I have been a fan of panel speakers since the mid-1970s. My love for them started with a pair of Crown ES-212s I purchased used when I worked at Crown. Recently, after not having an audio system for decades, I auditioned several components at various high end audio stores and one of the mass market electronic stores. To say that the demonstration at the mass market store was underwhelming is an understatement. I just wanted to experience it, though.
Anyway, for my recent purchase, I admit that I only auditioned panel speakers and tried some of the Maggies first. They seemed OK but didn't wow me. I went to another store and listened to a pair of Martin Logan Impression 11A speakers. Wow! I had never heard a more precise sound stage in my life. The detail and precision of the sound was just phenomenal. I wasn't ready to purchase, so I waited until I was and went back to the store with my music list in hand. I almost had tears in my eyes.
Having lived with the speakers in my home for many months now, I agree with what others have said, that these speakers (and the whole system) are so revealing that they will tell you (literally) how poorly miced and mastered some recordings are. I used to record myself and have taken graduate level acoustics courses, so I understand much of the inner workings that goes toward recording and reproducing a performance. When listening to a nice performance that is well-recorded, the sound is exhilarating. The downside is that I will no longer be able to listen to some of my favorite recordings that it is now revealed how poorly recorded they were. I'll live with that because the joyous moments exceed the disappointing ones by a large margin. I do understand and have heard what people describe in the transition from dynamic woofers to electrostatic mid-range and high panels, but the Martin Logan engineers seem to have figured out how to do that seamlessly.
I have listened to many horn speakers over my lifetime, and while, as others have noted, they are sharp, clean, and crisp, they are too dry for me. I've listened to piezos and lots and lost of cone speakers, but I keep coming home to panels. I've blathered on enough now...
Anyway, for my recent purchase, I admit that I only auditioned panel speakers and tried some of the Maggies first. They seemed OK but didn't wow me. I went to another store and listened to a pair of Martin Logan Impression 11A speakers. Wow! I had never heard a more precise sound stage in my life. The detail and precision of the sound was just phenomenal. I wasn't ready to purchase, so I waited until I was and went back to the store with my music list in hand. I almost had tears in my eyes.
Having lived with the speakers in my home for many months now, I agree with what others have said, that these speakers (and the whole system) are so revealing that they will tell you (literally) how poorly miced and mastered some recordings are. I used to record myself and have taken graduate level acoustics courses, so I understand much of the inner workings that goes toward recording and reproducing a performance. When listening to a nice performance that is well-recorded, the sound is exhilarating. The downside is that I will no longer be able to listen to some of my favorite recordings that it is now revealed how poorly recorded they were. I'll live with that because the joyous moments exceed the disappointing ones by a large margin. I do understand and have heard what people describe in the transition from dynamic woofers to electrostatic mid-range and high panels, but the Martin Logan engineers seem to have figured out how to do that seamlessly.
I have listened to many horn speakers over my lifetime, and while, as others have noted, they are sharp, clean, and crisp, they are too dry for me. I've listened to piezos and lots and lost of cone speakers, but I keep coming home to panels. I've blathered on enough now...