2. speakers
  3. 138138-115688

Martin Logan Illusion c34a

I upgraded to a pair of Martin Logan ESL11a and a motif center, the motif seems to not quite have the punch needed to keep up with the new front speakers. Has anyone had any experience with the Illusion or the baby brother c18? Or just a bigger amp on the motif. Im using a Yamaha mxa5000 and all 11 channels. But the fronts have amps built in. I’m thinking a center channel upgrade is needed.im leaning toward the illusion because that has internal amp that should match the 11s  Any advice would be helpful.
eternal08

Showing 2 responses by ddude003

ddude003
161 posts
 
Both the ESLs and Illusion use onboard class D amps to drive the sub/woofers only... The Electrostatic panels are still powered by your outboard Yamaha amp... I really love Yamaha pre/pro/amps and use one myself... In my system and room I have found that my ESLs sound much better powered by an additional outboard tube pre and amp, in my case a PrimaLuna pre and SS McIntosh MC152 for music... And add my center and surrounds directly with the Yamaha pre/pro/amp for movies/videos... Call me crazy... I think that the Illusion would be a better sonic match your ESL 11As...
ddude003
161 posts
 
Forward to your question about matching fronts with center and surrounds... Since I only play 2 channel music with the ML fronts and ML sub thru my PL tube pre and McIntosh SS amp it sounds holographic amazing... For movies the ML center sounds fine and ML surrounds are mostly sound efx , since they are all Martin Logans they sound great and blend sonically pretty well... As for the amps proposed, I would suggest class D amps for the sub/bass drivers and look at class A, A/B amps for the Electrostatic Panels... Those ESL panels can dip into the sub 1 ohm range at high frequency, difficult for some amp topologies...  And some room correction with REW and Bass/Wideband Absorbers and Diffusion doesn't hurt...
More to discover