Review: Martin Logan Depth i Subwoofer


Category: Speakers

I had been for years a " Doubting Thomas" when it came to testing a pair of subwoofers in my high end two channel system. I felt there was no lack of extension on the bottom end with my biamped MG-20's, along with the type of music I listen to, acoustic jazz, that subsonic bass would add that much to the sonic picture. Boy was I wrong!

I'm no expert when it comes to subwoofers, I only audtioned two different brands in my system, however the Martin Logan Depth i sounds superlative in my system. This sub uses some very interesting technology such as three 8" aluminum cone drivers per sub, triple servo monitoring, balanced/force driver alignment, which makes a very good fit with planar speaker. They seem to be beautifully built and are pretty good looking boxes that match the looks of my 20's perfectly. As always, for more specifications and details regarding the Depth i you can go Martin Logan's website yourself for the "tech" details.

On to the important details, how do they sound in my system:

1) One of the most amazing aspects for me was the effect on the size of my already life like soundstage, it dramatically increased in both depth and width.

2) The air around individual players increased and the players themselves became more 3D in nature, but in a natural way, not etched out from the overall fabric of the music.

3) Timbres became even more realistic, with the whole system becoming more dynamic, yet at the same time there was a increase in liquidity and that sense of a natural easyness to the music.

4) The macrodynamics and low end extenstion are the best I have ever had in my system.

For your information the Depth i's are two and a half feet behind the MG-20's and are on the outside of the panels. They are set, in my system, for optimium blending at 0 phase, and the pair of subs are crossed over at 30Hz.

I also want to share that I auditioned and then purchased these Subs through Mike Kay of Audio Archon of Libertyville, Ill. Mike is not only a great gentleman who makes everything so easy, but is also an expert with great ears. Thanks, Mike.

So, I learned that I was wrong regarding what a pair of subwoofers could offer me sonicly, amazingly not just deep bass/dynamics, but a overall "flowering" of my sytems overall sound and as far as I can tell no down side at all. I would highly recommend these subs to anyone with planar speakers, they perform wonderfully, are well built, and are priced very fairly compared to other highly regarded brands.

Associated gear
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The effects of the Depth Subwoofers on my soundstage depth and width, air around players, and having more of a 3D image that is seamlessly intergrated with the rest of the music has become even more pronounced now that the Subs are fully broken in. I'll still once in a while turn them off to see if what I think there doing is my self created "illusion" and it becomes immediately apparent that there is a sense that the whole sound stage shrinks and becomes much more flat and less 3D in its presentation. This addition of these subwoofers, along with the Myesound stands, have been the most cost effective, bang for the buck upgrades I have done in my system in the last ten years.
I would agree 100%. I've just received my unit and it the best money I've spent in awhile. I'm using mine with my rebuilt Quads ESL 63's done by Electrstatic Solutions. This sub is the best sub I've tried and it blends perfect and my location is not behind the speakers. I like phase set at 0 also, though 90 does blend in nice also, but I miss the weight a bit, but nice to have this feature.