Martin Logan speakers

I’ve been running my Audio Research VT100 with a pair of Martin Logan Aerius for years and have thoroughly enjoyed it.  

I had a pair of ML Aries "I's" for a couple of years and drove them with a ARC Classic 60. My best day in audio was the day I sold the ML's and bought the Legacy Signature III's. 

Lute, guitar, piano and small jazz trios are fine on the ML's, but when you want to move some air .... well ... 

Frank

I've got original CLS in a second system. Magic in mid range and with acoustic music, and more convincing than any of the hybrid MLs I've listened to (haven't heard the Monoliths or Summits though).

I would be delinquent if I did not respond. I have had a pair of Vistas for 5.5 years. One speaker made three trips to Kansas and the other made 2 for repairs/replacements. To Martin Logan's credit they paid for everything, including shipping. Just about every part as well as the  two panels were replaced; they even replaced one speaker's base that had some wood chipped off. With the last repair, I received an extended warranty, now expired. Mine were 2K, a sell off from Audio Advisor. All of the cautions about setup are true as are the comments regarding the small window of appreciation. They also need lots of power. Unless you are getting these for a rock bottom price and you know their repair history, I would advise you to look elsewhere.  

I owned the Montis for a while.

You can sum up those speakers by listening to two consecutive Fleetwood Mac songs in Rumours.

The simple acoustic song "Never going back again" sounds as open and transparent as you could ever want.  Simply gorgeous.

By the end of the next track "Don't stop" you'll be ready to put them up for sale here.  They just sound so disjointed and wrong with a driving drum beat and bass line.  And any distorted electric guitar just sounds really dry and flat out wrong.  It's weird.

They SUCK for rock music IMO.

My other gripe is that the cabinets they used on Montis, for a $10k speaker, leave a little to be desired.  The new models seem to have rectified this.

I sold mine and got Focal Sopra 2's.  They sound just as open and effortless in the mids, just as transparent, and their bass driver integration is just worlds better and much more dynamic.  Any ML fanatic who dismisses "cones and domes" simply hasn't heard a really good cone and dome speaker.