Why Do Martin Logan Speakers Lack Dynamic Energy?

I would really like to hear the answers to this one.

I would say that some of the models lack mibass slam. I have also noticed that this is a function of amp. Even the CLS which is a pure Electrostatic has bass slam but only under very limited conditions. My experience is that they energize the room but one doesn't feel the impact in the same way as a cone.

I personally use mine with a sub most of the time, but often I think the pure electrostat in cleaner and purer sounding than the cone sub.

I also own old Maggie Tympanis and cone speakers.

You should also ask this question on the ML owners sight.

It is common with the electrostats for the glue that holds the sonic weights to the polyester film to come loose. Martin logan can fix this for a price.

I like the way they sound. I don't think they sound lean in the mid-bass region. Your mileage might vary. So might your amp,preamp, room, and source components.

I would say that lack of dynamic energy, impact and weight is something I have noticed with most electrostatic/hybrid speakers, regardless of components and room acoustics when compared to a comparably priced, traditional cone speaker. The Martin Logan Statements sound incredible, but use multiple, midrange dynamic drivers and are VERY, VERY expensive.

The lack of dynamic punch can really be noticed when not listening to anything but the most perfectly recorded music. Acoustic (strings, etc.) and vocal music sounds wonderful, but most rock music sounds forward, grating and almost intolerable. The problem becomes that you find yourself only being able to listen to perfect recordings, or certain types of music. Do people really want speakers that forces them to only listen to well recorded CDs and certain types of music?

Electrostatics are highly, highly placement and room sensitive. Don't assume there is something wrong with the speaker until you have exhausted every placement possibility (or your patience, whichever comes first). Having said that, no planar is going to "energize" the room in the same way as a cone/box speaker, simply because its dipolar radiation cancels itself out at lower frequencies. The initial transient is there, but the gut-thumping wallop that comes from pressurizing the entire room isn't, and never will be. It's the nature of the beast and something you either can live with or can't (I personally can't). That's the curse of the electrostat: it does some things so well that you end up eternally frustrated because it won't give you everything you want. You keep thinking, if only it had bass to match the rest of the speaker..... but it doesn't, because it can't.

Electrostatics, planars and ribbons drivers have much less mass than cone/piston drivers and as a result electrostatics can respond to the input signal much more quickly than piston speakers. In general stats also don't exhibit the same level of dynamic compression as piston drivers. It's actually easy to see how some people might interpret stats' quick transient response and the lack of dynamic compression as a flaw. If you want to add more dynamic punch to a stat then simply add an outboard compressor/limiter to gently squash the signal's transients to mimic the behavoir of a typical cone based speaker.