spine ..... Great timbre, wonderful soundstage.

Overall the loudspeakers sound fascinatingly right.

Unfortunately did not find out whether and how can they rock.......

It's very hard to summarize the experience of all that they can communicate to the listener. Probably my English is not good enough. My mother tongue neither for that matter

The only remark I have was the thumping of some subwoofer from neighbouring room that made it sometimes really hard to concentrate on fine detail.

Tom, I'm really envying you having the opportunity to listen to them in more favorable conditions.

The flip side of the story: everything else I heard there at the show left me mildly disinterested. So much for the fascination of high end audio

Last but not least: many thanks to the ML team at High End show! It was great to be there and to get knowing you in person!

 

[JonFo]

Miljac, thanks for all your comments, pictures and feedback on these new speakers.

It really helps us all better understand the aural and visual impacts of this new design and model.

Your English is excellent, and your descriptions very helpful. Great work!

 

[User211]

Yup -I'll second that. Thanks again Miljac!!!

 

[miljac]

Thanks guys. I have tried to be objective but somehow CLX is a sort of loudspeaker that most certainly cannot leave one indifferent. Could not help myself
By the way, my wife is much more critically oriented than I am. This was the second ML-induced jaw drop for her (the first one being the Ascent auditioning that decided on the purchase). She loves the looks of them too - meaning that at least in my case the CLX has been totally WAF approved!

 

[longhorn]

Miljac,how large was the soundstage,and is the sweetspot for one or two?

 

[Brad225]

Mijac, Thanks to you and your wife for the effort in forwarding info to all of us living vicariously through you the last few days.

If I remember correctly you have Ascents. Are you familiar with the sound of the CLS?

I realize that working from memory is not easy but how would you describe the difference between your Ascents the CLS (if you are familiar) and the CLX's? Where are they similar and where is the sound different from what you are used to hearing.

Thanks

 

[miljac]

Longhorn, Brad255,

looks like the sweetspot is two or even more.
Soundstage is huge.

When I compare the sound of Ascent to CLX, first what comes to mind is exceptional clarity, wonderfully controlled bass, naturalness. All the things I learned so to love with my Ascents are here pushed to the extreme - in a fascinatingly beautiful and natural way. Again, the emotion they bring is fantastic.
As I already said - everything else on the show sounded muddy and garbled compared to these beauties. Regardless of brand & price I was left untouched and emotionless. A friend of mine who has an extremely high end amplifier manufacture (won't tell his name though) said that the CLX was cheap for the price tag. I can only second that ....

I hope my little reconnaissance mission has succeded ....

 

[Rich]

Longhorn, Brad255,

looks like the sweetspot is two or even more.
Soundstage is huge.

Remember that the room comes into play with this as well. Looks like ML had them in a pretty big room, with some acoustic treatments as well. That may have more impact on the size of the sweetspot and the soundstage than anything else.

Can't wait to audition these for myself to see how they sound compared to the Summits. Thanks for all the information Miljac. Your observations have been a wonderful substitute for being there.

 

[amey01]

Remember that the room comes into play with this as well. Looks like ML had them in a pretty big room, with some acoustic treatments as well. That may have more impact on the size of the sweetspot and the soundstage than anything else.

Can't wait to audition these for myself to see how they sound compared to the Summits. Thanks for all the information Miljac. Your observations have been a wonderful substitute for being there.

Also set-up in these sorts of situations (audio shows) generally compromises the quality of the soundstage for a larger sweet-spot. In a home situation you'd probably be more inclined to make compromises in a narrower sweet spot to ensure you have that last degree of precision!

 

[jfm]

Rimsky-Korsakow: Scheherezade on DG Westminster recording with H. Scherchen. The most beautiful recording of that particular piece that I know. Made shivers go down my spine ..... Great timbre, wonderful soundstage.

Wow, if it does well on that music I'm sold. That piece of music has everything one needs to judge sonics. When I first heard the Sonus Faber Stradivari I used the Reiner version and was blown away.

Your impressions have just prepped me for being blown away by the CLX.

Danke miljac!

 

[longhorn]

Longhorn, Brad255,

looks like the sweetspot is two or even more.
Soundstage is huge.

When I compare the sound of Ascent to CLX, first what comes to mind is exceptional clarity, wonderfully controlled bass, naturalness. All the things I learned so to love with my Ascents are here pushed to the extreme - in a fascinatingly beautiful and natural way. Again, the emotion they bring is fantastic.
As I already said - everything else on the show sounded muddy and garbled compared to these beauties. Regardless of brand & price I was left untouched and emotionless. A friend of mine who has an extremely high end amplifier manufacture (won't tell his name though) said that the CLX was cheap for the price tag. I can only second that ....

I hope my little reconnaissance mission has succeded ....

Did you hear the Dynaudio Sapphires at Munich?

 

[raygunn]

Your post says it all. Specifications, be damned. It's the music stupid!!

What you are describing is a CLS with a sweet spot for two.

To me, that is more than enough to consider the change upward regardless of price considerations.

All the freakish "spec" fanatics are so grief-striken over the low bass specification, they fail to realize that it is more than likely an honest spec. Few, if any, are. Also, the CLSIIz's spec in this regard is -3DB @ 35hz. Does it sound like it has prodigious output below 50? No.

For that matter, the CLS panel has a spec of being flat to 15khz and 3DB down at 20khz. Is this apparent to us that own them? NO.
Why is this so? Simple, the CLS panel and XStat panels are completely devoid of distortion. They make music. their purity in output truimps anything else out there except perhaps full range line source ribbons.

Longhorn, Brad255,

looks like the sweetspot is two or even more.
Soundstage is huge.

When I compare the sound of Ascent to CLX, first what comes to mind is exceptional clarity, wonderfully controlled bass, naturalness. All the things I learned so to love with my Ascents are here pushed to the extreme - in a fascinatingly beautiful and natural way. Again, the emotion they bring is fantastic.
As I already said - everything else on the show sounded muddy and garbled compared to these beauties. Regardless of brand & price I was left untouched and emotionless. A friend of mine who has an extremely high end amplifier manufacture (won't tell his name though) said that the CLX was cheap for the price tag. I can only second that ....

I hope my little reconnaissance mission has succeded ....

 

[User211]

What you are describing is a CLS with a sweet spot for two.

To me, that is more than enough to consider the change upward regardless of price considerations.

All the freakish "spec" fanatics are so grief-striken over the low bass specification, they fail to realize that it is more than likely an honest spec. Few, if any, are. Also, the CLSIIz's spec in this regard is -3DB @ 35hz. Does it sound like it has prodigious output below 50? No.

For that matter, the CLS panel has a spec of being flat to 15khz and 3DB down at 20khz. Is this apparent to us that own them? NO.
Why is this so? Simple, the CLS panel and XStat panels are completely devoid of distortion. They make music. their purity in output truimps anything else out there except perhaps full range line source ribbons.

Yup. Check these http://www.analysisaudiousa.com/amphitryon.php. Nearly bought a pair. The Omega is an AWESOME speaker - better than the Ascent, which I own. The model in the link is even better. Goes low too. Price translates (new) to $24K but 2nd hand at around $12K. Have to say they don't look great, though. Easy to drive - well, compared to Apogees. A 50 Watt SE Triode does the job well according to an employee of Analysis. I think I would rather LOOK at the CLX But I can't yet say whether I'd rather listen!

 

[cyclone]

$20,000.00 dollars gets you into the price company of some of the Soundlabs speakers which I have read have incredible and low bass. Can anyone here who has heard Soundlabs comment on their sound compared to MLs.

 

[Joey_V]

Remember that the room comes into play with this as well. Looks like ML had them in a pretty big room, with some acoustic treatments as well. That may have more impact on the size of the sweetspot and the soundstage than anything else.

Agreed. I don't see how the same essential panel size (width) as Summits (or slightly larger, don't know exact specs) can give the illusion of a 2 person wide sweetspot. That would require a sweet spot width of atleast 3 feet (ear to ear).

 

[C.A.P]

$20,000.00 dollars gets you into the price company of some of the Soundlabs speakers which I have read have incredible and low bass. Can anyone here who has heard Soundlabs comment on their sound compared to MLs.

I agree, I have not heard them but hear they are GOOD!