MartinLogan

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MartinLogan is a North American company producing a variety of floor-standing hybrid, wall-mounted, and in-wall speakers using electrostatic loudspeaker and planar magnetic thin film loudspeaker technology, as well as conventional subwoofers.

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[edit] Origins

MartinLogan was founded by Gayle Martin Sanders and Ron Logan Sutherland who met in the late '70s at a high-end audio store Sanders managed in Lawrence, Kansas. Despite very different backgrounds (Sanders had trained in architecture and advertising, Sutherland in electrical engineering)) they shared a passion for music and electrostatic loudspeakers.

For anyone seeking the ultimate in sonic purity and clarity, electrostatics held enormous appeal. Unfortunately, designing and building one that will also produce the sound levels and bass extension most people expect from a loudspeaker is a formidable challenge, even today. Back then, only a relative handful of electrostatic speakers had ever been brought to market. Although most were failures, a few, such as the KLH Model 9 and QUAD ESL, were legendary among audio enthusiasts.

The KLH probably came closer than any other full-range electrostatic speaker of its day to competing effectively with conventional speakers in bass and output capability. It was very tall and wide, however, and finicky and expensive, and was very different than the rest of the KLH electro-dynamic speaker line. Consequently, sales were modest, and eventually the Model 9 went out of production. The QUAD ESL was much more successful, especially in the UK, and until MartinLogan's products became available it was arguably the only commercially significant electrostatic loudspeaker in history. It suffered the classic limitations of the breed, however; limited low frequency performance. Though the original QUAD electrostatic was widely regarded as the world's finest reproducer of chamber music, fans of rock and even symphonic music were inclined to look elsewhere.

Sanders and Sutherland were sure they could build an electrostatic speaker that would produce adequate bass output, provide sound dispersion without arcing, destroying amplifiers, or otherwise offending people not interested in a living-room science project. Sanders organized a small research and development team to transform an original design he had tinkered with for more than a decade into a practical, marketable electrostatic transducer.

[edit] The first prototype

The first prototype was ready in 1980. Naturally, it still had a science-project quality — a flat aluminum panel sprouting wires, struts, transformers, and power supplies, connected to an amplifier in Sanders' living room. The sound quality was more than adequate, at high levels there was considerable arcing within the electrostatic panels.

The team began a series of experiments with new aerospace materials that led to improved performance. The drivers were made with state-of-the-art conductive coatings, insulation, and adhesives, and an ultra-light Mylar diaphragm between two perforated-steel stators.

The new speaker looked elegant and could play loudly without arcing, but Sanders still struggled with how to achieve satisfactory high-frequency dispersion without compromising sound quality. (Physically large transducers radiate high frequencies in a narrow beam rather than fanning them over a wide area.) The solution came in a midnight session when Sutherland sketched a theoretical sound wave to illustrate how sound disperses. Sanders envisioned a horizontally curved panel, the curvilinear line-source, or CLS, transducer central to the design of every MartinLogan electrostat since.

With only a mock-up and some photographs, Sanders and Sutherland exhibited their speaker concept at the 1982 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Chicago. An instant hit, the design was honored with a CES Design and Engineering Award. Excited by the response, they headed home to Kansas to translate their ideas into a working prototype.

Through a network of high-technology manufacturers, Sanders and Sutherland enlisted the help of other engineers with expertise and interest in the project. The company that fabricated the space shuttle's filtered windows and the people who had created Teflon-coated cookware joined the design team. The final driver panel was patented and used a vapor deposition process, an optically transparent diaphragm that could support a 5,000-volt charge, and a conformal coating that uniformly insulated each perforated stator to a charge of up to 10,000 volts.

[edit] Products

[edit] Monolith - The Speaker That Started it All

By the time of the 1983 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), they had developed a full-range hybrid electrostatic loudspeaker they called the Monolith. A renowned high-end audio company used a prototype pair in its room at the show to demonstrate its electronics. Dealers who heard them were impressed by the sound of the visually stunning, see-through Monoliths and, more importantly, eager to sell them. It was at this point that Sanders and Sutherland put their middle names to the venture and set about satisfying the demand they had created. MartinLogan finally took flight.

The first couple of years were touch and go. Working with just one full-time and one part-time employee, they built and shipped the first 10 pairs of Monoliths. Despite specially-designed cartons, three pairs were ruined in freight—a near-catastrophic loss for the young company. Undeterred, they rebuilt the speakers and instituted guaranteed-satisfaction policy that remains in effect to this day.

Sales started to surge in 1985, and the company was finally on a firm footing. Sutherland departed to return to his first love, electronics. The next year MartinLogan moved to its current location. At the same time international distribution for the Monolith took off.

Steady growth followed. By 1988 sales had increased tenfold and the plant had expanded to include a large, dedicated production space. In 1989, and again in 1990, Inc. magazine recognized MartinLogan as one of the 500 fastest-growing privately held companies in the United States.

In the early 1990s MartinLogan released the world's first electrostatic home cinema center-channel speaker and on-wall surround channel speakers, establishing the brand in the emerging home theater market. It was during this time in the early 90's that some of MartinLogan's most popular electrostatic speakers were introduced, including the Aerius, SL3, Quest, and Cinema.

[edit] The Statement e2 generation

MartinLogan's most ambitious product to date began to take form in 1997. The resulting 2000-pound Statement e2 loudspeaker is still considered by many to be the apex of no-holds-barred loudspeaker design. The design and engineering behind the Statement e2 fueled the next generation of MartinLogan electrostatic speakers (not to mention ML's first non-electrostatic product). Released in 1999, the Prodigy electrostatic loudspeaker incorporated much of the design and engineering knowledge gained during the Statemente2 project. Prodigy in turn inspired an entire new generation of electrostatic products including the Odyssey, Ascent, Aeon and Theater.

[edit] Subwoofers

What followed was one of the greatest challenges ever faced by MartinLogan engineers - the design of MartinLogan's first non-electrostatic product. In 2001 the original Descent subwoofer (featuring servo-control and BalancedForce technologies) established MartinLogan as a major player in the growing subwoofer market. Other subwoofer models by MartinLogan include the Descent i, Depth i, Grotto, Abyss and Dynamo.

[edit] The Design Series

In 2003 the MartinLogan Design Series was launched aimed at producing an smaller, more affordable line of speakers without sacrificing quality and performance. Speakers in the Design Series include the Clarity, Montage, Fresco, Vignette, as well as the Abyss and Dynamo subwofoers.

[edit] In-wall speakers

Now firmly established as a loudspeaker 'technology' company (not just an 'electrostatic' company) MartinLogan designed a first for high-performance speakers -- inside a wall. The Voyage and Passage in-wall loudspeakers (released 2004) challenged the entire audio industry by releasing in-wall speakers with true high-performance sound.

[edit] The ESL Series

In January of 2005 MartinLogan released the Summit electrostat. A major departure from previous electrostatics, Summit combined dual independently-powered woofers with MartinLogan's most advanced electrostatic transducer to date - the XStat. Later additions to the ESL Series include the Vista, Vantage, and Stage loudspeakers as well as the Descent i and Depth i subwoofers.

[edit] Current

In October of 2005 ML was acquired by a subsidiary of ShoreView Industries. ShoreView is a financial firm that makes investments in entrepreneurial, well-run private companies. ShoreView is a passive investor that is not from the loudspeaker or audio business and is not involved in day to day operations.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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