I'm very tempted to buy a pair of Martin Logans but wonder how/if they will work fine with my Nap135's. I have no intention of changing my power amps and will have to buy the ML's second hand (hence I'm not going to a dealer for a demo). If anone has heard any ML's with Naim amps (preferably 135's) please post your thoughts, opinions or findings. Many thanks.

There are a few posts on the 135s in the Find on the top left of the page.
Just click on Find and type in name and number of speaker.

Hmm..done that - not as 'informative' as I had hoped though; thanks any way :-)

The 'find' I did for 'Martin Logan 135s' came up with a few things. All pretty negative about the combination of MLs and Naim amps.

quote:

Originally posted by JWM:
The 'find' I did for 'Martin Logan 135s' came up with a few things. All pretty negative about the combination of MLs and Naim amps.

Same here James.

I thought the 'find' responses fitted into -

1/ I've never heard them but here's my opinion any way
2/ I heard them very briefly once and they were rubbish/great (delete as appropriate)
3/ I love Naim but hate electrostatics
4/ I love Naim and love electrostatics but not ML's
5/ I love certain Naim amps with certain ML's

Sounds about right for a forum, I'm afraid.

You can insert "DBL" for "Martin Logan" in your posting -- lots of opinion, most of it based on hot air. Ditto for olive reference versus black reference.

Anyway, cant see any particular reason why the 135s wouldnt be happy with any particular speaker providing its current requirements were not too vicious and you stuck to the naim speaker cable as per intended design.

quote:

I thought the 'find' responses fitted into -

1/ I've never heard them but here's my opinion any way
2/ I heard them very briefly once and they were rubbish/great (delete as appropriate)
3/ I love Naim but hate electrostatics
4/ I love Naim and love electrostatics but not ML's
5/ I love certain Naim amps with certain ML's

Welcome to the Forum.

The worn-out, but best, advice is to go and hear a pair of them yourself.

Trust your own ears and see if they play music the way you like.

Well, thanks for taking the time anyway guys. The only problem (aside from what they sound like) is power requirements - I've often heard that ML's like a lot of watts but I don't really have them. The newer models are supposed to be a lot better in this regard but I can't afford them.

As you say, I will have to box my amps up and go for a listen.

quote:

I've often heard that ML's like a lot of watts

The people who say that generally have no idea what they're talking about.

Load stability and class of sound are far more important, as you well know...

I am always reminded of

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZutcPUd_AVQ

when I see discussion of "watts"

I've heard a pair of Martin-Logans driven by Naim amps. Cant remember if they were 135's or a 250.
Dont know what model the M-L's were.

My opinion of them is that they were a pile of crap. (Well 2 piles actually)

How a manufacturer of some note could possibly think that they could get away with something like that is beyond me. To my ears you could hear the high/mids coming through , and then you could hear the bass warbling along some time after the fact.

Definitely a disappointing demo.

They look pretty good though.


cheers

Brendan

Had Summits for some months at the end of IIRC 300. All in all, not a bad combintion, if you like it mid to hi volume. Had also heard them with Pass Labs amps, and liked them more, there.

Did they not work well at lower volume then?

quote:

I am always reminded of

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZutcPUd_AVQ

when I see discussion of "watts"

That should be in the Knowledge...

I like the 'Swedish Chemist' sketch, but I suppose that has less to do with Hi-Fi (on second thought's perhaps it does).

Exactly the (main) reason why I got rid of them, then.

quote:

Originally posted by Markymark:
Did they not work well at lower volume then?

quote:

Originally posted by Markymark:
I like the 'Swedish Chemist' sketch.

"Bol or aresol? No, it's for my armpits" is that the one?

Yup, that's the one (also on Youtube)

quote:

I'm very tempted to buy a pair of Martin Logans but wonder how/if they will work fine with my Nap135's.

Be careful with MLs, I had a pair of CLSs for a while and had to return my brand new 135s since they shut down within seconds due to the very low frequency dependent impedance. The ML impedance is too low and trips the 135 protection circuit. Same for 250 which I also tried.

The solution was a pair of 180s each with one channel driven. However volume control was at 1 o'clock even for normal listening levels. Then I got a pair of Allaes (and eventually 135s) which give you everything that any ML speaker I heard has plus extended bass, speed etc. I wondered why I had ever bothered with the ML in the first place.

Hope this helps.

Jeremy