By Wayne Garcia, Etown.com
March 2000

MartinLogan's new Cinema has got to be the sexiest center-channel speaker on the market. Its black wing shape makes one think that if Batman's mysterious Batcave had a home theater room, this is what its center-channel speaker would look like.

The Cinema also happens to be one of the best-sounding centers out there. But that's a point of relative importance, because center-channel speakers, after all, are not really standalone devices. They're designed to match with a company's front left, front right and rear-surround speakers to complete a home theater package.

In that respect, the Cinema is a product of huge importance for MartinLogan, tying together this electrostatic speaker company's entry-level home theater series with a reasonably sized and relatively reasonably priced center-channel speaker. The Cinema is a hybrid design, sporting an electrostatic midrange, a soft dome tweeter and two 5.25-inch cone woofers. In the trenches, it proved to be a fabulous match with MartinLogan's Scenario floorstanding speakers and Script surrounds.

Features
The Cinema center channel is a departure from other MartinLogan designs in that it uses a soft dome tweeter to cover frequencies above 3.5 kHz. Those accustomed to the silky extension of a purely electrostatic speaker might reasonably assume that crossing it over to a dome is a bad idea. I'll admit that there was initial concern in the back of my mind, too. But when you think about it, it's an extremely clever design solution, at once allowing the 'stat to cover the wide swath of middle frequencies while the dome's horizontal and vertical dispersion patterns help to focus dialog at the screen. But what really makes this 'stat-dome transition work is the way MartinLogan has voiced the tweeter it blends magically with the electrostatic panel.

Like all MartinLogan panels, the panel in the Cinema is curved to avoid the directionality (beaming) problems that hindered earlier electrostatics. In addition, you can see right through the panel, which adds to the striking look of all MartinLogan speakers and makes them instant conversation pieces.

"Voices and dialog were simply stunning with the Cinema,
and frankly, I couldn't stop playing discs over this system."

Sitting at the outer edges of the curved electrostatic panel are two 5.25-inch cone woofers. Each is housed in its own sealed enclosure and is magnetically shielded. The duo covers frequencies from 80 Hz to 300 Hz and, again, is voiced to blend seamlessly with the electrostatic midrange.

MartinLogan also makes an optional stand/wall-mount bracket that swivels up and down for installations where it's desirable to place the Cinema either above or below the screen.

Let me add that the MartinLogan owner's manual is stellar it's clearly written and illustrated with some of the best setup advice I've ever read. It has its own glossary, too.

Features Rating - 90

Connectivity
MartinLogan uses terrific oversized posts that remind me of giant wing nuts. They're tapered to allow the user to get a firm grip on them, which makes for a really tight hold on the speaker connectors (I used spade lugs) without the aid of a wrench.

Because electrostatic panels require AC power to charge their cells, IEC power cords are provided.

Connectivity Rating - 77

Look & Feel
I opened this article by saying that the Cinema is a sexy center channel. It certainly is that in a sleek black, high-tech sort of way. Even those into a softer look will have to admit that the Cinema is a most striking bit of industrial design, with its see-through electrostatic panel, dramatic angles and curves, and elliptical tweeter housing. Not only is the Cinema an unusual-looking speaker, but the fact that you can see through its electrostatic panel makes it much less visually objectionable than a standard box of the same size.

Bottom line is that the Cinema is beautifully made and exudes excellence.

Look & Feel Rating - 92

Performance
Electrostatic speakers are exceptionally clear that's the simplest way to describe them. They're so light, so responsive, so detailed and so airy (they radiate sound both to the front and to the rear) that they are the closest practical things to no speakers at all. This sound can become most addictive. Of course, 'stats have limitations mainly in dynamic range and bass response which might lead you to think that they might not be suited to home theater use. But they are, and marvelously so.

"I was continually knocked over by small
background noises, inflections of phrase, and the utter clarity and uncolored nature of the dialog."

I placed the Cinema center in a system consisting of MartinLogan Scenarios (front L/R) and Scripts (surround L/R). (The Script is essentially a miniScenario, using the same panel with a smaller woofer). Polk's PSW650 powered subwoofer proved to have the speed and the flexibility needed to match the MartinLogan system, while Proceed's superb AVP preamplifier/processor and Amp 5 handled electronic duties. The system was tied together using Monster Cable's Z Series.

Voices and dialog were simply stunning with the Cinema, and frankly, I couldn't stop playing discs over this system. I ran through my favorite tracks on The Best of Sessions at West 54th DVD, then played bits of The Buena Vista Social Club DVD. It was and I'm not exaggerating as if I was hearing these oft-played discs for the first time. On the just-released DVD of The Maltese Falcon, a movie I know as well as any other, I was continually knocked over by small background noises, inflections of phrase, and the utter clarity and uncolored nature of the dialog.

Five-point-one-channel movies were thrilling and I don't just mean the rock'em sock'em type (which I rarely watch, in any case). They were thrilling because of the system's clarity, lack of boxiness, and sheer ability to place the listener in the midst of a complete sonic landscape.

The word "seamless" is often used to describe a properly integrated system, be it of 2 or 5.1 channels. For me, MartinLogan's Cinema/Scenario/Script system has redefined the word.

Performance Rating - 95

Value
Adding up the Cinema center's superior sound, industrial design and build quality, I'd say it merits a top Value rating. However, this is a nearly $1300 center channel. As such, I'm going to dock it 10 points.

Value Rating - 90

Although this article has focused on MartinLogan's Cinema center-channel speaker, it is ultimately a review of the entire MartinLogan home theater package, which includes the Scenarios and the Scripts. Priced at nearly $5000, this system is not inexpensive. Nonetheless, it represents a superb value for those of us who want near-state-of-the-art home theater as well as uncompromised 2-channel performance. Considering that you have to leap way up to mega-buck systems from the likes of Wilson and Revel or MartinLogan's own top-of-the-line offering to do significantly better, this system is a steal.

Overall Rating - 89