Best Electrostatic loudspeaker?

Jeffrey, I have had experience with the 989 and have driven them with Jadis 500s, Spectral 360s, Gryphon Reference monos and InnerSound monos in direct comparison with the Sound Lab Pristine. Wires by Nordost, MIT and the ones sold by InnerSound, which are surprisingly good. Now the Pristine is quite aged by now, but it had by far the better dynamics and I found it less coloured over all than the 989, which sounds a bit darkish in my setup. I find the old Quad 63 by far the better speaker than the 989. I have never had any trouble with the Pristine, whereas the 989 has hardly proven reliable and is a downright disappointment as far as I am concerned. Considering that the M2 is a tremendous advancement over the Pristine, I would not hestitate a second in choosing it, if I were in your shoes. The M2 probably, like the Pristine, needs quite a bit of power to make it sing,( I am now using the Jadis 500 with it for best dynamics ) but contrary to the 989 it can take it.

Anybody tried the ML Prodigy with a sub woofer?
Since a few people complain about the bass of the ML Prodigy, I wonder if there are people who use a sub for their ML Prodigy?
I know that a German friend of mine is experimenting with a sub for his Prodigy (he has even filled the woofer cabinet of the Prodigy with some sort of lead) and is running the ML with two pairs of Double Kronzilla monoblocks ($35.000,00 per pair)
I have not had a chance to audition his speakers yet, (I will do this in the summer) but he claims that they sound awesome now.
May I also mention that far too many people put the ML speakers down saying: I have listen to the ML, but they sound terrible.
These people never tell whích ML they have auditioned. ML does make quite a range of different speakers. Its like saying that I have driven a Mercedes and do not like their cars and then it turns out that all I drove was an 190D. Ever tried a S-class? In ML terms the 190 D would be an old SL3, versus the new S-class, the Prodigy.
So please, whenever you claim you have listened to a ML and do not like the speakers, please tell us which one. And then not only which model, but which amps were used, what kind of room etc.
ML speakers are not speakers for the faint of heart, for people who are not willing to spend time to get the matching electronics, or who cannot or will not invest time to really set this speakers up.(This can be a bit tricky) But once you have gone through all this trouble, you will be greatly rewarded by an almost heavenly sound.

Tekunda -

As you have observed, there is a wide range of opinions on the Martin-Logans, with some people loving them and some coming down on them pretty hard. This may sound strange, but I don't think the speakers are at fault - and I'd like to offer a possible explanation.

With the Martin Logan hybrids, you have to get the model that's voiced for your size room because the tonal balance of the speaker is dependent on the room size (and also listening distance). And it's the dealer's job to see to it that the speakers match the customer's room. Let me explain why this is so critical:

Sound pressure level falls off more rapidly with distance from a point source (the woofer) than from a line source (which the electrostatic panel approximates). Mathematically, sound pressure level falls off with the square of distance from a true point source, and linearly with distance from a true line source. So if we had a hybrid voiced to be flat at 1 meter, back at 10 meters the output from the panel would be 10 dB louder than from the woofer (assuming anechoic conditions and a true line source and point source - if you'd like me to go through this in more detail I will). In the real world the reverberant field fills things in a bit, but I once measured a hybrid electrostat that had the woofer up by 1 dB at 1 meter, then was flat at 3 meters, and then the panel was up by 4 dB back at 8 meters. So you see, listening distance and room size would have a very significant impact on how the system sounded.

The hybrid systems from InnerSound and Sound Lab have provisions for fine-tuning the relative level of panel and woofer, and so they work well in a wide variety of rooms. With the Martins and their wide selection, the idea is to get the speaker that's voiced for that size room. Note that another line source/point source hybrid that gets strongly opinionated reviews (pro and con) is the Newform R645, which also lacks level adjustments.

I'd be willing to bet that most of the strongly negative consumer reviews of the Martin hybrids arise from using too small a speaker for the room (resulting in weak bass/bright or thin sound) or too big a speaker for the room (resulting in thickened, sluggish bass and/or dull, lifeless sound). In support of this theory, note that people pretty much agree on what Maggies, or Sound Labs, or Quads, or even Martin CLS's sound like. But people don't generally agree on what the Martin hybrids sound like because their tonal balance is significantly more room-dependent.

Duke- I love your posts!! I always learn so much, thanks for joining our humble online group of audio dorks!! ~Tim

Excellent post Duke! Thanks! You've helped me to understand my (highly ambivalent) experiences with various types of ML hybrids in various rooms far better now, by expaining the obvious! Cheers,