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[LG]

You getting some "Maggies" George?

An old friend of mine loved his electrostatic panels, but I liked my Transmission Line monitors better.

But Magneplanar has stood the test of time and has fans all over the world and that is something to be proud of.

 

[gcczep]

You getting some "Maggies" George?

An old friend of mine loved his electrostatic panels, but I liked my Transmission Line monitors better.

But Magneplanar has stood the test of time and has fans all over the world and that is something to be proud of.

Martin Logans.

 

[LG]

^^That would have been my 2nd guess, they should last you the rest of your life unless you blow them up listening to your Zep...

Saw a pair of "Marten" speakers at my friends shop, I've never seen them before but they were stunning, also $15,000 pair so I just daydreamed for a bit and then went to the Preamp section.

 

[gcczep]

^^That would have been my 2nd guess, they should last you the rest of your life unless you blow them up listening to your Zep...

Saw a pair of "Marten" speakers at my friends shop, I've never seen them before but they were stunning, also $15,000 pair so I just daydreamed for a bit and then went to the Preamp section.

You know your stuff Bruce. Maggies are great...pure planars. There are some nice affordable ones. The MLs are hybrids. I can only imagine what that $15K model you saw. That price alone is a car purchase. I'm getting an older model [SL3s] that the owner "babied" for years. It's these:



My Parasound amp is waiting to play with it...

 

[LG]

^^They look gorgeous and I'm sure you're going to be impressed.

I considered new tower speakers, but went with bookshelf's instead. I was going to sell my MK IV's but they sound so good with my new phono stage preamp/vintage amp I'm keeping them for a while longer.

Here's a magazine cover photo with the Martens I was talking about. Of course the amp/preamp/player/turntable were worth about $20,000 he had driving them.

 

[gcczep]

Not the optimal placement for this pair BUT I did what I could. I was not prepared to how imposing they looked. My Parasound amp took on these beasts for two channels via bi-amping and stayed cool nary breaking a sweat. To play it safe, I installed an outboard fan on top of the amp anyway to keep it running cool.

Played "Physical Graffiti" and a James Bond theme songs disc to nice results. Great dynamics and so transparent with fast transients. Sound is so clean...supple, tight, with no bloat or smear. Quite refined sonics. I'm looking forward to spinning many a disc for my own listening experience. I don't have to run seven channel stereo mode to have that immersive experience. Two channel listening which has a huge soundstage is more than sufficient.

Next up is to change the stock power cords to aftermarket ones. The pair I had were bulky with one impeding opening the glass door on one of my racks.

 

[LG]

They look beautiful George...

I actually prefer two-channel analog to multi channel surround for my music as well.

You came up with a unique set up for them...hopefully you can eventually configure them properly for optimum results. People would be amazed at how important placement is when it comes to getting the best results from your system.

I'm curious, how much did they cost you? You can answer me via PM if you don't want to post it in here.

 

[gcczep]

So last night I swapped the power cables for them with a higher grade pair [PS Audios]...system up...spin Aerosmith's "Rocks"...muddled and muffled. Tyler and Co. sound like they were coming off Radio Shack Optimus speakers. Vocals sound like they were off cupped hands to mouths. WTF? :mad

Really annoyed... Went off for some errands left the amp and DAC on. Came back to see what's up. Cued "Toys In The Attic"... Damn things start singing again and leagues better too.

Mental note: let amp warm up. Jeeezzz.

Propped up another pair of fans on top of the Parasound. Paranoia...

 

[LG]

^^

Glad you figured it out, my old Bryston 4B I always left it on it was designed to run for decades without being turned off which was harder on the capacitors than leaving it on.

I've got some nice audio cables and proper speaker cables as well, can't call it speaker wire it's too big.

I am curious George do your ML's have XLR balanced inputs? I don't have any speakers with that capability and have never bothered investigating it that thoroughly.

 

[gcczep]

^^

Glad you figured it out, my old Bryston 4B I always left it on it was designed to run for decades without being turned off which was harder on the capacitors than leaving it on.

I've got some nice audio cables and proper speaker cables as well, can't call it speaker wire it's too big.

I am curious George do your ML's have XLR balanced inputs? I don't have any speakers with that capability and have never bothered investigating it that thoroughly.

Taking your cue Bruce...leaving the Para on. The MLs don't have XLRs. The only speaker I ever came across with that type of connection are powered Genelecs. No speaker wire needed with those things.

Now, I have another potential problem... Because of the woofer at the bottom vibrating, one of the banana plugs was coming loose. I changed it before something unpleasant happens. The replacement feels snug but looks like I may have to invest in spade connectors. Tighter connection with better contact.

The Martens you mentioned are Danish made. The only other one from that country I was aware of were Jamos.