Long Martin-Logan Statement review

[Colin]

Somehow, some people just do not get it. But often I feel as if I am the one that does not get it. Not just "not get it" either, but also the only one that does not get it. I shake my head in wonder, as if to clear some cobwebs that keep my thinking from joining the crowd.

Here I was going from salon to salon at a special Sound Advice audio event; Gayle Martin Sanders introducing six $70,000 top-of-the-line towers of power called the Statements.

I have to compliment this retail chain, as it spreads from north to south, here was exactly what some reviewers have lamented about recently: the chance for the plebian to enjoy the audio fruits of Olympus. An opportunity to hear reproduced music as good as it gets. I never miss one of these events and always listen politely to what the host has to say. As if there might actually be the chance, within this decade, of my purchasing the ultra high end speakers, or maybe even the whole system. In any event, I always learn something. I always come away both discouraged by how far my modest system has to go and yet encouraged by how much I have accomplished within the confines of my parsimonious audio budget.

Each Martin-Logan Statement system consists of two seven foot tall electrostatic panels coupled to two thin tower arrays of eight 7" drivers each and two stocky square columns with eight 12" sub-woofers. The panels look like window screening with their Mylar and mesh metal. The line driver array looks like a thin black B&O column. While the sub-woofers look like a stack of Krell's big block amps.

The sub-woofer columns are lit by a night-light and are visible through the sheer Mylar of the electrostatic panels. The six towers reproduce sound from a deep 18 Hz to over 20 kHz within an extremely flat 2 dB. The awesome speaker display weighs almost one ton and requires bi-amplification by a stereo pair of Krell concrete block monster amps pushing 600 watts per channel. Tube traps marked the corners and the center of the room. The lights dimmed and the magical monoliths sang their song.

Deep pounding rumbles on timpani accompanied sharp clacking on blocks with a sonorous tenor for the first song. The vocals were as good and as realistic as the $100,000 Nearfield Pipedreams line driver arrays. The tenor was crisp and clean, unfettered and unrestrained.

The sound of a closely miked jazz rendition of Sting's "Walking on the Moon" was next. This bopping song was incredibly real. Drums rocked and snapped better than anything I have ever heard. Cymbals crashed. The space between the notes made music. Plucks on the bass strings reverberated as dangerously as the slow tiptoes of a high-wire artist working at the circus top without a net. Each pluck, each step, rang and swayed with the delicacy and authority of the action. There were no missteps by the system.

Last in the demonstration was some inaudibly low church organ notes. They washed through the room like waves pounding a beach. You are but a pebble in their way as they overlap and pass you by.

Pretty impressive stuff for the millionaires down here in Boca Raton. Something, the host suggested, to build a custom theater room around. Indeed.

On the way out, I heard a lesser pair of Martin-Logans smash and mash together the vocals and cymbals and guitar on a perspective customer's not so audiophile CD. By comparison to their bigger, younger brother, these exotic transducers just could not handle the hash of the incoming signal. The special high-end Statements did have clarity and dynamics, but this model, in this instance, did not.

One prospective customer asked me what I thought as the salesman spun the dial between Klipsch RF7s, B&W 803s and Martin-Logan Aeons. With out any balancing, the Klipsch were clearly louder. On the reggae track that was playing, I thought they sounded crisp, bright, clear, solid, more real sounding and more music like.

I diplomatically told the customer it was only what he liked that mattered, for heaven forbid that I should wear out my welcome at such sumptuous and entertaining events, by inserting my opinion as truth in the business of selling High End Audio. So instead, I asked what he had for an amplifier and when he replied "McIntosh," I extolled the virtues of a McIntosh and Klipsch combination, and left the room.

The RF7s were $1095 each and I think he said the B&Ws were $3,750. I thought the price relationship should be reversed. For as utterly awesome as the $70,000 display was, it was amazing how close much less expensive audio equipment can come to creating a feeling of music. I am not as impressed by how real a $70,000 system can sound, as I am by what can be done for $7000, nay, even $700.

It is not so awesome what a row of modern mechanical marvels can do with almost unlimited funds, for such inspiring creations are supposed to be great. It is more remarkable is what a beat-up 4" speaker in a decades old tube radio can do with virtually no impressive electronics. I am not so amazed at the orbiting Hubbell satellite telescope as I am by Galileo's ingenious discovery and use of its prototype.

It is a shame that the leader of the retail charge for horns in the audio marketplace is led by so modest a speaker as the $1095 Klipsch RF7. For as impressive as this solid looking tower is, it is being kicked in the face with sand from the more powerful marketers on the beach.

One of the secrets of high fidelity is that coupling of modest tube amplifiers to super efficient (95 dB/w/m or more) speakers is one of the classic amp & speaker combinations. They form a musical union hard to describe, like soft and flaky piecrust, rather than moist and crumbly. This is a texture to which I admit is clearly a matter of taste. This is one successful combination that has sold a lot of pies over the decades. It is a joint effort that makes music. An effort that just sounds wonderful.

But in the absence of any retail store in Minnesota, New Hampshire or Florida demonstrating what is renown to be a wonderfully magically combination of components, we plebes are left to the resources and trust of crazy BBS posters in far off places. We are on our own to spread the word. Sound Advice has no high-end show scheduled with oiled wood Khorns and mighty Wright amps any time soon.

So I wonder why I do not get it. Why doesn't the powerful row of six towers drop my jaw and leave me drooling in awe? Why does the technological tour de force seem like a big yellow school bus and I just want to get off and walk my own way? Why is it more of the same? Bigger, more yellow, more impressive looks, more seats, more speakers, more power, more engine, more money, lots more money - but still just a big yellow bus; just the same.

If a flat line response from 18 to 22 kHz with two 600 watt amps and six towers of sound simply sounds like more of the big yellow bus, then what should I be listening and paying attention to?

Because the tall electronic marvels, with their punchy mid-bass line drivers, deep-bass sub-woofers and massively "built like bombers" amps did deliver the goods, and in spades, too. This was sky-high satellite technology brought down from Olympus, but poor plebian me; I just did not get it.

This message has been edited by Colin on 12-21-2001 at 01:50 AM

[Hagood]

Great read Colin, you should be a writer. Oh, I forgot, you are !!

[justin_tx_16]

thouroughly enjoyed that! maybe you should have a column in the klipsch site on teh listening lounge... does not seem any of the paid writers write there LoL!

i agree with you fully

------------------

-justin

I am an amateur, if it is professional;

ProMedia help you want email Amy or call her @ 1-888-554-5665

Klipsch Home Audio help you want, email support@klipsch.com or call @ 1-800-KLIPSCH

RA# Fax Number=317-860-9140 / Parts Department Fax Number=317-860-9150

[maxg]

Excellent post.

I too have siped at the waters of big buck high end at such shows and I too have left feeling that it is what they dont do to me that remains as memory.

At our recent high end audio show I was treated to Tannoy's biggest budget audio creation. Their new top end speakers were mated to over $180,000 worth of amplification, cables, sources, pre-amps and who knows what else.

It was good but at this kind of money I would have expected the music to be accompanied by a 3d holographic, lifesize rendition of the performers.

The same went for the Martin Logan setup (a measly, miserly $120,000 affair).

It was most pleasing, in the end, that the best of show award from the exhibitors was awarded to a KHorn setup with tubes and vinyl that cost a paltry $45,000.

In this company that is almost bargain basement stuff.

I may have a long way to go with my own setup but my direction lies along another path from this.

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2 * Heresy 2 (mains)

2 * Homemade horn speakers (rears)

1 * REL Strata 3 sub

Accuphase E211 amp.

Tube monoblocks with separate pre-amp (solid state).

Marantz CD6000 player

Sony NS900 SACD/DVD player

Stax Headphones

Humax 5400 digital satellite receiver

Sharp Video

32" Sony flat screen 16:9 TV

Mogami interconnects

Silver Synergistic speaker cable

[TBrennan]

Colin--Horns are a kinda underground thing, lots of DIYers (both speakers and amps)involved,and people who read French Hi-Fi magazines and look at the pictures of JBLs we can't buy here (but they can buy there)in Japanese magazines, people who never look at Stereophile but study old issues of Sound Practices and VTV. People who meet at each other's houses and listen and trade info and ideas, and trade lots of gear too. People who always have an eye on Ebay checking out those vintage Klipsch, Altec, Stephens, Tannoy, EV, Jensen, University and JBL speakers and drivers. People who are going nuts over the bargains at the JBL Pro web tentsale. Oh yes, the horn thing is going strong but it's not conventional. Which is fine with me, personally I don't give a pinch of owl dung for "High-End", haven't since the time 25 years ago when I realized my used LaScalas powered by Dynakits sounded better than anything I was hearing in Fancy-Dan audio stores, that was it.

[T2K]

Colin,you just don't get it!

Reminds of my own experience years ago,on a much smaller scale.I was at my local Klipsch dealer looking for a pair of speakers.After listening to everything in the store,I told my salesman I liked the KG5.5's(at $800 pr.) but I really wanted a higher quality speaker.He then told me he had made a mistake and the 5.5's were actually $3200 a pair.I snapped them up and have loved them ever since.

Keith

[discorules]

I remember shopping for speakers last year. While I longed for the Khorns, the wife told me that $2000 was more in our budget. Anyway I went to the fancy shmancy audio dealer to get the Maggies and I told the dealer and (then unknown to me) Martin Logan rep that I wanted a Khorn but had to settle for the Maggies. I also told them that the sound from much of ML's line sounds uneven. In fact they kinda sucked in my ears. These guys got real bent and asked me how could you like the sound of both Khorns and Maggies yet hate ML. For me and my system, 3 criteria are usually top on my list. Transient response, wide smooth frequncy response and low distortion. Those things Khorns and Maggies have in common. The ML sounded distorted in the mid bass and uneven in it's transisition between drivers. Add to that they are expensive. I guess for people who wanna show off, ML will impress less critical listeners because of their looks. For sheer musical realism, nothing beats the khorn. As a nice 2nd best for the price, the Maggies worked for me.

[TheEAR]

The Martin Logans sound quite good,but I dont justify the extra premium over classic designs.I did not listen to these monsters but did listen to the Prodigy and found its sound very natural.

I guess after the horn loaded speakers damage your eardrums one can ONLY enjoy horns.

I do enjoy horns more now. And my Dynes sound too polite!

I just don't get it anymore

TheEAR(s) Now theears

[montigue]

This reminds me of a simular experience I had a few months ago when I went to a local high end audio shop. I was listening to a $30,000 system that consisted of a 3 piece cd player that had probably $5000 of cable connected to it. I think the speakers were B&K? (or something like that)

The entire time the salesperson was demoing this system to me the only thing I could think about was how I loved my klipsch KG 5.2's I got off ebay for $350.

I don't get it either...

Thanks for the post Colin.