By Al Griffin, Sound & Vision
September 2000

Knowing a good thing when they spotted one, mainstream speaker manufacturers greeted the arrival of home theater with outspread arms, falling over themselves to accommodate the exploding demand for six-piece speaker packages. In contrast, high-end speaker companies were late to the party. Blinded by stereoscopic vision, or perhaps a lack of enthusiasm for movies, many high-end speaker manufacturers have only recently tossed their hats into the surround sound ring.

MartinLogan is an exception. The Kansas-based manufacturer of electrostatic speakers featured a center-channel model in its line as far back as 1993. And while the company continues to push the outer limits of audio exotica (its flagship, the Statement, sells for $70,000 a pair), it has also made overtures to the mass market by designing a series of lower-price electrostatics. The home theater system I reviewed consists of two such models, the Scenario ($1,995 a pair) and the Script ($1,695 a pair), packaged with the company's $1,295 Cinema center-channel speaker ($1,495 with stand). That adds up to about 5,000 bucks. To most people, that's a lot of money to spend on speakers, but then again, this isn't your average system.

Conventional dynamic speakers translate electrical signals into sound by first turning it into kinetic energy that moves some combination of cones and domes. Electrostatic speakers, in contrast, move air with large, flat, microscopically thin, and electrically charged diaphragms suspended between pairs of charged metal "stators." An electrostatic speaker needs to be plugged into an AC outlet, and the signal from the audio amplifier is fed to the diaphragm. Variations in the signal voltage from the amp pull the diaphragm closer to one stator or the other, which moves air and produces sound. Since the diaphragm is driven uniformly over its entire area, an electrostatic speaker has the dual advantages of low distortion and lightning-fast response to transients. It's also a natural dipole, radiating equally and in opposite phase front and back.

The drawback to the electrostatic approach is that you'd need a massive diaphragm to reproduce bass frequencies a problem MartinLogan sidesteps here by combining the panel drivers with conventional woofers. This hybrid approach permits the speakers to have attractively slim profiles.

The pair of Scenarios that handled the front left/right channels in the system I reviewed are the most striking speakers I've laid my eyes on in some time. Each speaker stands approximately 4 feet tall, with a sealed cabinet containing an 8-inch woofer occupying about half that height. The steel electrostatic-panel assembly is joined to the front of the woofer cabinet and curves slightly in an effort to widen the speaker's horizontal dispersion.

"I could hear delicate details, like the scraping of the bow against the violin strings, and when the layered interplay between violin and cello kicked in during the piece's
second half, the imaging was so sharp I felt I could
pinpoint the respective instruments."

The Scenario's front-firing 8-inch woofer, which crosses over to the panel at 500 Hz, is rated down to a modest 45 Hz, so unless you're stuck on a strict diet of dialogue-heavy Merchant-Ivory period movies, you'll want to add a separate subwoofer to augment the bottom end of music and movie soundtracks.

MartinLogan recommends its Script speakers for surround use. These are designed for wall mounting and come with brackets that permit 180ƒ rotation so you can adjust them for either direct or diffused sound. Standing 43 inches tall, the Script combines a relatively small electrostatic panel with a bass module containing a 6.5-inch woofer that plays down to about 70 Hz. Since small panel-type speakers like the Script have limited vertical dispersion, for the best results you need to mount them so your ear is about level with the panel's midsection.

If, like me, you feel that most center speakers look like small coffins sitting on top of your TV, you'll appreciate Martin-Logan's Cinema. With its swooping, concave face, it has an aerodynamic appearance quite unlike any other center speaker. The Cinema and its big brother, the Logos, are also the only models in the MartinLogan line that use a conventional dome tweeter to handle highs. Below 3.5 kHz the Cinema's 27-inch electrostatic panel kicks in, and it crosses over at 300 Hz to a pair of 5.25-inch woofers mounted in separate sealed subenclosures at the speaker's left and right ends.

I set up the MartinLogan system in Sound & Vision's home theater testing facility, a 36 x 18-foot room with a 12-foot ceiling. Since that's on the large side, I was worried at first that the relatively diminutive MartinLogan speakers wouldn't be up to the task of filling the space with sound. Happily, that wasn't the case. Still, as I already mentioned, the system really needs a subwoofer, particularly in a medium to large room. For my evaluation I paired it with B&W's ASW 3000 ($1,500), a 300-watt powered sub with a 15-inch driver that can pump out some serious bass.

Before I plugged in the B&W, however, I spent some time listening to the Scenarios alone, without a sub. On The Hidden Treasure, a piece for string quartet from a CD of works by the contemporary British composer John Tavener (Byzantia, Virgin Classics 45352), I had the opportunity to experience firsthand the thrilling sense of "presence" that electrostatic speakers are renowned for. I could hear delicate details, like the scraping of the bow against the violin strings, and when the layered interplay between violin and cello kicked in during the piece's second half, the imaging was so sharp I felt I could pinpoint the respective instruments.

On the more complex Angel from Massive Attack's Mezzanine CD, the Scenarios projected the song's incredible sense of spaciousness. The nice balance between the visceral bass layer, the low, breathy vocals, and the higher-pitched percussion showcased the Scenario's seamless integration of woofer and electrostatic panel. But I soon missed the ultra-low bass I know this song contains. After I introduced the B&W subwoofer into the mix, dynamics improved quite a bit, but it took considerable experimentation to find a volume setting and room placement that let it blend smoothly with the Scenarios.

"...when I turned to DVD movie soundtracks, my attention wasn't drawn to the Cinema speaker's location at all. In every movie that I watched, the dialogue seemed to float effortlessly from the middle of the screen itself."

The finely detailed, almost tactile presentation that I experienced with the Scenarios was repeated with both the Script surrounds and the Cinema center speaker, which makes this MartinLogan system excellent for multichannel music. Listening to (and watching) Sheryl Crow's live performance of Am I Getting Through from the DTS Demonstration DVD #4 (available from www.dtsonline.com), a fine 5.1-channel music mix save for the disconcerting placement of percussion instruments hard in the surround channels, I had a sense of being dipped into the center of the concert crowd. Crow's raspy voice sounded pleasantly full and crisp from the Cinema center speaker.

One problem I've noticed with center speakers is that they sometimes "box in" the dialogue: you can actually hear the voice being projected from the speaker location, whether above or below the TV screen. But when I turned to DVD movie soundtracks, my attention wasn't drawn to the Cinema speaker's location at all. In every movie that I watched, the dialogue seemed to float effortlessly from the middle of the screen itself.

The Cinema's clear and coherent presentation was an asset in scenes with a complex sound mix spread across the three front channels. In Three Kings, for example, Conrad (Spike Jonze) opens a car door while being fired at from above by Iraqi soldiers. On the soundtrack you hear whizzing bullets, shattering glass, a car alarm, and, underneath it all, Chicago's radio staple "If You Leave Me Now." Somehow the MartinLogan trio managed to create order from this cacophony, preserving the music track's integrity while rendering the spatial cues of the sound-effects layers.

As the bullets and mortar really started to fly toward the DVD's end, however, I noticed a slight amount of dynamic compression during loud peaks, like explosions and gunshots. Granted, this occurred only at volumes most people would consider absurdly loud. My overall impression was that these speakers should be able to play as loud as needed in any system with a good subwoofer sharing the load.

Six-speaker systems costing $1,000 or less have become the mark most manufacturers are trying to hit lately. In that dog-eat-dog environment, systems that cost substantially more need to offer something special in terms of either performance or aesthetics to justify their price. Even without a subwoofer, MartinLogan's Scenario home theater system delivers on both counts. Its unique looks are sure to satisfy listeners who care about styling, while its hybrid dynamic/electrostatic design yields a refined sound that's a clear cut above what you'll hear from your average home theater speakers. If you're in the market for a serious home theater setup and have a yen for something different something special this MartinLogan system is sure to satisfy you.