Martin Logan and Naim

Posted by: ebirah on 18 September 2001

Following Novotel (and remembering that I am evangelical about my new Shahinian Arcs), does anyone have experience of Martin Logan speakers on the end of Naim kit? I was very, very impressed by the smaller Absolute Sounds demo (Logan Aeons and the 'bottom-line' [!] Krell integrated and CD). My logic is that I figure the Krells were less responsible for the stunning sound than the Logans because surely a Krell integrated and CD couldn't be that much better (if at all) than a CDI/82/hi/250? - Or does anyone here have a different tale to tell? Nevertheless, I'm interested in hearing the Aeons on the end of a Naim set-up. Anyone tried this - most likely with their predecessors, the Aerius 1s?

Regards, Steve

Posted on: 19 September 2001 by Erik

My friends SL3s performed much better with my NAIM amps(52/250) yhan with his very expensive Audio Research/Krell but I still think they only sounds like a skin of the music. Very sweet and butiful with a lot of image and that bullshit but lacks PRaT.

/Erik

Posted on: 19 September 2001 by Tony L

quote:
Following Novotel (and remembering that I am evangelical about my new Shahinian Arcs), does anyone have experience of Martin Logan speakers on the end of Naim kit?

Short answer is no, I have never heard them on Naim kit. This topic did however come up on the old conference, and I believe that the protection circuitry in the 250 and 135 amps is prone to tripping as the ML speakers have a very low impedance dip. The smaller amps such as the 140, 160, and 180 will apparently drive them with no problem. One other thing is not to consider them if you are a smoker, one of my friends who was a heavy smoker managed to trash a pair of Aerius panels within a year of owning them.

My view so far on ML speakers is that the panels are very good, but the bass drivers are crap and appallingly integrated. I would love to hear the CL2 full range speaker as I suspect it may well work.

Tony.

Posted on: 19 September 2001 by Markus

I've heard two Naim/Martin-Logan setups. One was brilliant, the other not.

The first was using a 32.5/hicap/250 driving an older pair of CLS's. The 250 shut down in protest after about 2-3 minutes. The extremely low impedance of early model CLS's is well known.

The other time I heard them was at a Naim dealer in St. Louis, MO, Music For Pleasure, where Craig, the dealer, had various kinds of naim equipment hooked up to the smallest Martin/Logans made at the time. This was during the mid 1990's. They sounded quite good and he had sold a lot of these setups.

I did not feel the sound was significantly lacking, except perhaps deep bass and some of the characteristic sound of conventional dynamic drivers. Altogether it was pretty good, for the money. The speakers were a hybrid design, about 4 ft. tall. Anyone remember which models they were? I don't recall if he was using a 140 or a 250 to drive them.

Posted on: 20 September 2001 by ebirah

Thanks guys - as always, I guess a local dem is the best way to proceed. Both my friend and I (each Naim users for well over 20 years) were hugely impressed by the Logan/Krell combo - of course the typical electrostatic attributes (or not?) were present in abundance but there was plenty of PRaT, which surprised us. It may have been comparison with other (generally poor) rooms that elevated the Krell/Logan system but I remain intrigued.

I'll keep you posted.

Steve

Posted on: 20 September 2001 by Andrew Randle

ebirah,

Definitely try the SBLs or NBLs (which is at the appropriate price point).

If you are into panels, Magneplanars may be a better match.

Andrew

Andrew Randle
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