MartinLogan - ElectroMotion ESL 8" Floor Speaker (Each) - Black

These speakers are easy to drive, have a fantastic sound and great imaging. They are easy to drive and once positioned correctly, are easy to listen to. One thing to watch out for in placement is that they produce sound from both the front and the rear of the film, so ideally you would want similar surfaces behind both of them. I didn't so getting them placed properly took a bit more time due to time effects from one speaker getting the reflection from the wall behind it while the other speaker had no wall behind it. It took some toe-in and some experimentation with distance to the wall to get around this. Once they are set up though, they sound fantastic. They sound especially great with well-recorded orchestral music - especially brass. They also sound fantastic with vocals and piano. And then they sound great with contemporary as well. There's really no music I've found that these don't reproduce well. Some reviewers have stated these to be a bit bright -- I would say it depends a lot on your amplifier. For example, at first I had them powered by a Bryston B60 (60WPC). This amplifier had plenty of power to drive them, but I found output in the mid to high range was a bit harsh, but the lower end was extremely tight and present. The harshness at the high end went away to some extent with time, but never fully relaxed. I then tried them with my Classe CAP-150 (150WPC). The result was a much smoother sound through the mids and high, but the lows were a bit too relaxed. Finally, I hooked them up to my Classe CAP-2100 and that's how it's remained. The highs are smooth, clear, and crisp -- without being fatiguing on the ears -- and the lows are punchy, precise, and accurate. Most people probably don't have those amps sitting in their closets (luckily my wife hasn't sold them on me yet), so I would suggest auditioning in person and making a decision on an amp and speaker combination together. I would definitely recommend a sizeable subwoofer for this in a large room. Since these speakers are very efficient, they put out a lot of sound with even modest amplification (even at 60W). The lows drop off at around 50Hz in my room, so the sub really helps take the sound to full range. The only real downside I see with these speakers -- and it's minor -- is that the terminals don't allow for tight attachment of spade connectors. I plan to contact the manufacturer to see if they offer a binding post upgrade.

When it came time for me pull the trigger on a new theater setup, I choose the MartinLogan EM-ESL towers easily. After auditioning a parade of speakers from Def Tech, Sonas Faber, Bowers and Wilkins and Energy, nothing could match the tonal highs and imaging of the EM-ESL's. Clarity, especially vocals, are unreal. Movement, response, tonal imaging and pure rendering are everything I would want in an exceptional loudspeaker. The built-in woofers do a good job enhancing low frequency response, but these speakers are a tad bass shy. A good subwoofer (I went with two Dynamo 700s) will greatly enhance the listening experience. I was worried these speakers would lend themselves to music more than my 7.2 surround sound theater system, but I was sorely wrong. When matched with their complementing set (EM-C2 center channel and FX2 surrounds (I also went with a pair of FX2 surrounds for front highs) the movement and clarity is unmatched. As always, there is no perfect product, let alone speaker. The soundstage could be better, so the listening area is relatively small. If you don't sit dead center on the aligned towers, you will clearly miss audio from one tower and the other tower closer to you will overpower you. Imaging will be become quite distinct and directional. For a theater, this is a drawback because not every seat is going to be dead center. Additionally, your room must be able to accommodate some demanding setup, these speakers are quite fickle about placement. They need to be about 2ft minimum off the wall and as far away from a side wall as possible. They still make great use of whatever space you put them in, but they will sound 10x better once setup correctly. I also LOVE these speakers come with nice black nylon mesh covers embossed with the MartinLogan logo. While they aren't super durable, they will provide exceptional dust protection and is a nice feature. The fact I love these speakers as much as I do, despite their setup and placement compromises, shows just how truly exceptional they are. Pull the trigger, you won't be disappointed.

I came from a pair of Polk Towers and I am blown away. The amount of detail is unbelievable. In the store I was leaning towards a pair of B&W's and a Marantz PM8005 amp in another room. The associate was kind enough to hook up the ML's next to the Bowers I was surprised how clear and natural the ML's were not to mention the imaging was amazing! The Bass is something lots of people are unsure about but when you put a little power into these guys they really come alive. I know its possible to power the stats off of anything but they really shine with some clean power. Another area of concern is placement. I sit 12 feet away and have these guys 7 feet apart. They are pulled out about 2 feet from the wall and have at least 1.5- 2 feet to each wall. They did take some time to set up and dial in but even right up against the wall they were great, I found they just kept improving the more I played with them. These fore sure have to be on everyones list to listen to!

These speakers sound like nothing else on the market. Do your research, and you will find how pure the sound is from electrostatic speakers, and why audiophiles love them. They look stunning in any room, and work great not only for music but as R-L channels in a home theater setup. I use them for both. As others have mentioned, these speakers WILL exploit any weaknesses in your system. In other words, don't hook them up to your $250 receiver and expect them to sound great. Great speakers need a great amplifier and clean source... otherwise its like throwing 6 feet of rope to someone who is 10 feet away... it's just a waste. The other thing that should be mentioned; These speakers have a very distinct (and unfortunately rather small) sweet spot. When you're sitting in your primary viewing/listening position, nothing can touch them for sound quality/clarity. However, if you stand up/walk off to the side, they get muddy. This is the downfall to this type of speaker. Of course all speakers do this to some point, due to the room, reflections, distances, positions of the drivers, etc.... but the ESLs are affected more as you move away from the "sweet spot".

I was condiering the larger ones, Theos, I think? Anyway, I ended up getting the little ones and the better (800.00) center channel to match. I ran these off my Denon 4310 for the first couple weeks. As Japanese Amps go, its pretty good. Not overly thin. They sound good, a little crisp, but OK for music. They seemed to really perform well on video, the front stage came alive quite well. My Denon is fairly power rich, I had played with placement and eq settings and many other things and finally decided they needed better power. Yesterday, I put my McIntosh 4x100 amp on the (3ch) on the front stage. Music changed dramatically. Needless to say my hardware on the head end makes a huge difference, but I think the Logans like the high torque power. I can really hear the fingers on the strings, the breaths, and the off stage conversations like never before and the bottom end woke up. They sound like they can play without a subwoofer now and didn't before. They sound like the big brother version for twice the price. Video however...this is where it gets it. I would say this is bar none the finest sounding front stage I have ever heard in a house, including systems where more dollars are spent. Power up these logans, try an American amp, or something with tubes and let them go. They will amaze you.

I waited a couple of months to review these speakers. I had first purchased a Pioneer SC-63 receiver and wanted to upgrade my speakers. My original choice was Bose 901s but found out they were not compatible with the Pioneer receiver. WOW am I glad I waited. I went to Best Buy with my own music and had them set up the SC-63 with the ML-ESL Speakers. I had about 6 CDs but the music that really showcased the system was Chemical Brothers 'Exit Planet Dust'. I listen to Jazz, Classical and the blues but needed something that would show the true potential of these speakers. They not only blew me away but totally surprised the sales rep with the sound they produced. They were clear, distinct and surpassed anything I had previously listened to. I had decided to purchased these speakers right from the beginning of the demo. At home they truly wonderful with both music and movies. If you are considering new speakers you must listen to these. Just give them a try. They are worth the extra $$.

I originally looked at these and like other people,I thought they were kind of bright. I ended up going with Mirage OMD 15's 1st. Sent those back and got Def Tech 8060's. They sounded nice but I didn't like how they look and they had sort of an edgy sound. I broke all these speakers in ,but never cranked them anyhow. Went back to BB and listened to the Logan's again,I wanted to pull them out and place them a little better.Wow! What a difference that made. They had a new pair of open box,I bought those. 1 was defective,took it back and got another demo unit. They look like new. I have no idea how many hours are on them,but they sound incredible. I love when friends come over and go up to the speaker and say,where is the sound coming from. LOL Also,you might have to adjust the rake of the speaker with the screw in feet. Makes a big difference. These speakers just took music to a new level compared to my old Paradigm monitor 7's.

Though I do not have an ear of an "audiophile", I know what sounds good to me, and the precise clarity, crispness of these speakers is amazing. This is my first ever true home theater speaker system. But what really drew my attention to this speaker is how this sound could eminate from this weird design called Electro-static. The weird XStat grill really amazed me. So I have this pair of speakers paired up with their Electro-motion center channel speaker C2 which is made for these, along with the Dynamo 700 sub-woofer. To the average person they would say $2k is a lot but for high-end sound it's a great price. Playing TV, Blu-ray Discs or DVD or music streaming from my iPod, it sounds sweet. And yes I did break them all in at the required minimum of 72 hours, so now I can crank them up. And best of all, you don't really need that much power to run them. I use the Marantz SR7005 audio/video receiver to power these.