Anybody get a look at these ML's yet?

why would there be hatred?

Been wondering when they would finally be released. Based on the system price it looks like the 20s go for $699 each. I would guess the 40s are $899 or $999.

They look really nice. Should be good speakers.

Yes, looking at Motion 20 and 40 brochures, they reference a Motion 30 center channel speaker. During January 2012's announcement of these replacements, there was no mention of the a new center speaker. Wonder when they plan to release the center speaker?
I'm currently searching for speakers and love the ESLs, however, experienced a really bad demo last week where the sound-field collapsed every time my ears went above the panels height, as well as significant volume reduction wide left and right of the panels, which made me nervous from pulling the trigger.

That's normal for ESL's. ESL's kinda act like flashlights. When you're outside the sweet spot the volume is reduced and they don't sound as good. It's not a big deal if you like to sit and listen. If you like to get up and move around like clean or whatever they still sound good just not ideal but you'll be too distracted to "really listen". Anyway if you live in an apartment or have close neighbors it's great because it's loud in the sweet spot and not really anywhere else so you'll be less likely to annoy neighbors.

The question is how large is the sweet spot. Is the sweet spot always between the panels? if you rake the panels up and/or place objects on the bottom of the speaker to raise the panel, will you get more vertical coverage? Questions I'm asking because when I have people over to watch movies, as an example, if people are sitting with ear level above panels (i.e. bar height) will they hear sound that is very different compared to sitting in the middle and between the panels.

Tch0rT, by the way, I love your setup. Panels all around is one way to solve the sweet spot problem.

How large the sweet spot depends on the width of the panel (the further you go up ML's ESL line the wider some of the panels are) and the triangle of you and the speakers. The sweet spot is always between the panels. Yeah you can change the rake and you'll get more vertical coverage. My ML Source has a base you can rotate to change the rake, my ML EM ESL's don't but you could do that yourself with objects. The people outside the sweet spot will still hear sound and it will sound ok just not as good as it could be. My wife sits outside the sweet spot and doesn't mind. As long as your friends aren't audio geeks they probably won't notice or care about the sweet spot.



Thanks. I should update the pics. I have acoustic panels behind the front ESL's and a new TV (Mits WD-73640).

BTW the panels all around aren't for solving the sweet spot problem. It's just a standard 5.1 arrangement. For 2 channel music just the two front ML EM ESL's are used. I have played around with 5.1 music but I don't really like it.

"my ML EM ESL's don't but you could do that yourself with objects."

Interesting. Are you suggesting placing the front of the base on objects to tilt upward and if yes, what type of object?

I'm not for sure since I don't need it. You should check out Martinlogan Owners forum. I think I saw someone over there say they used hockey pucks.