Martin Logan, thinking of upgrading HT speakers??


I currently have a Meridian 561 with Aragon 8008 and 4004 driving ML Sequel II's as the fronts, ML Logos as the Center and ML Aerius i as the rears. Sub is Velodyne ULD 15, Tv is 65" rear projection. My dilema is; I have been listening to first Magnaplaners in the 80's and then Martin Logans since 1994. I recently stopped by my local gear store ( big mistake ) and was impressed by the sound and feel of various conventional speakers. I would like to hear which speakers people with similar pre-amp/processor and/or amps have had good success with as well as from other Martin Logan owners that have jumped ship. Are you happy? Did you go back? My room size is L23'x W20'x H10'. I have also been told to leave the sound alone and spend the money on a new DLP projector since 98% of my systems use is home theater. I discovered Audiogon by mistake ( this is first posting) and cannot tell you how much I am enjoying. Thanks in advance for your comments.
augustus

Showing 1 response by lthkeepr

Actually normally I don't do this...but I would recommend, especially if you are mostly into movies, that you stay with your otherwise excellent Merldian and Aragon gear for your uses...home theater! You could shuffle pre/pro's and amps around, and yes, system matching is important. But I would suggest you have the itch to try some different speakerss, and projector sources. So here's the shimmy....
....Yes, I would submit that yoru biggest improvment to your home theater experience would be to consider ditching your 65" rear projetion bigscreen in favor of a better DLP projector! Why?...simple. First you can get a much(yes, much) bigger and potentially better, more impacting/exciting immage from a DLP on a larger screen....and still be able to sit even closer than you are now if needed!!!! The problem, with rear projection TV's, to give you that cinematic/large movie pressentation, is that the Lenticular screen the RPTV's use prohibits you from sitting too close, because it makes the picture look unwatchable upclose!(You see the lenticular "grid patternt" on RPTV's unpclose, unlike front projector/screen set ups!). If you sit too close to an RPTV, the lenticular screen is way too obvious and distracting, pulling you out of the movie...thus, you need to sit back at least 2.5/3X's the distance of the diagonal of your RPTV, even if it's high def your watching!!! The potential is there in the resolution with the newer formats on RPTV's, but the Lenticular screen, again, prohibits too big of a picture approximate to how close you sit to it...this is not a problem with front projector set ups really. You could subjectively and effectively sit much closer to a much larger dedicated screen and projector set up, and have much more WOW/AWE factor...making for an IMMENSELY BETTER home theater experience in my oppinion/experience!
And, now, with the immergence of the DLP technology and similar, you can get a treuly fantastic very large (even 110" screen in your room would be good!) looking picture from this projector technology, for not so much more than what these HDTV RPTv's are running...and end up with a picture that is just much much bigger!
If it were my money, and I was in your room/situation, and watched mostly movies...you bet! i would definitely get into a DLP and separate screen set up, For sure!
You will simply be amazed at the level of impact and involvement your movies have with a properly set up(the key) projector in your theater, yes.
As for speaker choices, there are really a lot of em out there you might consider. But a lot depends on your budget, of course, and your set up in the room!!!...I can't overstate this factor enough! I assume your acoustics in your room are not too drastic, and you probably/maybe have mostly untreated walls (I'd have to see the room/layout really), correct? In that case more focused even dedicated movie speakers might be a consideration!? At the very least, and refering to the commment about the room/set-up, you should consider that speakers, like your Logans, which are more focused, dynamic, quick, and better at controlling reflections from floor to ceiling than your more traditional, open sounding music speakers for your applications. Why?...because, especially in a room where you sit further back, allowing more room reflection coloration to smear immaging and dialog intelligibility, your "beamier" speakers will make for amuch better movie pressentation! Diappolito, horn loaded, or THX type speaker designs tend to do much much better for movie tracks in large rooms, and sound less confused and soft dynamically for movies! I've tried way way too many "tweeter on top" traditional stereo speakers in large room/low ceiling set up's over the years, and the other designs usually work better overall. It does depend from design to design however, and room to room. If you sit close, and your ceiling or walls are proportionately farther away, you might be able to get away with more traditional speaker disigns..but not usually. However, THX has the right idea, trust me!...or them! They've spent hundreds of thousands of hours comming up with speaker design formulas that work...so don't deviate to far in my oppinion! Deappolito designs, horn speakers(some), are also a nice compromise for movie/music speakers, and there's tones of great designs out there!. Your Logans however, which I'm not a huge fan of per se, are really too focused, and limited to very small seating possitions. This works for 1 or 2 listeners, but no more! Unless you sit right infront of the speakers, you'll get serious "roll of" and "comb-filtering"!
Really, people either love the Logans/stat's, or they don't.
Anyway, give a budget!....
What speakers have you lately heard that are making you sway?..that might help me makse some suggestions.
Whatever you do however, if you really want your system to perform right, besides the critical set up(any speaker suystem depends critically on set up for world class sound!), you should pay close attention to making sure your speakers are crossed over properly for HT dubties! REally, unless you go with "powered" speakers with active drivers (at least bass drivers with their own active dedicated amps), the vast majority of even beefy full range music speakers can't handle full range DD/DTS movie tracks with out sounding weak, mushed, distorted, or over worked and flat sounding on their own!..they need to be crossed over to a powered subwoofer of some kind really. A lot of these mid fi speakers out there today are using "active" powered subwoofers built into the full range designs! This gives a huge advantage dynamically over traditional "passive" full range or monitor designs. THX uses these crossover perameters for all speaker systems, and it works! However, you must set up the speakers to make the jump at the crossover properly to a sub however, unless your using full range speaKers with their own powered woofers(active), then full range will work with a large enough driver usually.
I guess what I'm saying is, if you end up with some traditional full range piston dynamic speaker desings, don't think you can get proper sound by running em full range for movies...you shouldn't. FYI...
So, what is your budget? I am extremely familiar with the Meridian and Aragon gear, and have owned most of what you have pressently. I also have worked in 5 audio stores in the last 10 years, and am familiar with just about every concievable brand of mainstream speaker out there...so I can hlep. I'm also a custom theater designer by trade, as well as audiophile, and have extensive experience with this gear and dealing with acoustics and system set up/calibration, as well as video calibration...so I know what I speak.
Fill in some more info, and I'd be happy to give you the speaker choice/performance for movies/music low-down!