Description: Carbon-fiber component support.
Dimensions: 18" W by 14" D. Weight: 11 lbs.
Price: $450.
Manufacturer: D.J. Kasser Enterprises Inc., 125 South Greeley Street, Milwaukee, WI 53201. Tel: (414) 747-8733. Fax: (414) 747-8734. No website.
search
Sidebar: Specifications
"Wow! What's that?" asked the pizza delivery boy, peering over my shoulder at the slender, 5'-tall Martin-Logan SL3 visible behind me.
"It's a new loudspeaker."
"No way! It's bee-you-tee-full."
I nodded, but this was old news. For weeks, everyone new to the household had been pointing out that these lean speakers, with their nearly transparent panels flanked by blond oak rails, were gorgeous, striking, sculptural, far and away too handsome to be practical...in short, nothing at all like any hi-fi gear they'd ever seen.
The SL3's smooth wood finish seems to invite…
The electrostatic element is curved in order to minimize the treble lobing that plagues the horizontal dispersion of panel speakers, where the transducer is larger than the wavelength it is producing. This beaminess created the notorious "one-person sweet spot" or "headphones effect" of older electrostatic designs. A large diaphragm projects a great deal of its HF energy at right angles to its surface; curving the surface in the horizontal dimension greatly facilitates treble dispersion—this was one of Martin-Logan's biggest innovations in electrostatic technology (see sidebar: "Controlling…
Since electrostatic drive elements must be energized, the rear panel also sports an IEC-type mains plug; this allows you to choose your preferred AC cord (the transformer is housed within the bass bin). I tried several different high-end power cords and didn't notice much, if any, difference, so I reckon you might as well use the ones that come with the speakers. On the advice of Les Edelberg, however, I plugged the speakers into an API Power Wedge 112. That lowered the noise floor, further increasing low-level detail.
The SL3 comes with two sets of feet, one with metal "glider" pads.…
Bob Harley is fond of citing Frank Zappa's "The Ocean is the Ultimate Solution" (from Sleep Dirt, Rykodisc RCD 10527, CD) as an acid test of bass resolution, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Bob's right. Not only does the sound of Patrick O'Hearn's acoustic bass require an uncolored transducer capable of deep, deep response, it also serves as the propulsive agent of the piece. If your system isn't capable of passing on to you a recording's pace and swing, then "The Ocean" just lies there. With the SL3, the bass was punchy, well-defined, and propulsive, while Zappa's guitar and Terry Bozzio'…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Hybrid electrostatic/moving-coil loudspeaker system. Drive-units: 48" curvilinear electrostatic midrange/HF transducer; long-excursion, sealed-box, 10", damped-paper-cone woofer. Crossover frequency: 250Hz. Crossover type: quasi-second-order, 12dB/octave. Frequency response: 30Hz-22kHz, ±3dB. Dispersion: horizontal, 30 degrees; vertical, 4' line source. Sensitivity: 89dB/2.83V/m. Nominal impedance: 8 ohms. Minimum impedance: 1.5 ohms at 20kHz. Recommended amplifier power: 80-200W. Finishes: light or black oak, standard; dark oak, walnut, custom…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Digital Front-End: Krell KPS-20i/l, Naim CD3 CD players.
Analog Front-End: Linn Sondek LP12 turntable with Naim Armageddon power supply, Naim ARO tonearm, Transfiguration Temper cartridge; or VPI TNT Mk.III turntable with JMW Memorial tonearm, van den Hul Frog cartridge.
Phono Section: Naim Prefix/HiCap, Ayre phono module, or Krell KPE Reference.
Preamplifiers: Ayre K1, Conrad-Johnson Premier Fourteen, Krell KRC-HR.
Power Amplifiers: Conrad-Johnson Premiers Eleven and Twelve, Krell KAS and FPB-600, Plinius SA-100.
Interconnects: MIT balanced…
Sidebar 3: California Brisson and the Soundroom of Doom
MIT's Bruce Brisson and Joe Abrams flew to Santa Fe the day before Martin-Logan's Gayle Sanders, thinking that Gayle would prefer to hear the completely treated system upon arrival.
At 16' wide by 17' long by 14' high, my living/listening room is awfully close to a cube; still, the dining alcove behind my listening position gives me another space 8' wide by 12' deep by 8' tall, and this cuts down early rear-wall reflections. Exposed 2" by 14" beams support the ceiling, and the floors are large ceramic tiles set over a poured…
Sidebar 4: Trying to Control a Lightning Storm
Talking to Gayle Sanders is always a treat; he's enthusiastic and gestures effusively, staying in constant motion until something totally engages his attention. Then, it's as though you can see the intellect click on: His eyes narrow, and he seems to quiver as he brings his full attention to bear. This can cause conversations to move in an odd rhythm, but one adjusts. I recently realized that I had never heard the saga of Martin-Logan's early days. I asked Gayle to tell me how he'd gotten into hi-fi, and why he'd been driven to build…
Phillips: I suspect we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Sanders: True, our first transducer had none of those elements. I built that first speaker right out of a hardware shop: perforated aluminum for the stators, Plexiglas for the spacing elements, epoxy glue to hold everything together. I found some half-mil polyester film somewhere and sprayed insulation onto the stator. To get a conductive coating onto a diaphragm, I burnished graphite onto the film.
Phillips: You just rubbed it into the polyester?
Sanders: That's right. It gives a nice semiconductive surface—you don't…