Martin Logan Aeon

Aaron

After leaving WeeBee Audio (see Kirksaeter thread) I went to GNT Audio. Wow, what a store! Beautiful store, nice equipment (properly set up), and nice people. I again told the salesman that I was looking for a bookshelf speaker around $2000. He recommended the B&W Nautilus 805, but they didn't have any in stock. I've listened to that speaker once before, but they weren't set up anywhere close to right. In spite of that they still sounded good. Not wanting to leave without a demo, I spied the $3000 Martin Logan Aeon's. I had listened to those briefly at another store and was impressed, so I asked for a demo.

The best word I can think of to describe their sound is "delicate." By this I mean that they sound very light and airy. They are also very detailed and neutral (not warm, somewhat sterile). The bass is produced by an 8" woofer, but it is very weak. I've heard bookshelfs produce more bass than these things. While their resolution is excellent, the most impressive thing they do is create a soundstage with a lot of depth. It's very apparent how close or far away an instrument is. Yes, they image quite well.

While I liked these speakers, they sound different than any other speaker I've heard. I guess it's just the nature of the electrostatic speaker. It just doesn't seem to convey much presence or power. I can't imagine playing something hard like Metallica on them; it doesn't seem like it would work.

Aaron

gidrah

If you get a 3rd chance, try Metallica. I wonder.

CHRIS

I agree they don't have much bass. The Decsents would come in handy with them. The sales guy was most likely afraid to push them real hard also. What amps were they useing?

Aaron

I was in control of the remote! That's the only way I'll do a demo; otherwise the volume is never "just right." The ML's were being driven by a NAD separates system. I think it was the C270 amp which puts out 120W @ 8ohms. So, assuming it's a decent amp, it should have been putting out about 240W with the ML's. When I listened to the Aeon's before I thought the bass was weak, too. I really don't think the point of getting a pair of Martin Logan's has anything to do with bass, unless we're talking the Descent.

Aaron

rlw

Originally posted by Aaron
I really don't think the point of getting a pair of Martin Logan's has anything to do with bass, unless we're talking the Descent.

Aaron

IME, ML's hybrids are extremely sensitive to placement in order to get any bass. I popped a set of Prodigies into my listening room, and initially had what sounded like the most detailed, smooth AM radio ever...moved them a couple of feet, and got wall-shaking bass. Of course, that's not the Aeon's, but I would think that you could get better than what you described.

Aaron

I've heard from several people that placement of ML's is very critical. The salesman didn't spend a lot of time with placement since he had to move the speakers into another room just so I could listen to them. So what'd you think of the Prodigy's? Those are some serious speakers! Still didn't stack up to the SRT's, huh?

Aaron

rlw

Originally posted by Aaron
I've heard from several people that placement of ML's is very critical. The salesman didn't spend a lot of time with placement since he had to move the speakers into another room just so I could listen to them. So what'd you think of the Prodigy's? Those are some serious speakers! Still didn't stack up to the SRT's, huh?

Aaron

Still have the Prodigies in the big rig...in some respects, they clearly outclass the SRT; in some respects, they're different from the SRT; in some respects, they're not as good as the SRT.

I'm also not sure how much of the differences are room dependent. For example: the ML's have less bass, but it is much more articulate [in some cases, what I thought was one note is two notes played quickly]. But is that a function of the SRT's overpowering the relatively small room, and the ML's just being a better fit? I'll know more after I get to setup in a new room...

In any event, I'm quite surprised that the SRT's hold up as well as they do in comparison. I've had the ML's playing for a couple of weeks now, and am missing some things about the SRT sound - sometimes the ML's are just unpleasantly high-rez, as opposed to the SRT's, which is a very smooth high-rez sound.

mantis

Martin logan Aeon,s are a nice speaker for the money.They are very transparet.Low extension does suffer with bad placement.They are tricky speaker's to setup.You can't get that deep,tall,open real sounding soundstage from a regular speaker in it's price class,but you can do better on low bass.For some reason or another,Low bass on this model doesn't make a presence in your listening room.I have tried to get more out of them with placement but they are what they are.Now if you step up to the Accent's??neew game better low bass bigger soundstage,fuller body overall sound and one hell of a home theater speaker when mated with the rest of the martin logan theater package.
As for hard rock and distorted tracks, they are not forgiving,you will here all the mistakes in the recording.Kinda sucks but its really nice in the same breath,your well recorded cd's sound better then they ever did,but those cd's that are recorded poorly sound unlistenable.
Dan
Ps.the Prodigy's........now thats a true high end speaker with awesome low bass(not overpowering)and the biggest soundstage I have ever heard next to a live performance.Amazing speaker's as they are my favorite speaker on the planet.If you mate them with Tube's...wow nothing like that,in my opinion I feel they even sound better then out Wilson line,Wilson are on of the very best speaker companies in the world if not the best.Martin Logan is one of those speaker's that demand tons of power.You can't run them on cheap receiver's or even flagship for that matter.you can but tube amp's like Audio Research make these speaker's sound the best they can be.Krell makes very well with them but I feel the Tube's make a slight bit better match.

Aaron

You can't get that deep,tall,open real sounding soundstage from a regular speaker in it's price class,but you can do better on low bass.

I was hoping you'd jump in with your comments on this speaker. The above quote sounds like it's right on the money. After reading it I remembered another aspect of the Aeon's that jumped out at me: the height of the sounstage. I found it to be unusually tall.

Aaron

mantis

Aaron,
They are very nice ,I was considering them as a upgrade,but for that much money,I feel I can do allittle better(I hope).I love how tall the soundstage is ,but the low end is weak,hard to believe with and 8' driver.I don't get it.
Dan

Aaron

Yeah, it is hard to believe the bass is that weak given the 8" woofer. I think the Revel M20 bookshelfs that I dig easily outperform the Aeon's in the bass department.

Aaron

mantis

I listened to the revel's,they are nice I heard the whole theater package when I was in Pitsburgh at a place called It's about sound and Video,something corney like that ,well they had a killer theater in the back of the store and Revel's HT system,Man that system was no Joke,it was clean clear strong and percise.I really liked the system
Dan